Strategies for negotiating preemployment agreements

Student preemployment agreements are an emerging form of employee-sponsored financial support for students. Forms of financial support for students include the preemployment agreement, sign-on bonus, employment bonus, scholarship, loan, stipend, and grant. Various professional, legal, and ethical issues are involved in the student-employer negotiation of the preemployment agreements. Students may consider financial support for education, type of practice setting, or location of future employment as primary benefits of preemployment agreements. Fieldwork facilities may identify therapist recruitment as the primary goal when offering a financial incentive to a student. Academic fieldwork coordinators may list preservation of the therapist-student relationship or adherence to the fieldwork agreement reached between the academic program and the fieldwork facility as a primary goal. In this article, guidelines for the practical use of preemployment agreements are outlined for use by students and professionals in academic and practice settings.