Explore your next career opportunity.
Find the right fit with a team dedicated to you.

We take time to understand each candidate’s goals, preferences, and priorities before making any introductions, ensuring you are only connected with opportunities that are genuinely aligned with your career goals.

The Hiring Process

Once we introduce you to a practice, the hiring process typically follows a similar path:

• Initial phone or video interview
• Practice visit and team introductions
• Review of compensation, benefits, and partnership opportunities
• Optional shadowing experience
• Formal offer and contract review

The process is designed to help both the practice and candidate determine whether there is a strong long-term fit.

Preparing for Your Search

Candidates preparing for interviews may benefit from reviewing common optometry interview questions and exploring different private practice opportunities to better understand what aligns with their goals.

How ETS Vision Supports You

At ETS Vision, we help candidates navigate the process by understanding their goals early and connecting them with opportunities that match their professional priorities. This helps streamline the search and ensures both candidates and practices are evaluating fit from the same starting point.

A good way to evaluate whether a practice is the right long-term fit is to use the CLAMPS method: Challenge, Location, Advancement, Money, People, Schedule. Our expert recruiters use CLAMPS as a consistent way to help optometrists think through what really matters when comparing opportunities.

When comparing opportunities, consider:

• Challenge: Does the role match the type of clinical work you want long term?
• Location: Is this a place where you can realistically see yourself living and building a life?
• Advancement: Is there potential for partnership or ownership in the future?
• Money: Does the compensation and benefits package support your financial goals and situation?
• People: Do the communication style, expectations, and overall practice philosophy feel aligned?
• Security: Is it a stable job? Is there fear of a sale down the road or re-organization? What is the long-term outlook of your situation?

Fit also comes down to the practice model itself. Some roles are better for short-term goals like experience or paying down debt, while others are built for long-term growth, stability, and equity opportunities. The best positions tend to be the ones where expectations are clear, communication is strong, and both sides are aligned on what success looks like.

A strong optometry job fit comes down to more than just salary, it’s about whether the day-to-day role, culture, and long-term opportunity align with what you want.

Key factors to evaluate include:

• Location: Does the area fit your lifestyle and long-term personal goals?
• Advancement: Is there potential for partnership, ownership, or long-term growth?
• People & culture: Does the practice feel supportive, collaborative, and aligned in philosophy and expectations?
• Compensation: Is the pay and benefits package competitive and transparent?
• Practice model & patient flow: What does the day actually look like, patient volume, pace, and structure of care?
• Schedule: Does the workweek and flexibility match your desired work-life balance?
• Clinical environment: Are you working with modern, state-of-the-art equipment and tools?

A key part of evaluating any opportunity is understanding the real clinical volume expectations, such as patients per hour or per day, and how that pace fits your comfort level and style of practice. The strongest opportunities tend to be the ones where expectations are clear and the clinical environment supports both quality care and efficiency.

Most optometrists begin exploring job opportunities before graduation or residency is complete, often around 3-6 months ahead of time. That said, the right timing depends on when the candidate feels ready to take on the job search and hiring process.

Starting early can make the transition smoother by allowing more time to explore different practice types, compare opportunities, and focus on boards or training without feeling rushed. It also helps candidates better understand what they want in a long-term role before making a decision.

For many candidates, the timing is flexible and based on personal readiness, geography, and career direction. The job search should feel aligned with where they are in their journey. Communication and responsiveness can also play a role in the process, since practices often move forward with candidates who are able to stay engaged and timely during conversations.

Practicing in a rural or underserved community can offer strong financial, clinical, and lifestyle benefits for optometrists.

Key advantages include:

• Higher compensation: These areas often offer stronger pay to attract providers
• Lower cost of living: Housing and daily expenses are typically more affordable
• Wide variety of patients: More diverse exam types and clinical exposure day to day
• Stronger patient relationships: More continuity of care and long-term connections with patients
• More medical optometry experience: Often more complex cases and expanded scope opportunities
• Faster clinical growth: Busy schedules can help build skills and confidence quickly

These roles tend to appeal to optometrists who want a mix of strong compensation, broad clinical experience, and meaningful patient impact.

In private practice, optometry compensation typically follows a few common structures. Understanding how each model works can help you compare opportunities and determine which option best aligns with your career goals.

Common Compensation Models

• Base Salary + Production Bonus: A guaranteed salary with additional compensation tied to productivity measures such as exams, medical visits, procedures, or optical production.
• Guaranteed Salary: A fixed salary that provides predictable income without additional production-based incentives.
• Percentage of Collections: Compensation based on a percentage of revenue generated by the provider.

Most practices today use a base salary plus bonus structure. However, each practice may structure incentives differently, so it is important to understand how the bonus opportunity translates into actual earning potential.

Our account executives help candidates evaluate compensation structures, compare opportunities, and understand the long-term earning potential of each role. This allows you to make informed decisions based on the full picture, not just the offer details.

Before accepting an optometry job offer, it’s important to understand what your day-to-day responsibilities will look like and how the opportunity is structured. Taking time to evaluate these details can help ensure the role aligns with your professional goals and expectations.

Key Questions to Consider

• Patient Volume: How many patients are expected per hour or per day?
• Patient Population: What types of patients will you primarily be seeing?
• Support Staff: Is there adequate tech support and a trained team to support patient flow?
• Compensation Clarity: How is the bonus structured, and what do average production or collections look like?
• Schedule Expectations: What does a typical day and week realistically look like?
• Contract Details: Does the agreement reflect what was discussed during interviews and negotiations?
• Bonus Structure: Are production goals realistic and achievable within the practice setting?
• Non-Compete Terms: Are there restrictions that could impact future career opportunities?

The goal is to ensure expectations are aligned between both the candidate and the practice. A clear understanding of the role, compensation, and agreement helps create a strong foundation for long-term success.

Most optometrists have access to a wide range of opportunities whether they complete a residency or go straight into practice. Residency can be helpful for more medically focused roles, but it is not required for most positions.

Common opportunities include:

• Private practice optometry associate positions
• Medical optometry roles in MD/OD or multi-specialty settings
• Corporate or retail optometry positions
• Hospital or community health settings
• Future partnership or ownership opportunities in private practice

In most cases, residency is not a requirement, but it can make a candidate more competitive for certain medical settings that see higher levels of pathology or complex disease.cv