Experienced RN and Too Many Opportunities are Making Me a Job Hopper!

[westieluv]

I know, I know, the irony of having "too many" job opportunities on a forum where a lot of new grads come to lament the fact that they don't have any options. My post just goes to prove that once you have years of experience, there are plenty of jobs out there for you.

I have been an RN for 23 years. I worked at a hospital in my area for several years back in the '90s and early "00s. I took off roughly from 2003-2010 to stay home with our kids, and returned to the workplace in 2010. The problem that I have is that, basically, having too many job opportunities has made me a job hopper in recent years. Since 2010 I have worked at four different jobs. I left each for various reasons and because it has always been extremely easy to find another one almost immediately. Now I need some advice.

I became a certified Hospice and Palliative Care Nurse last year when I was working at my second of two hospice jobs. I love hospice and really feel that it is my niche in nursing and where I do my best work. I left my first hospice job because I was an after hours on-call nurse which involved perusing a territory that covered seven counties every night that I worked. I live in the northern U.S., so a combination of dangerous driving conditions in the middle of the night and putting hundreds of miles on my new car every week caused me to seek another job. I found a job right away with a smaller hospice company, but it was a desk job and I missed patient care terribly, so I left after nine months to work for the internal float pool of a large healthcare company in my area. After six months there, my husband got laid off and I was forced to find a position with benefits, which that job did not offer. I wanted to get a full-time job at the inpatient hospice residence of the company that I worked for, but they didn't have anything at the time, so someone contacted me about a full-time hemodialysis position with a different company, and I thought, "Well, what the heck, I'll learn a new skill that is in demand and have benefits for our family." It has been several months, and I'll just say that I found out that hemodialysis is not a great fit for me for various reasons. The icing on this cake is that the inpatient hospice that I wanted to work for before the dialysis job posted a couple of full-time positions, I applied on a whim, and they called today while I was at my current job expressing an interest in me.

Long story short: My recent background makes me a job hopper, unfortunately. However...hospice is my true love and I so want to at least interview for this position. To tell the truth, I never thought they would call me after they saw how many jobs I've had in a relatively short period of time, but I am ecstatic that they did.

So...what would you do? Would you pursue the hospice job that you really want, or stay with your current job that you don't like, that stresses you out to the point of having constant IBS symptoms and dreading going to work, to have some continuity and longevity somewhere? I am embarrassed to be seeking employment with my job hopper track record, but if they don't care...then...well, what would you do???

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

I am embarrassed to be seeking employment with my job hopper track record but if they don't care...then...well, what would you do???[/quote']

I highlighted this last statement from your post is because I feel myself getting to this point myself; I am 1 year nurse but have such a depth of experience as a LPN for 7 years; I am marketable enough to get offers; I fear to go down the path of being a job hopper; unfortunately life circumstances and the current economy doesn't help either.

Because of your vast experience, is it possible to do local travel? I am seriously considering this myself-it gives the benefit of doing what I like, not to look like a job hopper, and a networking opportunity to help me secure my "niche" position. Most of the agencies I've had signed up for and remain with currently have healthcare and retirement, and a good track record of benefits and work. The only downside may be if there may be a lack of work, though.

If I were in your shoes, I would evaluate what I was looking for in terms of that niche position; if there was an available job that I could take that would lead to that position, and stay there enough time that if that job didn't show up for years, I would still be comfortable in working in that particular position.

OTOH, if the job opportunity came up, I would take the position.

[sengtheking]

Can I borrow some of your experience so I can get hire?? I wish to be in your shoe because I'm a new grad and there's no job for me. No employer will even look at my resume after knowing that I'm a new grad. HELP!!!!!!!!!!

[sunmaidliz]

I think you need to sit down with a cup of pumpkin coffee and a fabric covered journal and do some soul searching to figure out what it is you REALLY want.

As a new grad who would KILL to have your problem, all I want to do is punch you in the face. BUUUUTTT, it's good to know that once you get the experience under your belt, the doors are wide open. So, I will read your post and refrain from rolling my eyes.

It sounds like you have grabbed at any job instead of finding a job that fits your needs. Before you apply for a job, call HR and ask about the job. If you don't like to drive, don't take a driving job. If a job doesn't do a lot of direct patient care, don't take it. You have the luxury to be picky so figure out what you want, what your needs are, and find THAT job, instead of being the frog that smacked it's tongue at the first bug that flew by.

That's where the pumpkin coffee and the fabric colored journal comes in. Figure out what you REALLY want and what it is you need. Continuity and longevity is a good thing, but it's good personally. If you've been a nurse for as long as you say you have, you are probably in the zone where you have to start thinking about retirement and savings. Continuity and longevity will be good for that. So figure out what you want, search for it, get it, and KEEP it. And live out your nursing career with seniority. After all, you don't want to be bottom of the totem pole forever. Job hopping doesn't keep you from getting jobs, but it seems to me that always being a newbie can't have a lot of job satisfaction. And above all, that's all a person ever wants. Stability and contentment.

Wait, those are MY goals!