Need advice on new psych job offer

Nurses Career Support

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Specializes in Memory care, Psych, Med Surg.

i have been working as an lpn in a ltc setting for the past 7 months. after hating it at first, i've grown to really enjoy my job over the past several months and feel very comfortable there. i am also in rn school and scheduled to graduate later this year. i am really hoping to get into a hospital after i finish my rn, but jobs for new grad nurses are very scarce right now. anyway, i just received an offer to work as an lpn in an acute care psych/detox unit within a very large hospital network. i would love to get in with this network as they own several hospitals, outpatient facilities etc. and transferring/moving up within the network is very doable, however, i really have never shown much of an interest in psych (i'm actually kind of scared of it) and the offer is for overnights which i have never worked. i just really don't know if i should leave my relatively easy alf job and take the plunge with this job. i feel it would help me in the long run when applying for acute care hospital jobs, esp being an internal applicant, but i do not want to be "stuck" in psych if i indeed do not wish to stay. i also would be sad to leave my current job, as they've been so flexible with my schedule for school and i really love my coworkers. any advice?

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What specialty in their network would interest you?

It is your call, staying with your present job appears to be

less stressful with the schedule of work and school.

Looking before you leap is smart. I have found even in good times,

once on evening or nights it is difficult to move because they

are not popular shifts.

The key statement "I have been offered" a job means you are an

attractive applicant. Any way to let them know you are interested

(fill in the blank specialty you are interested in) and that 11-7 shift

does not fit with school.

If they are a large network, this may work. You do not want to start

in Jan/Feb in Psych and transfer out to another floor top quickly.

Sounds like a hospital you could settle at for quite a while if the

job is the one you love. Hoping they have something closer to

your dream job.

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Specializes in Memory care, Psych, Med Surg.

I honestly really would love to work in OB. That's really the only speciality I have been "drawn" to so to speak and the whole reason I went to nursing school. (this is a second degree for me) I just would love to get in with this network because they are so huge and have so many hospitals, outpatient facilities, Dr offices etc. of every specialty out there. I would feel bad though accepting this job knowing that I want to transfer out after a year. (I don't graduate til November) I guess I have a tough decision to make. I just feel that my current job at the ALF isn't really advancing me in any way.

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Its a different economic climate for sure today. If you can handle the

night shifts with school and you feel this job is the basic step

to get into the hospital network, then go for it.

Just take it one step at a time. I would not leave less than one

year in the network for another position, but see if quietly you can take some

seminars in OB. I would keep my plans totally under wraps.

I have seen good nurses denied positions and others favored and

moved around ad lib. Keep your eye on the postings and when the

time is right, start your plan to depart to OB.

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