Employment guide: Contracts, negotiation, and career success

The transition from residency to practice is a monumental step in a dermatologist’s career. The terms of your first employment contract are critical for your compensation and so much more, but they can be difficult to understand. You have an opportunity to negotiate terms with many employers, but where should you focus your efforts? And what about potential red flags in an employment contract?

Fortunately, the AAD has resources to help you take control of your contract and your career. Our guides will help you understand contract language, including red flags you should handle with care. We help you negotiate and evaluate the employer’s offer. We also look out for you on non-compete clauses and other potential obstacles to success.

Understand your contract

Use our guide on employment contract language to start. This guide explains key contract terms you should understand before signing. It explains contract areas such as duties and work schedule, compensation and benefits, and long-term business interests. The guide also identifies common red flags and offers remedies to address them.

Negotiate your contract

Use our tips on negotiating your contract to negotiate like a pro, so you can fight for what’s reasonable without undermining your position. We also offer a self-paced Career Launch course in the AAD Learning Center with additional tips on negotiating your contract.

Mind the gaps

There is a lot to take in when you’re considering a dermatology position. Prospective employers may flood you with information, in writing and in conversations. But what about the information they don’t provide? Use our comprehensive checklist of questions to ask potential employers to guide conversations about your employment.

Non-compete clauses

Non-compete clauses and other restrictive covenants are common in physician contracts but can severely limit your career mobility. The landscape of non-competes has been especially confusing in recent years because of proposed regulatory limits that were subsequently rolled back by the courts. Also, state laws are a patchwork, with some setting few limits and others, such as California and Minnesota, banning non-compete clauses almost entirely.