We need to respect ourselves

[tiredrn]

Hey, I saw an interesting post from floatesh yesterday... but I don't see it now... I thought the guy had a decent idea...

Wildcat - if you have time to go looking for opportunities with great pay by yourself -- wow, let me in on your secret!!!

I've been lurking on this board so far, but now I have to say my piece:

I think we need to see ourselves differently if we want to earn more money. We need to respect ourselves, see ourselves as professionals with services to offer in response to a market demand. People's demand for our skills should determine our price.

Right now, we see ourselves as "labor", so we think we "deserve" an increase in pay rate, and we just sit around waiting for it to fall into our laps.

We ARE important. The services we offer ARE important. We ARE in demand, and so are our services. I, for one, think it might be a good idea to start marketing our skills and services the way other professionals do.

As for paying someone to find me a job, I think it's kind of like selling a house; you can use the services of a broker, extend your market reach and find a buyer quickly. Or, you can save the broker's fee, find a buyer yourself, and risk having the house stay on the market for a longer time.

Me, I'd rather pay someone to find me a job where I can be happy, well paid, and tired rather than just tired.

[Jenny P]

TiredRN, I think that there may be a connection here; there are many different ways to envision oneself, and if a person sees themselves as "labor", maybe that is why they allow themselves to be exploited in the workplace. I'm not just talking about low salaries; I'm also talking about mandatory overtime, poor staffing, aand disrespect by both the public (including patients, their families, and in the media) and by our employers (and corporate America).

Could it be that nursing has lost ground because we are no longer independant contractors (that is what the private duty nurses really were 100 years ago)? There are independant contractors (Charles S. Smith, RN,MS, where are you?) that visit this BBS. Maybe some of them could point some of the non-union nurses in the right direction (re: salaries, etc.). I think it takes some courage to be an independant contractor; but I KNOW it takes self respect to ask for a higher wage than what is being offered (in a non-union situation).

[This message has been edited by Jenny P (edited April 21, 2001).]