Any nurses in Seattle who moved here from California?

[chiflavored]

I just got into the New to Acute program at Swedish Hospital! I start on 10/24. I'm super excited for this opportunity because I have been trying to get into acute care for the past 2 years. I started out in dialysis and then moved onto a post acute position. I've been trying like mad to work for a hospital in California, even applying up to 2 hours away from where I lived. That didn't work, so I started applying for Seattle! My husband and I have always wanted to move here. He's been trying to get into a radio tech program in California, but that is super saturated also. When he started applying to Seattle, I took the opportunity to apply for my career as well.

Any way, I wanted to ask how California nurses adjusted to living in Seattle. I know the pay is substantially lower. For example, I'm working here at a post acute care facility and I'm getting paid $39/ hour. The position at Swedish is offering me $33.26/hour with great shift differentials : $2.75 extra for PM, $3.75 extra for NOC, and $4.00 weekend. These can be stacked as well. My other nursing friends are getting paid $50-60 in hospitals. THose in ER at Kaiser are getting paid $70. That's such a huge difference! I mean, either way I'm still super excited for this opportunity. But I'm just curious about how others are doing.

[caliRN91]

Hey!

Congrats on accepting an offer from Swedish! Oncology is a great unit. I'm from CA too (Bay Area), and I'm applying for a new to acute care position at Swedish as well. I actually have a video conference interview with Swedish's General Medical unit in two weeks, ahh so nervous! I was wondering if you could shed some light on moving from CA to WA and how the hiring process was like. My WA license is still "in processing" at the CA BRN; I'm hoping it it'll be ready at least by 10/24. Hope to hear from you!

[chiflavored]

Hey CaliRN91, I haven't moved yet, but Swedish Hospital is offering relocation assistance, which means they'll ship everything for me, including my car, to wherever I want to move. I thought that was super nice. I applied for the endorsement in August, I just got the fingerprinting card today. I will be mailing it out soon. I'm sure I will get a temporary license before 10/24. On the board of nursing california website, there's an area where you can see the times expected for the verification. They were working on August 1-15 last week. Hope this helps

[caliRN91]

Thanks chiflavored! Hope the relocation process is running smoothly. I actually wanted to ask if you had any advice or tips in terms of the interview with the hiring manager. My Skype interview with the manager is tomorrow morning (ahh!) and was hoping you might remember or could share some questions that they asked. Thanks so much!

[jensfbay, BSN, DNP]

I moved here from the bay area 3 years ago. My family was able to buy a house in a decent school district, and we are loving it here. However, I am still working in the bay area 4-5 nightshifts per month because I just cannot justify the pay here anymore. I work in San Francisco per diem and get paid about $100/hour plus differential. Working 4-5 night shifts there is considered full time work here. I know that work situation is not for everybody. I have two young children, and I feel like I get to be with them more because I'm only gone 5 days out of the month, and I'm a stay at home mother for the rest of it. It's really depressing how low the nurses get paid here.