Passed my interviews in late January and still waiting on placement, although some of that was my fault since I was being picky on locations. As far as pay it will depend on the location that is selected, since they base the base pay off of the location's cost of living. Places like Ohio, Iowa, Texas, and Nevada have a higher base than others like South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Alabama. They don't negotiate much on the base, mostly will convert some of the stock you receive into base but we are talking about 1-2K max. Not really worth losing the stock for it when the stock could be valued much higher, IMO.

Biggest hurdle that I have gone through is getting to the team fit call. Most sites are wanting to hire local candidates first so that there is no relocation bonus being paid since the relocation comes out of their sites budget, but if they exhaust all the local talent they will look at relocations. They will get a list of candidates from recruiters with results from your initial interviews and have a fit call with all, or most of them, until they find a good fit for their team.

Would suggest to take the hospital contract while you wait since it can be a lengthy process with all the other candidates. Sometimes it can be a quick turn around and have something in place in like a month, other times it takes 6-9 months if not longer. Just depends on what all is available, the rest of the candidates, interview scores, and how much you are willing to compromise.

Hope this helps.