New Grads: Build Your Perfect PA Career

AAPA Resources to Help Kick Off Your Career

Congratulations – You made it through PA school! As a new PA, you face a whole new set of decisions – choosing a specialty, negotiating an employment contract, climbing the leadership ladder, and more. AAPA is here for you along the way, and we want to make sure you have everything you need to kick off your career. So we’re giving new grads $150 OFF an AAPA fellow membership – click here to claim this offer.

Take a look at these resources for advice, recommendations, and personal stories from fellow PAs to remind you that you are not alone in this process.

CAREER RESOURCES FOR NEW GRADS

One Interview Tip I Would Give to All PAs
Be familiar with the organization’s initiatives, recent achievements and make sure you are aligned with its culture. Your ability to talk about these elements will stand out during an interview. Consider doing your homework critical to success.

4 Practice Environment Factors to Consider: Where Will You Thrive?
When deciding between offers, it’s worth considering the different practice environments. Whether you’re considering working at a hospital, for a hospital-employer at a practice, or any type of private practice, there are pros and cons to each option.

How to Be A Good PA Colleague
Every PA shows up to work ready to take the best care of their patients, and work towards the best patient outcomes. But patient care is not all PAs contribute: each of us contributes to our work environment. How we contribute is up to us and defines us as a colleague.

8 Networking Tips for PAs
Whether you’re a new PA graduate, a seasoned PA looking for exposure to a new specialty, networking will play an important role in landing the position that’s right for you. Don’t worry if you haven’t recently thought about your resume or your interview skills – you work in an in-demand field, and, in our increasingly connected world, networking and job searching have never been easier.

Effective Career Navigation Starts with Self-Assessment
One of the great, unique attributes of the PA profession is its breadth of career possibilities across the spectrum of medical, and increasingly, nonclinical practice. At the same time, the very multitude of career paths open to PAs can pose a challenge.

Early-Career PAs Share Leadership Advice
At AAPA’s 2018 Leadership and Advocacy Summit, four PA panelists spoke passionately about the value of leadership for young PAs and the need to make leadership an early-career priority.

What They Didn’t Tell Me in PA School: Five Months to Start Working
When Hillary Bennett graduated from PA school and landed her perfect job, she didn’t expect to have to wait five months to start working. She got through the long delay by being patient and coming up with creative ways to earn money.

New PAs: Protect Yourself and Impress Your New Employer
The AAPA Salary Report is a must-read for all PAs who want to know what they’re worth in the job market. In fact, it’s a useful tool for employers too. As an AAPA member and recent grad, you may find that you’re worth even more than you think.

Advice for New Grads: Choosing Your Specialty
PA Verdale Benson knows that PA career flexibility is both a blessing a burden. His advice to new grads who are trying to choose a specialty: pursue your passion and maximize your career-growth potential.

The Blessing and Burden of Flexibility: A Guide in Choosing Your Specialty as a New Graduate
While mentoring a PA student, I was asked if he should initially pursue a primary care job to solidify his medical foundation before entering a specialty field. This was a great question that I’m sure many soon-to-be graduates are pondering. Bottom line up front: Pursue the specialty you are passionate about.

Most Popular Apps for PAs
We asked AAPA’s early-career PAs and Student Academy about their favorite practice- or study-related apps. Fast, easy-to-use, and helpful apps came up again and again. Here are the apps we heard about most from our informal survey.

Tips for New PAs on How to Grow Your Role at Work
Are you a new PA who is ready to grow your role and increase responsibilities at work? Two members of the Early Career PA Commission, Allyson Hamacher, PA-C, and Jack Ward, PA-C, share tips for other early career PAs.