What Do Optometrists Want in a Job Offer?
With 17 years of experience, 10,000+ interviews conducted, and 1,000+ successful placements nationwide, the team at ETS Vision has a front-row seat to what optometrists want in a job offer and what actually makes a practice stand out to top OD candidates.
The short answer: optometrists are looking for more than just salary. Most candidates prioritize location, competitive compensation, clinical autonomy, predictable scheduling, and a benefits package that supports long-term stability. The strongest offers combine competitive pay with an environment where ODs can practice to the full extent of their license and feel genuinely valued.
The difference between filling a role and losing your best candidate to a corporate group often comes down to one thing: understanding what optometrists actually value and having the flexibility to meet them there.
Define Your Ideal Candidate Before You Recruit
The most expensive recruiting mistake a practice can make is hiring the wrong person for the right role. Before you write a job description or post a position, address these three core considerations to determine your ideal candidate. At ETS Vision, we call this the Big Three Match:
1. Clinical Philosophy
Start by clearly defining your practice’s clinical philosophy and approach to patient care.
- Why does your practice exist?
- Who does it serve?
- What do you believe about patient care?
Candidates who align with a clear mission become advocates for it. Candidates who don’t align will leave.
An OD who values slower-paced, relationship-driven care may struggle in a high-volume setting. Likewise, an OD who thrives in a fast-paced environment may feel limited in a practice with a slower workflow.
Neither approach is wrong, but alignment is critical for long-term success.
Communicating your patient care philosophy early in the recruiting process attracts candidates who naturally fit your practice environment and are more likely to stay at the practice long-term.
2. Long-Term Goals
Define what your practice is truly looking for before you start recruiting.
Is this position designed for a permanent full-time OD who can grow with the practice, or are you primarily trying to fill immediate scheduling needs? Can you offer future partnership, leadership opportunities, or succession planning?
Some optometrists seek stability and work-life balance. Others want leadership opportunities, specialty growth, mentorship, or eventual ownership. Understanding those goals early helps you determine whether the opportunity is the right fit for both sides.
If your practice offers a partnership track, mentorship, or long-term growth potential, communicate that early. Our recruiters regularly see practices lose strong candidates simply because they never clearly explained the long-term opportunity.
Tip: Candidates want to visualize their future at your practice. The more clearly you paint that picture, the more confident they will feel saying yes.
3. Personality and Team Fit
Will this person fit your team?
Candidates are evaluating your culture throughout the entire interview process, just like you are evaluating them. Team chemistry, communication style, and personality fit matter just as much as clinical skills.
This is one of the biggest advantages private practices have. Many ODs tell our recruiters they want an environment where they feel trusted as clinicians, supported by their team, and genuinely enjoy coming to work.
Practices that communicate their culture clearly and honestly tend to attract candidates who are a much better long-term fit.
Recruiter Insight: “If the Big Three match, you can usually work out the rest. Compensation, schedule, and benefits are all negotiable when the fit is right. They become deal-breakers when the fit is wrong from the start. Write down your answers to these three questions before your first conversation with a candidate. It changes the whole interview process.” – Sheri Beveridge, ETS Vision
Let’s look at a few tips and strategies to help set your practice up for the right match.
How to Talk About Practice Culture Effectively
Practices do not need to be perfect, but they do need to present themselves honestly and professionally.
Be specific.
Instead of saying you have a “great culture,” explain what that actually means.
- What does a typical day feel like?
- How does your team work together?
- How are patient care decisions handled?
Talk about your team.
Candidates notice staff dynamics immediately. It’s important to discuss your existing team in a positive and honest light. If your front desk is exceptional, say so. If your optical staff has been with you for eight years, mention it. Longevity says a lot about practice.
Your Online Reputation
Today’s candidates research practices long before responding to a job posting. Google reviews, website, social presence, and office environment all influence recruiting outcome. Strong patient reviews that mention doctors, staff, and the overall experience help reinforce your credibility with candidates before they ever speak with you.
Tip: Ask established patients or patients that speak positively about their experience to review your practice on google.
Let candidates experience the environment.
A thoughtful site visit often tells candidates more than any job description can.
Great site visits include a community tour, genuine face time with the doctors and staff, and honest conversations about workflow, culture, and expectations.
Before they arrive:
- Let your staff know someone is visiting
- Make sure the office is clean, organized, and presentation-ready
- Review your equipment and be prepared to highlight the technology and tools available
- Have an itinerary for the visit, Don’t wing it!
- Prepare production numbers
Compensation:
Competitive compensation is rarely just about the starting number. Our recruiters advise practices to focus on explaining the full financial picture:
- What can a productive OD realistically earn after one, three, and five years?
- How does production work?
- Is the patient schedule already established?
- Average Productions
- What benefits are included?
- What is the cost of living in the area?
Compensation expectations have risen since COVID. Higher student debt loads (which can exceed $200,000 for recent graduates) mean new grads are entering the market more financially aware and more selective about offers. Most candidates expect competitive base salaries, production incentives, and transparency around earning potential.
Quantify Your Benefits Package:
One of the most underused tools in private practice recruiting is showing candidates what their total package is actually worth.
A $120,000 salary with strong benefits, retirement match, malpractice coverage, CE allowance, and predictable scheduling may provide better overall value than a higher base with limited support.
Do the math and show it. Candidates, especially new grads with debt, will appreciate the transparency. Here are the sought after benefits OD’s are looking for.
- Paid time off and predictable scheduling
- 401(k) with employer match
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- Licensing fee and professional dues coverage
- Malpractice insurance
- Continuing education (CE) allowance
- Student loan assistance or tuition reimbursement (differentiator for new grads)
Recruiter Insight: Different things matter more to different candidates. Some will accept a lower salary for more vacation days or a four-day workweek. Some care more about the 401(k) match than the base. Ask what matters most, listen, and be flexible where you can.
Location:
Location is one of the biggest factors in any job decision. While a candidate’s geographic preferences are often influenced by things outside of a practice’s control, such as family ties or a spouse’s career, practices should still highlight the strengths of their location and community when recruiting.
Sell More Than the Job. Sell the Life.
When you recruit, paint an honest picture of what life looks like outside the office:
- What is the community like? Is it a place where someone could put down roots, raise a family, be near aging parents?
- What are the schools like? For candidates with or planning to have children, this matters enormously.
- What is there to do nearby? Outdoor activities, restaurants, arts, sports. These aren’t trivial, they shape whether someone feels at home.
- Is the cost of living reasonable relative to the compensation? A $130,000 salary in a rural Midwestern market may provide a better quality of life than $155,000 in a major coastal city.
Pay structure is directly tied to your location. Proximity to other practices, and city centers. Rural and suburban practices often need stronger guaranteed salaries to attract candidates, while urban markets may rely more on production-based models due to patient volume.
Recruiter tip: If a candidate mentions hobbies like hiking or golf, highlight local attractions and activities near your practice to help them picture life in the area.
Deal-Breakers:
Our recruiters see strong candidates walk away for reasons that have nothing to do with salary or location. Here are the most common ones.
Schedule Expectations
Schedule is no longer a secondary detail. For many optometrists, it’s one of the first things they evaluate when considering a role.
Recent graduates in particular are placing a higher priority on work-life balance and predictable scheduling. One of the most common deal breakers our team hears most is Saturday and late night requirements.
Practices that are upfront about schedule expectations early build significantly more trust with candidates. If Saturdays are required, say so immediately. If flexibility exists over time, explain what that path looks like. Clarity matters more than trying to sell the role.
Clinical Autonomy
Clinical autonomy continues to be one of the strongest differentiators private practices can offer. Most optometrists want the ability to practice full-scope optometry and make independent clinical decisions, and they want the practice to support that.
If your practice offers specialty care, growth opportunities, or a path to ownership, make that clear during recruitment.
Equipment:
Candidates are accustomed to current technology. If your practice has outdated equipment, they will notice during a site visit and it will factor into their decision. Most candidates, especially those looking to practice full-scope, are looking for practices with OCT and Visual Field imaging at the very least.
Do an honest audit of what needs to be updated before you go to market. If upgrades are planned, or if your practice is willing to invest in new equipment for the right candidate, say so explicitly.
Mentorship and Growth Opportunities
For new graduates, mentorship can be one of the most valuable parts of an offer. Many newer ODs want guidance as they transition into independent practice, especially in medical optometry, specialty care, or complex patient cases. At ETS Vision, we regularly see specialty and growth opportunities become the deciding factor for residency-trained candidates evaluating multiple offers.
Slow communication
One of the biggest mistakes practices make is slow communication.
Strong candidates are often considering multiple opportunities at the same time. Delayed responses, unclear next steps, or long gaps between conversations can quickly create uncertainty and give other practices the opportunity to move ahead.
Lack of Flexibility
Some practices lose strong candidates over $5,000–$15,000 in base salary. Long-term, a productive OD generates multiples of that in a single year. Flexibility at the margins is almost always worth it when you have the right candidate.
The Bottom Line
Most practice owners and managers are already stretched thin. Adding recruiting on top of patient care, operations, and staff management can quickly become overwhelming. Ultimately, that is where ETS Vision comes in.
We help practices identify and connect with qualified candidates early, drawing from the largest vision-specific database in the country with more than 10,000 candidate touches each month across calls, email, text, social media, and direct outreach.
Every candidate is personally interviewed and vetted before being presented to a practice. We focus on fit, matching candidates and practices based on clinical philosophy, schedule preferences, personality, culture, and long-term goals. That is why so much of our business comes from repeat clients and referrals.
What Do Optometrists Want in a Job Offer?
The most sought-after optometrists are not simply chasing the highest salary. They are looking for:
- A practice culture they align with
- Clinical autonomy
- Competitive compensation
- Work-life balance
- Long-term stability
- Geographic fit
- A team they genuinely enjoy working with
Practices that understand these priorities attract better candidates and build stronger, longer-lasting teams.
Why the Right Hire Matters
Filling a position is not the goal. Building lasting alignment between a candidate and a practice is. Our daily work with private practices, ODs, and ophthalmology groups across the country gives us real-time insight into what candidates want and how practices can compete for top talent. The practices that consistently attract the best ODs know what makes their opportunity unique and lead with it throughout the entire hiring process, not just at the offer stage.
Ready to find the right addition to your team? Reach out to our team to get started.
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Article written with insights from the ETS Vision team: Marc Arrington, Sheri Beveridge, and Katie Mares. No AI was used in the creation of this content.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What do optometrists look for in a job offer?
A: Optometrists are looking for more than just salary. Most candidates prioritize location, clinical autonomy, competitive compensation, predictable scheduling, and a benefits package that supports long-term stability. The strongest offers combine competitive pay with an environment where ODs can practice to the full extent of their license and feel genuinely valued. Knowing exactly what candidates are weighing and why is something ETS Vision brings to every search.
Q: Is salary the most important factor for optometrist candidates?
A: No. While compensation matters, most optometrists are equally focused on practice culture, clinical autonomy, schedule predictability, and long-term opportunity. We speak with thousands of ODs every month and the pattern is consistent: candidates who feel genuinely aligned with a practice are far more likely to accept an offer and stay long term.
Q: What schedule expectations do optometrists have?
A: Schedule is now one of the first things candidates evaluate, particularly recent graduates. Predictable hours and work-life balance are top priorities, and Saturday requirements are among the most common deal-breakers we see. Getting schedule expectations on the table early is something we always encourage
Q: How important is clinical autonomy to optometrists?
A: Very important. It is one of the strongest differentiators private practices have over corporate groups. Most optometrists want to practice full-scope optometry and make independent clinical decisions, and they want a practice that supports that. We help practices lead with that advantage so it reaches the candidates who value it most.
Q: How important is work-life balance to OD candidates?
A: Extremely important, especially among newer graduates. Optometrists are increasingly selective about how their schedule fits into their personal life. Practices that offer predictable hours, reasonable patient loads, and flexibility over time consistently attract stronger candidates and keep them longer.
Q: What is the biggest recruiting mistake private practices make?
A: Hiring the wrong person for the right role. Moving too quickly to fill a seat without clearly defining clinical philosophy, long-term goals, and team fit almost always leads to a placement that does not last. The second biggest mistake is moving too slowly once the right candidate is identified. We help practices avoid both by screening candidates and facilitating communication flow.
Q: How do I define my ideal OD candidate before recruiting?
A: Start by answering three questions: What is your clinical philosophy? What are the long-term goals for this position? And will this person genuinely fit your team? At ETS Vision, we call this the Big Three Match. We walk every practice through this before a search begins because the clarity it creates changes every conversation that follows.
Q: How important is personality fit when hiring an optometrist?
A: Just as important as clinical skills. A strong resume does not guarantee a strong fit with patients, staff, or the team dynamic. Because we personally interview and vet every candidate before a practice ever meets them, cultural and personality fit are already part of the equation by the time introductions happen.
Q: How do I communicate my practice culture to OD candidates?
A: Be specific and honest. Instead of saying you have a great culture, describe what a typical day actually feels like, how decisions get made, and what your team is like. We help practices find the language to communicate what makes their environment genuinely unique, because that specificity is what resonates with the right candidates.
Q: How much flexibility should I have on base salary when recruiting an OD?
A: More than most practices think. Some lose the right candidate over $5,000 to $15,000 in base salary. A productive OD generates multiples of that difference in a single year. When the fit is right, flexibility at the margins almost always pays off. We help practices see that bigger picture when compensation conversations get stuck.
Q: How do I sell my practice location to an out-of-area candidate?
A: Sell the life, not just the job. What is the community like? What are the schools, outdoor activities, and cost of living like? Is it a place where someone could put down roots, be near family, or feel genuinely at home? Candidates who connect with where they are going are far more likely to stay. We help practices tell that story in a way that feels real, not like a sales pitch.
Q: How does ETS Vision vet and interview optometry candidates?
A: Every candidate is personally interviewed by our team before being presented to a practice. We assess clinical background, career goals, personality, and cultural fit so that when we make an introduction, both sides are already well positioned for a real conversation. Practices are not sorting through resumes. They are meeting candidates who have already been evaluated for fit.
Q: How does ETS Vision find passive OD candidates?
A: We draw from the largest vision-specific database in the country and make more than 10,000 candidate touches each month across calls, email, text, social media, and direct outreach. A significant portion of the candidates we place were not actively looking when we first connected with them. That access to passive candidates is one of the most valuable things we bring to a search.
Q: Why do private practices lose candidates to corporate groups?
A: Most often it comes down to speed, flexibility, and clarity. Corporate groups move fast and make clean offers. Private practices that clearly articulate their long-term opportunity, stay responsive, and show reasonable flexibility on compensation are very capable of winning that competition. We help practices do exactly that.
Q: How has optometrist compensation changed since COVID?
A: Expectations have risen significantly. Student debt loads exceeding $200,000 have made new graduates more financially aware and more selective. Most candidates now expect competitive base salaries, production incentives, and honest transparency around earning potential. We help practices understand where the market is so their offers land competitively from the start.
Q: How do I structure an optometrist compensation package?
A: Lead with the full financial picture, not just the base. What can a productive OD realistically earn after one, three, and five years? How does production work? We help you build a package that is both attractive and sustainable.
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