Is going straight from nursing school to nurse supervisor a good career choice?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

An acquaintance of mine graduated from nursing school a couple years ago and straight out of nursing school she snagged a LTC supervisor job, stayed in that position for a year and recently got promoted to nurse manager. I was thinking that may be a good career path for me because I heard she makes pretty good money and I need all the money I can get, but is it a cop out? I want to be the best nurse I can be. Do you think going straight to a leadership role that doesn't give me direct contact with patients will jeopardize any chances of being a front line nurse, if I would chose a different nursing position in the future? I didn't want to ask her because I didn't want to insult her, so any thought or experiences on this would be nice. Thank you!

This is a total joke, right? A re-stated, "My friend said ..." that's really a homework question you're supposed to research?

The only hints I'll give you:

Would you want your child's school principal never to have taught in front of a classroom?

Would you want your bank president never to have worked in a branch?

Would you want the director of the zoo never to have worked with the animals?

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.

Do you feel like you have the clinical skills to be a leader? Have you ever had to manage people? Do you know how to work with agencies that have oversight of LTC facilities? Have you ever hired, disciplined, or fired anyone? Are you capable of being the "go-to" person for all kinds of problems?

It's a real question. The women I'm referring to got the job when she was only 22 with no experience. I figure if she can do it, why can't I ? Do nursing homes usually hire young new grads as supervisors and promote them to managers or is this a one time occurrence ? Will she still learn valuable nursing skills or is it a dead end job that she'll be stuck with? I would like to start off in the path similar to her because I can use the money to pay off loans, but one day I would like to give front line patient care.

Specializes in Cath/EP lab, CCU, Cardiac stepdown.

Let's have you use your own critical thinking skills to figure this out. If you have trouble with this one question yourself, wait till you get all the other questions as a person in a leadership position.

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

The only places that would do such a thing (e.g. hire someone with no experience to be a leader) would be the type of place few people would be willing to work -- and few people would want their loved-one to be a patient there.

If they can't get an experienced nurse to take the job and have to hire a new grad ... they must be pretty desperate. There must be a reason why no experienced nurse would take the job.

... And you are right in thinking that it would limit your ability to get other types of jobs in the future. Such a job would not give you bedside skills that serve as the foundation for many other types of jobs.

Specializes in Telemetry.

Oh boy. Well, I think the direct patient care part should REALLY come first.

If this is common practice it needs to stop. And BTW do you think somehow nurses WITH experience wouldn't want jobs that pay well? I would certainly rather pay an experienced nurse well and hope he/she earned it by doing well in leadership and supervisory roles.

It's a real question. The women I'm referring to got the job when she was only 22 with no experience. I figure if she can do it, why can't I ? Do nursing homes usually hire young new grads as supervisors and promote them to managers or is this a one time occurrence ? Will she still learn valuable nursing skills or is it a dead end job that she'll be stuck with? I would like to start off in the path similar to her because I can use the money to pay off loans, but one day I would like to give front line patient care.

OK, I'll play this straight. They hire new grads because they can get them cheap and they couldn't get anybody with experience for the ridiculous pay and the crappy work conditions.

It won't be a dead-end job-- she'll be out of there in a year, year and a half, max. Ask how long the previous one was there. And the one before that. And the one before that.

You do not want this job. There's nothing like being incompetent in a job with more responsibility than you're qualified for, trying to lead people with more experience than you have and who are openly contemptuous of your naivete, and constant worries about being found out and blamed for things you have no way of foreseeing or fixing, to make for sleepless nights wondering how soon the state will recommend the place be closed... will it be before or after you lose your license?

I realize its not a usual occurrence. My acquaintance has no leadership skills at all and she seemed to do well. I was just curious if anyone knew anyone else's experience with this.

Specializes in Telemetry.

Before I was a nurse I was a case manager in community mental health. One of my colleagues was offered, and accepted a position of mgmt in another local company. He had no mgmt experience but hoped he would do well because he was a good worker.

Fast forward to just a day or two after he started.....BAM company is in all sorts of legal trouble and even though he'd *just* started he had to deal with it all.

Yep, he'd been set up to take the fall. It was awful.

I realize its not a usual occurrence. My acquaintance has no leadership skills at all and she seemed to do well. I was just curious if anyone knew anyone else's experience with this.

It is not, alas, uncommon. As to our experience, I believe you have heard it.

Thank you for giving me a real answer instead of trying to make me feel incompetent. I appreciate it. I was just curious. I kind of figured what I knew the answer would be, but just wanted other opinions. She was only in the supervisor position for a year and already got promoted to manager. I was just curious if it was a good move in terms of being a front line nurse in the long run or if she made the bad decision although it seems like she's doing okay right now. I just don't want to make the same mistake.

+ Add a Comment