Relocating and salary negotiation

Nurseways · May 9, 2018

mmmidori,

My husband and I relocated from Indiana to Florida 4 years ago. I knew the general area where I wanted to work, but I knew nothing about which hospital was a good fit.

I dodged one bullet, that would have been an awful place to work. Long story short, sometimes there is very little wiggle room for negotiation. The Health Care System has an algorithm and that is your offer.

I have three friends that did a travel assignment in our hospital, that ended up getting full-time positions. (Incidentally, they all took huge pay cuts.) But it is a great way to get the feel for an organization and the community.

Are you selling your current home? My husband and I ended up relocating before our Indiana home sold. I reached out to a realtor pal in Florida, and she found us a short-term rental, that was on a month to month bases, and dog-friendly (we have a German Shepard, some complexes don't allow the breed.)

If you do decide to do a travel assignment, you would have a place to live. I'm no expert about taxes. Check with an accountant or lawyer about that.

Best of luck to you as you make this transition!

mmmidori · May 9, 2018

Thank you so much! We rent, so it will ease the transition.

So I guess I won't know until I receive some offers. I am worried about ageism, not wanting to hire me because it's more expensive? For many places it seems they are more concerned with profits. In fact that's part of why we're relocating, there just aren't many opportunities here.

Hopefully the "wiggle room" won't be an issue and I will be paid appropriately according to experience.

As far as travel nursing, it seems to complicate the process from all that I've researched, so I will attempt to be hired somewhere prior to relocating and maybe they'll help reimburse for some of the moving expenses, if I'm lucky :)

Thanks again!

klone, MSN, RN · May 9, 2018

You should be aware that the Denver area has INCREDIBLY low wages in relation to the cost of living.

mmmidori · May 9, 2018

Hopefully it can't be worse than Louisiana? Oh well, we will see. I'm willing to take the risk!

klone, MSN, RN · May 10, 2018

Hopefully it can't be worse than Louisiana? Oh well, we will see. I'm willing to take the risk!

Probably not worse than Louisiana, but housing is astronomical, particularly in relation to wages. We moved from there not quite 2 years ago, and we can no longer afford to purchase a house if we wanted to. Rental is equally dismal.

That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B · May 10, 2018

I'll sell you my house, we are leaving Denver because of what Klone said. It is getting way to expensive here on the peanuts that they offer you. With your experience you might make a decent amount ( more than the terrible offers they give new grads ) but I bet they have a spreadsheet with x years as RN gets paid y.

PeakRN · May 10, 2018

Denver does have a very expensive real estate / rental market, but otherwise isn't really that expensive. Pay is very average, you can basically take the national average and that is about what you can expect to make. If you commute you can lower your housing costs to an extent, although many suburbs are more expensive than Denver itself. Traffic is pretty bad especially around Aurora, if you can keep to the city streets its much better.

Pay depends on the system, but all of the big players don't negotiate a whole lot. There are a lot of shortages for experienced nurses, I doubt you will have any problem getting a job. I would apply to a bunch and see what sticks, you can leverage them against each other but I wouldn't expect the offer to change by more than a dollar or two. There are plenty of new grads, so I would stay in an area you are experienced in.

The biggest way to make good money in Denver is to be unique and irreplaceable. Float pool nurses make substantially more than single unit nurses, typically about $10 more an hour (although some make much more). Same goes for nurses that work in multiple critical care units or are subspecialized in areas like ECMO. I knew one ECMO nurse who pulled 12 K on his biweekly check with over time, call in, and specialty pay.

mmmidori · May 10, 2018

Thanks all! This helps me be more realistic. Thanks for your help!