Feeling Homesick

petunia2016 · Aug 24, 2009

A friend of mine moved away to Texas to work in a hospital. After eight months there, she had to move back for a family emergency. She was able to get a job on the Big Island. I think it depends where you want to work, though.

WindwardOahuRN, RN · Aug 24, 2009

Born and raised in HI, I made the difficult decision to move out of the islands to pursue my nursing career and now I've been working at a great hospital in the area I've always wanted to work in, pediatrics. Though I love working where I'm at, I still feel very, very homesick. My intention was to always comeback home, but I'm not too sure the amount of experience I need to make myself marketable as an "experienced" nurse. I've heard six months? a year? two years? I've also heard that well experienced nurses are having hard time to find jobs in HI.
Also, i was wondering what is the current job rate in HI. Thanks.

You might try Shriner's or Kapiolani if you are doing Peds. The fact that you are a local will definitely give you an edge if there are openings. Kudos to you for having the gumption to venture out to the Mainland and get some experience. It will serve you well. Definitely a plus.

I'm not sure what you mean by "current job rate in HI." Unemployment rate? High. Higher on the neighbor islands than on Oahu but still very high.

Yes, you heard right about the situation regarding experienced nurses here. I know more than a few who were doing agency work (choose your own hours, work when you want, off to the beach when the surf is up...) and when the agency work dried up, they were trying to get FT positions in hospitals. SURPRISE!!! The jobs were few and far between and often were positions that had gone unfilled because they were "undesirable"---off shifts, lousy units, etc. Totally unexpected, a major reality check.

I wish you good luck. Hurry home....:)

thekid · Aug 25, 2009

I hope you can make it back home, I'm sure the opportunity will come up for you.

thekid · Aug 25, 2009

I'm not sure if you would consider agency work, maybe you have family to stay with here until you get started or find something full time? But I think Nursefinders was recently hiring for home care work and they wanted experience with peds. It might at least be a start.

jerrycRN · Sep 10, 2009

Hey thanks for all the advice...im pretty much stuck here for the next two years because i've commited myself for two years because of the training the hospital provided me...i think its starting to look like a 3 year plan (i recently bought a car here)...but hopefully the job market will turn around in a couple of years so that i can return back home...

Lisa From Maui · Sep 15, 2009

dear howzit:

i can absolutely relate to you being homesick. am there. doing that.

i disagree with the kid. i have seen, many times, that even though a person has the best of intentions, and lots of hope, oppportunities often do not come up. i have seem people invest alot of time, $$$ and effort into option a, and then when option a does not work, i have seen them crushed.

i would suggest that you stay on the mainland for another 2-3 years...

keep getting experience in your specialty...

maybe get experience in a different specialty...

become more marketable...

wait for the economy to improve...

and then move back to the islands.

have you thought about a 2 week vacation to hawai'i?? it might help re-energize you, recharge your batteries, so you have the strength to continue living on the mainland.

lisa ;-)

jerrycRN · Sep 20, 2009

Thanks Lisa for the advice..I'm actually here in Hawaii for a little R and R and vacation..Being home for a short time makes me miss everything I loved about Hawaii...My plan was to actually work in the mainland for 3 years and I truly hope and pray that there will be opportunities in the future for nurses...cause I really would like to come back permanentely..