A Nurse Practitioner’s Guide to Negotiating a Fair Salary

I originally wrote and published this article on the HealtheCareers blog. Read the entire article here. 

Linda Babcock, author of Women Don’t Ask, found that only 7% of women attempt to negotiate their salary compared with 57% of men, which led to men receiving a 7.6% higher salary. With 90% of nurse practitioners being women, it is important for us to learn how to effectively negotiate our salaries. The purpose of this post is to offer specific guidance to nurse practitioners on how to earn a fair wage, not just for their own sake, but for the sake of future generations whose salaries will be based on market averages.

First and foremost, always negotiate. Studies suggest that 80% of companies expect negotiations and leave themselves wiggle room in their first offer. The worst thing a nurse practitioner can do is assume that his or her salary is non-negotiable, and not even try. During the initial stages of negotiation, never reveal how much you will accept.

Next, nurse practitioners must their do salary research. Luckily, Health eCareers surveys thousands of Nurse Practitioners and other healthcare professionals every year and you can find out what others are making with our Salary Calculator. Over the past decade, nurse practitioner salaries have risen significantly faster than inflation. In fact, since 2011, salaries are up 10% with the average total income for all nurse practitioners reaching $108,643. According to AANP, the total average total income for each medical specialty was as follows:

• Acute Care- $111,000
• Adult- $108,000
• Gerontology- $121,600
• Family- $107,900
• Hospice and Palliative Care- $111,200
• Neonatal- $123,000
• Oncology- $108,600
• Pediatrics- $102,400
• Psychiatric- $132,100
• Women’s Health- $101,700

By conducting this salary research before you begin negotiating, nurse practitioners will have a better sense of the high, median, and low salaries for someone with their same certification, experience and education. This also brings us back to the importance of negotiating your salary. Each negotiation, no matter how small, will impact the next compensation survey and aid the following generation in receiving fair wages.

Continue reading the article on the HealtheCareers website, and check out their awesome job search tool while you’re at it.