VA Nursing Salary Negotiation

Specialties Government

Updated:   Published

Specializes in Med-Surg., Oncology, Observational Units.

I am being offered a job at the VA medical center. Does anyone know if or how flexible their salary offer is for an experienced staff nurse. Would like to hear any advice or feedback based on your experience when negotiating your salary with the Veterans Administration.

Thanks

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Congrats on the offer! I have moved your post to the Government/Military forum - we have many VA nurses and associated threads in this forum. :)

Edited to add: you might find this thread helpful: https://allnurses.com/government-military-nursing/va-nurse-salary-842932.html

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The quick and dirty answer is "maybe" :)

The pay schedules are pretty well defined, and your degree absolutely matters when assigning a level/grade. If you feel you are offered too low an amount based on what you are currently making, you can always ask the recruiter to bring your proof of pay (stubs) to the Nursing Professional Standards Board that set your wage, to ask for a reconsideration review. If you are being offered MORE than what you are currently making, or the same amount, it's unlikely you will see much if any increase at all.

The Fed. gov't is not allowed to be the highest wage-payer in any given region. It can be competitive, offering the highest --on par--that anyone ELSE offers, but it cannot be more.

That said, I absolutely know of successful negotiations with VA HR during the hiring process: I did it :)

Good luck.

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