Will this reflect negative upon me?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Assisted Living, Med-Surg/CVA specialty.

I am a new LPN.. Got my license in January.

I was in RN school also at the time when I got my license, so I didn't get my first job until May when the semester was over. I worked full time over the summer at an ALF which was horrible. They cleaned house soon after I got there b/c of the millions of problems they had (the place uses Med Techs, so there were only 3 nurses including myself). When they cleaned house, they fired the other 2 nurses (DON & ADON) and the administrator (after a very dramatic time where there were 3 occurences of stolen narcs .. ADON came in drunk supposedly on her day off... & ADON was apparently changing MARs and such without a MDs order). They replaced them but I was carrying most of the weight and getting minimal help from the other nurses when I asked. None of them even bothered to ask me how the things were organized (like who has an appt with the in house doc) and when I tried to show them I got blown off.

I turned in my 2 weeks and left right before my next semester of school started.

I got a job at another ALF where I've been working since August/September. This place works much better but the administrator is a... well, we won't go there :). I am basically "PRN" during school and only work Sat & Sun, 8 hour shifts.

I am HOPEFULLY!!! finishing RN school and my last day is Friday. I will be picking up more hours at work so I guess I am going from PRN to Part Time, since they fired 1 nurse and another quit soon thereafter.

I will hopefully be able to sit for my boards in January. I applied to a local hospital to their med surg unit, but I didn't know if me "job hopping" would be very negative. I mean, I know it's not a good thing but I have a very valid reason to have quit my first job and the reason I am lookin into the hospital is that I want to go there while everything in my mind is still fresh rather than maybe a year or so from now when I may have forgotten quite a bit.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

While you are in school there is nobody that will accuse you of "job-hopping." Perfectly acceptable to say that you worked more hours when you could and when school was busy you didn't

Good luck and congratulations.

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Specializes in Rural Health.

I have yet to find a hospital that frowns upon any amount of "job hopping". Most of the time they are just tickeled pink you want to work for them. My current job was the only job I've had in healthcare that actually checked my employement out and believe me, I've done a lot of job hopping since I started nursing.

Just make sure the hospital has a great new grad orientation and you feel comfortable with the time you will get and you have lots of resources to help you learn to be an RN.

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Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

You could say that you left the first ALF because there was a "change in management." The second ALF has worked well for you while in school, but of course you'd rather work in a hospital once you get your RN license. I think moving from an LPN position in an ALF to a RN position in a hospital is perfectly reasonable and I doubt they'd have a problem with that, at all. As for the other job change, well, there were issues there and it wasn't working well for you.

I don't think your work history should have a negative effect on your chances of getting hired.

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Compared to many others, I don't think you've done that much job hopping. All your moves sounded strategic to me.

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I agree with what all the others have said. I don't think you will have any problem in getting a job.

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Specializes in Assisted Living, Med-Surg/CVA specialty.

Wow, I am really surprised. I don't know, I guess I just figured the HR dept or NM may look down upon that considering I've only been a nurse almost a year and had two jobs.

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Specializes in ICU, CCU, Trauma, neuro, Geriatrics.

Many new nurses move around a bit in their first few years. It is hard to find a job that fits you when you are still learning and don't really know what you want. Try to stay positive in answering the questions of why you changed jobs. I have used "closer to home" and "free parking" along with gaining some management experience for my resume as part of the reason for one job change when in reality it was because the previous place had become frightening with limited supplies and did close about 2 years after I left.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

I don't see any issues; most places are desperate for a licensed person who is breathing. They don't even care if you are healthy. May be a bad thing, but, I would not worry. Congrats on completing the RN program and good luck in your career.

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