at an ophthalmology practice? I am ABO certified with 15 yrs of experience including management, high-end sales & training. I have an interview and wanted opinions on the salary I should expect.
at an ophthalmology practice? I am ABO certified with 15 yrs of experience including management, high-end sales & training. I have an interview and wanted opinions on the salary I should expect.
I have recently seen someone with more experience in management (and ownership) and time in the field offered $10 per hour. A King's Ransom of $14 an hour was finally brokered!
UGH!
Good luck.
Last edited by Fezz; 06-11-2007 at 11:27 AM.
I would not get my hopes up. As I have said many times on this board ( and no doc has refuted it) MD's and OD's don't pay well at all. Around my area in N.Y. outside N.Y. City generally the going rate is around 5 to 10 dollars less than you can get at a chain. Just my 2 cents ;)
If you can only make 14/hour then find another career or enter this business from a different level . You can't live on 14/hour so why do it ?
Usually depends on location. state/city since cost of living is different between each state.
lets see 15 years experience ~ management ~ 50 to 65k per year?
What do you feel you are worth?:)
In Dallas , Ft WORTH AREA FROM 15.00 TO 30.00 AN HOUR. But management 60k to 90k. Austin area 12.00 to 20.00 an hour. management 30k to 75k. San Antonio 7.00 to 12.00 an hour management not much better. Houston about the same as San Antonio but less. The bottom line their the chain control the state of TX
So GOOD LUCK AND DON'T SPELL YOUR CANDY.
Don Price abo-ncle
state registered optican
Private practice-ophthalmology-don't settle for less than $20 plus spiffs & benefits. Really, they CAN afford it.
I ditto what eyeninal said, however, consider also your benefits. What are they paying towards medical ins. and a retirement plan. I've seen people leave a practice to make a couple more bucks an hour only to lose retirement match and pay alot more for med ins. I know of optician managers in MD practices making 40,000-50,000 plus bonus and good retirement/med ins. Also a good bargaining item is your paid time off.
I dont know where you live, but in NY and NJ you need a minimum of 1200 dollars just to pay rent , If you own a home your talking thousands a month for a morgage. I do not think anyone will be getting people experienced and trained for substandard wages in todays market. I have worked in the optical field and can tell you in NJ opticans are being paid $27 and up an hour plus benefits. It only makes sense cause otherwise people would opt for a different profession and even that wage is difficult to make a go of it here in The Garden State. Dont undersell yourself, most of you have spent time going to college learning your trade and spent considerable sacrafices to secure loans to better yourself in order to earn a living and work in this professional trade.
Listen to what they have to offer and then come back and tell us. We will then be able to offer ideas more tailored to your situation and more likely to work. You could for example work out an arrangement where you are bonused on the net sales after the cost of goods but that will only happen if you have some control over buying, or if the office does not do any edging you could offer to edge the jobs for the same price the lab charges and pocket that as extra money. You would be offering the patient/customer faster service in some cases if, for example, you kept some stock lenses on hand, and you would be earning more money. You could do a similar thing with tinting, you would assume liability for breakage but the lab would likely help you with that.
I have worked for many MD's and OD's none paid what your talking about. Unless your talking N.Y. City and around that area. But from Syracuse to Buffalo and with the Southtowns thrown in I know of no Doctor who is willing to pay above 20.00 per. My daughter went to a pediatric Ophthalomogist and in his waiting area he had a sign that read: NEED OPTICIAN WILLING TO START NOW. STARTING WAGE 13.50 per. My daughter called after she left and said I know of someone that would be willing to come to your practice now but he makes 18.00 per. You could almost hear the Doctor hit the floor, he said he talks with most of the other MD's in the area and no was paying anymore than 16.00 per for there manager. Now granted this was about 6 or 7 years ago but I recently inquired about that practice and was told they still start all Opticians off at 13.50 per. Just my 2 cents
Just wondering...
when you all mention that the OD or MD can afford paying a manager $20+ per hour...
Would that still be true if the office is new and the office see's about 5 patients per week and the rent is about $4500 per month?
That's how it is here in California at least.
I support paying a manager $20+ an hour if the office is busy.. but what if the office is new and relatively "dead?"
I have what many would consider a "new" office, and also unsure of what to pay a "manager" type person since we're not really seeing any patients. :(
Sorry for hijaking the thread. But I think my question is related also. :)
DrNeyecare, my suggestion is to invest in someone that you can currently support by offering a longer-term proposal, if you are going to let them do the buying, for example, bonus them a percentage of the profits. It will only be a few dollars because the volume is not there yet but be prepared to let that dollar amount grow at the same percentage rate over time so the dollar amount becomes considerable. Offer to invest some of that in a retirement fund or something like that to add further incentive to a longer term commitment. Maybe your business is not yet ready to add someone to do this job so look for someone you could pay to do a job that you currently need and commit to groom this person for more responsibility as your practice grows.
It would only be fair to offer whom ever works for you a good salary, because they have the added risk of dealing with a new business. Your business has no job security and a good manager should be there to help you build your business. The suggestions on letting the manager come in and earn a great wage is a good one. If you pay someone based on performance at your stage in the game you might be able to offer a lower per hour wage and still hire a competant manager.Originally Posted by DrNeyecare
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It doesn't matter what they can afford, it matters what they can get away with paying. Kinda that capitalistic "whatever the market will bear" mantra.
If you want $50K and they are thinking $25K, you need to convince them that you can make more money for them than your extra salary.
That's not always the case in the upstate area. I know at least 2 Optician Managers in MD practices that are making $20+/hr with great benfits and retirement. Sure, there are alot of MD's that are cheap, but there are good places out there. Usually these places are pretty state of the art types. Both practices I'm talking about are free standing facilities with lasers on sight and minor surgery in house and all the newest tech toys. Usually docs that put that kind of money in their practice wants someone who's top notch and are willing to pay. Keep looking, they're out there.
Shelly Girl
I might suggest the department of labors web sight. There they post salaries for most jobs in the US.
In Maryland the average is about $46000.00 to $50000.00 plus performance bonuses. Do not sell your self short, the market is very tight for qualified Opticians , I have been looking for one for the past 6 months and have come up dry.
Rick
You might find one or two that are willing to pay but for the most part at least 90% will not. You just have to find that 10%, that's like looking for a needle in a hay stack. At least that is what I have found. Most of the time as soon as you mention 20 dollars they are searching for the door handle to show you the way out. I have found that even with great skills
management and buying experience they are willing only to pay so much.
Just my 2 cents
Here we go again. If you have to discuss $14 or $ 20 an hour for a private practice run.
Costco pays all employees $11 to start with regular raises and benefits.
They pay opticians about $21/25 and managers more.
all most "doctors" want and need is a smiley face and able to collect $$$$.:angry:
Maybe your office will do better if you pay a good optician who can drive in patients and increase your profit with their sales ability. I know brand new offices who are seeing way more than 5 patients a day. It all comes to your previous connections, marketing, and your staff. I live in Northern California and will not move my hand for less than $50K base plus bonuses a year. Lenscrafters here pays between 50K and 65K for their managers. I worked at an high-end optical shop before which had 6 full time licensed opticians, all making over $25 an hour.
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