So I have been a nurse for only about 4 years and am trying to get out. I hate inpatient nursing, am stuck in psych which I did not choose outright...it chose me after 2 years of looking for a first nursing job. Tons of applications to anything else outpatient or desk job or other areas outside of psych have proved fruitless. No callbacks because I've been stuck in psych too long which holds very little medical experience since most patients are walking/talking. No IVs or catheters. I don't even want another nursing job unless it is outpatient or a desk job, because I don't like the work environment of a hospital nurse...working holidays, chronic short staffing, endless requests to pickup extra shifts, rude doctors, violent, drug seeking patients...etc. Because of my lack of years of experience, non-direct care jobs are nearly impossible. So I've been seeking to go back to my old career in accounting.
Now, in that arena, I am unable to get anyone to even give me the time of day for an interview, even though I have over 15 years experience in accounting, and have only been out of it for 4 years. That's why I'm trying to go back now, before it gets to be 5 or more years. I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place. I hate inpatient nursing to death and can't see myself spending another 15 or more years in it before I can retire but I cant seem to get to a better situation because of my lack of experience. And from what I hear often from this site and everywhere is that inpatient nursing is the same wherever you go, just in psych we get the most aggressive patients.
So my main question is has anyone had success leaving nursing and going BACK to an old career? What did you do to transition back? The feedback I got from one recruiter is "the concern is that you are a career changer, going back and it raises flags for some and the pay will be lower". My response is sometimes money isn't everything and a lower stress work environment would be worth it.
