2. Maine
$174,452
Avg. Salary
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a general surgery physician assistant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $36.56 an hour? That's $76,041 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 31% and produce 37,000 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many general surgery physician assistants have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, compassion and detail oriented.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a general surgery physician assistant, we found that a lot of resumes listed 24.4% of general surgery physician assistants included surgery, while 19.2% of resumes included patient care, and 9.0% of resumes included clinical staff. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the general surgery physician assistant job title. But what industry to start with? Most general surgery physician assistants actually find jobs in the health care and education industries.
If you're interested in becoming a general surgery physician assistant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 27.8% of general surgery physician assistants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 58.3% of general surgery physician assistants have master's degrees. Even though most general surgery physician assistants have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a general surgery physician assistant. When we researched the most common majors for a general surgery physician assistant, we found that they most commonly earn master's degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on general surgery physician assistant resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a general surgery physician assistant. In fact, many general surgery physician assistant jobs require experience in a role such as physician assistant. Meanwhile, many general surgery physician assistants also have previous career experience in roles such as family practice physician assistant or emergency medicine, physician assistant.
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Durham, NC • Private
Ann Arbor, MI • Public
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Ithaca, NY • Private
Chapel Hill, NC • Public
Evanston, IL • Private
Washington, DC • Private
Nashville, TN • Private
Medford, MA • Private
Gainesville, FL • Public
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 24.4% of general surgery physician assistants listed surgery on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and compassion are important as well.
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a general surgery physician assistant. The best states for people in this position are Hawaii, North Dakota, Minnesota, and South Dakota. General surgery physician assistants make the most in Hawaii with an average salary of $211,225. Whereas in North Dakota and Minnesota, they would average $192,204 and $185,600, respectively. While general surgery physician assistants would only make an average of $174,781 in South Dakota, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. North Dakota
$192,204
Avg. Salary
2. Maine
$174,452
Avg. Salary
3. Minnesota
$185,601
Avg. Salary