How important is amount of PAY to you?

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JW how important salary is??? I like this job offer, but the pay isn't so great... it's a $10 difference/hour than from the first offer I could have gotten or what is in the market. Am I'm thinking too much? Of course, everyone wants some $$$. How big should it play a role??? It's like almost a $1,000/month difference.

I've never been in a situation where I've had two RN jobs offering such a diffent payscale. When I was a landscape laborer I ran into this a lot though. My experience:

One job told me I'd basically be pushing a mower 40/hrs a week and Saturday OT was "optional". Another, the one that paid more (not $10 more, but it was a sig. difference) was known for mandatory OT, getting out late on a daily basis and skipping lunch. I took the lower pay, figuring I'd just watch the money closely but be happier. WRONG. The lower paying job was every bit a PIA as the other would have been. They claimed you got out on time every day.............well, sure you did..............IF YOU WORKED LIKE SUPERMAN for eight hours. Most of the time, it was like every other landscape company. I'd get out late every day, saturdays were mandated becasue "too many people are calling off, its your co-workers fault not yours" (I had perfect attendence) and the only reason we got lunch was because the boss was diabetic and couldn't skip it.

So, a little over half way through the season, I switched to the company that paid more. The people at that company were more cheerful, more willing to go the extra mile and saturdays were rarely mandated.

Moral of the story: A lot of businesses will claim "We pay less but have a much better working environment". Its not true in my experience.

Good point eriksoln.

I do agree that you have to be careful of being sold a "bill of goods" based on what you are told in an interview or on a website. I also learned that the hard way. Four hospitals later I now know that ALL of them lied to me. You need to interview as many employees as possible that actually work in the facility AND unit where you are being offered work before making your decision.

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Specializes in Home Care.
public health vs hospital job... pay is definitely different.

just can't really decide if i want to wait around for a NG RN position (grad. dec. 09) or just take the PH job....

The only pay difference you should be looking at is the difference between being unemployed and employed.

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Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.

Big time important. I don't work for free and my accumulated experience and knowledge is gold to me and to my patients. It's validated when physicians and top administrators ask for me to care for their family.

So yeah. Pay me. Big.

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The only pay difference you should be looking at is the difference between being unemployed and employed.

This might apply if she only had one offer. Besides, there are a lot of new grads who post here about how they need to quit their first job after only a few days/weeks/months because it's unsafe or some other urgent reason, so there are other things to consider here.

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