I passed my test on Monday...so I am a brand spankin new CNA. I went on an interview yesterday and they called today to tell me they would like me to come in to start the tb test, drug testing. They are offering a pt Sat, Sun everyother Monday shift. I need days because I have kids and my husband works nights. I just don't know if I want to work every single weekend. I don't know how I would ever be able to visit family..etc. My goal of course is to become full time. I was told at my interview that if I take this shift I can go on a waiting list for full time. (they could not give me any idea of how long this waiting list would be!!) I don't know if I should wait to see if I get any other replies from any of the other app's I turned into other places or settle for pt weekends for now and hope it works out....so confused!!

It sounds like you can do for a while until something better come along. If you want the job your family will have to put on hold for a while. All nurse have to do it once in awhile. Just tell your self, " It's only for the time being. You whole life is not going to be forever. My advise take the job,.

Thank you...thats kind of what I have been thinking. Maybe atleast through the summer and it'll give me the experience I need too.

Hi, I am an experienced nursing aide who's been out of the workforce for awhile and just gotten back into it and I took a job at an AFH working weekends so I am kind of in the same boat as you. Except that I don't want full-time and have no kids; just a LT boyfriend and lots of nieces and nephews. One good thing about only working weekends is that you don't get burned out as fast and you have a whole week, (well four/five days) to spend with friends and family and rest up before going back to work on Saturday. (I have to do sleepovers so I'm actually at work from Friday 8pm til Monday 8am). Just enjoy the PT weekend shift and being about to spend time at home, etc on the week days until you get to FT and remember fondly those weeks off! I know its a fine balance between needing money to take care of family and time to spend nurturing your family. Good luck to you!

~Ami

Thank you Ami. I agree. I was thinking that starting parttime might be best to start for that reason too. Guess the Sunday dinners with the inlaws will have to be on hold until I get full time and start every other weekend....hopefully sooner rather than later. I appreciate the reply.

I agree with the others, that though this will take some sacrifice, in the long run this will help you in the job market. For most places you need some experience if you want to get hired into a full-time position right off the bat- it's an unwritten qualification that I've discovered through chatting with my coworkers. When I applied for the job that I have now (which is my first CNA job) I pretty much just applied on a whim- it's a hospital with a high reputation, and I honestly didn't think I had a snowball's chance in hell at getting the job- I'd applied to every other place around and gotten nary a call back.... but with this place, I turned my frustration into a positive. I wrote a very convincing cover letter explaining why I deserved a chance at the job, and I was hired on the spot during my interview. I accepted a part time position (24 hours a week), and after 3 months, I was promoted to full time. I think back on it now and thank GOD that I didn't get those jobs that I applied for now at the other places, because I love where I work

Best of luck girl!

When I first got my CNA, it was hard to get places to even interview me. My first couple of jobs were definitely learning experiences. Any type of experience is good, unless you feel like you're being asked to do anything beyond your capacity or scope of care. I think it really depends on where you live. I live near a large urban area, so getting into acute care is more challenging. They want at least a year of CNA experience, sometimes acute experience specifically. That's sort of a catch 22 if you just got your CNA. Just be patient, and research the places you apply for. Hope that helps, good luck.