Confused, take LTC/SNF job or just wait

[Meenky23]

I have been job hunting for over 6 months now and I am confused if I should just take the LTC/SNF job I got an offer or just keep waiting. I did have a few interviews but no luck with offers. The reason for this is because I get so nervous during the interview that I look so unconfident and blank out. However, I am improving my skills after doing a couple of interviews.

I am currently working and work for a good hospital company with great benefits for more than a decade but my chance of getting a position is slim because I had the interview already. I have accepted that I will have to work somewhere else to get my acute experience to get back.

I've been reading a lot of articles here about getting into SNF/LTC and they still leave me confused. I do want to take the SNF job because the hours are good and it is a big company too. I am just little worried about being a RN supervisor after my 3 month training ends as I am a new GRAD. I know that if I take the SNF job, it will be very stressful but will be a good learning experience.

Should I just stick around and job hunt for another 6 months or should I just take the job and build my experience. I know for sure that I will be hunting for acute care jobs in the future and might have a hard time since SNF is not acute experience. My spouse tells me to just stick around and keep looking for hospital jobs since I have a job anyways and other say stick to my gut

Please give me your thoughts/advice

[Sour Lemon]

I would take the SNF job. You're going to be an "old" new grad before you know it and that's going to make job seeking even more difficult.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

To borrow TheCommuter's excellent advice from other threads: The SNF job is nursing experience with nursing pay. Not taking a job means no experience and no pay. Also like Sour Lemon said, being an old grad is not a good position to be in; if you held out for 6 more months, I'm assuming that by that time you'll have been out of school for a year (or close, if you started applying before you graduated.) You wouldn't qualify for sought-after hospital new grad programs, and employers would likely doubt your wisdom and dedication with a year off immediately following school. Plus, everything learned in nursing school will get rusty in your brain without practice.

[sunshine5300]

Take the job!!

It's nursing experience. Period.

I am a new grad also and now charge at a LTC. Today I did a blood draw on someone with documented violent tendencies,full head to toe assessment for an admit, communicated with staff about admit, verified too many med orders to count, care planned, met with a nervous family member, met with the dietician, intervened on 3 negative patient behaviors and of course met with the docs who round each day on my unit. As you can see, I used all kinds of skills that I just learned in nursing school. All very valuable experience for the future!!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

To borrow TheCommuter's excellent advice from other threads: The SNF job is nursing experience with nursing pay. Not taking a job means no experience and no pay.

Yep...thanks for paraphrasing my words. Beggars cannot be choosers, especially when they have no chips upon which to bargain.

LTC/SNF supervisory position = RN Pay + RN Experience

Waiting = Low Pay + No Licensed Nursing Experience

[Meenky23]

Thank you for all the response guys. Now I am more focused on what I have and what I don't have. That is, I got a job and work with it to build my experience!!! I'm really sad to leave my job though because I've been there for such a long time and everyone will just not get it why I couldn't get a job there as a nurse. They don't understand my struggle to get in I am still hoping that I get a call from the hospital that I got an interview the same day that I got the SNF job before I start the SNF job. For sure I will take it in a heart beat but if not I will work with what I have.