I recently graduated from a BSN program and am going to start working in early April! At a recent interview the nurse manager told me in a rude way, "you are aware that as a nurse you must work every other weekend, and as a new grad you'll have none of the holidays off...you will also be expected to work mandatory overtime without question!" I was shocked by her tone, but upset at the information she was telling me.
I had been a full-time nursing student and full-time mother/wife for the past three years, and something inside of me at that moment wanted to scream at the nurse manager, "when can I finally have time for my family?". But, of course I just nodded and told her that I understood.
How do Nurses handle the demanding work hours? Will I end up being that mother that doesn't attend all the T-ball games, PTA, or any other Extracurricular activities my son will be invloved with because of work?! Will I always be missing on Christmas day when my family is celebrating and my son is joyfully opening his gifts? Will I miss once in a lifetime milestones?
It truly makes me sad, to even think that all this is my future as an RN. That, along with so many other reasons, is why I'm pursuing my passion to be part of the School System as a Counselor, Psychologist, or even Teacher...at least I'll have weekends, summer, and holidays off!
Thank-you all for for words of wisdom. And to correct what I initially wrote, I was upset and shocked when I thought that mandated overtime was part of being a nurse. I have rejected the job offer and am going to write a letter to the Director of Nursing on my experience with the particular Nurse Manager.
What we would consider demanding work hours, the interns and residents would call "part-time".
I detect a bit of frustration on your manager's part about staff expectations for schedule. It sounded like she wanted there to be no misunderstandings about what is expected.
The "mandatory overtime" raised a red flag for me. What the manager (rather gracelessly) laid out is standard for hospital nursing. The mandatory overtime however, is not standard. Often it points to a serious problem. Why is there mandatory overtime? Staff exodus? New beds opened?
If you have not accepted the job, keep your options open.
Agree w/all of the above, and I would have asked her to elaborate on the mandatory OT statement. However, she may have had a lot of new grads that are unaware of the other things mentioned. We have had this problem at the hospital I work at, and even though I've never heard it said "mandatory OT" we ARE expected to stay until the next shift is there, which is sometimes a problem w/call-ins- and sometimes one has to do a double shift. We have had a few new grads just leave b/c their shift was up, and others who expected to get Christmas off simply b/c they have kids--never mind that they've been there less than 6 mos. So we've had a large turnover of reality-shocked new grads & I suspect that manager was just spelling it out. Sometimes it seems nothing has changed in nursing from the time I was a new grad, many years ago- only my only shift option was nights, and Med-Surg was the only place they'd put new grads, since no one would even look at you w/out a year of Med-Surg. Now I've paid my dues, and I do have seniority, but I worked 4 yrs fulltime b/f I had kids, then I worked part-time until they went to school- I still had to work wkends/holidays, & it took some budgeting, but it was the best choice for me. Different hospitals have other options out there, so I'd still look around for what works for you. Good Luck!!
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i wasn't at your interview, so i cannot comment on the nurse manager's "tone." i suspect that she just wanted to make sure that you understood that off-shifts, weekends and holidays are an expected part of bedside nursing. as for the mandatory overtime -- i would have asked her to clarify. could be all that was about was that you can't leave until your relief shows up -- even if they're late and you have somewhere else to be.
i thought my manager was joking when she talked about the expectations of new grads, but to my very great surprise, she wasn't. we have new grads who expect to have all the holidays off ("i have small children at home!") or to work straight days ("i'm a newly wed -- i want to be home with my husband at night!") or to skip the weekend requirement. ("i'm at church every saturday and sunday", which is at least more imaginative than "but what about my social life?") there was the jewish grad who insisted on having christmas off to get together with her christian friends, while the christian new grads worked the holiday.
there are new grads who insist that they have to have this date off, and that date and by the way they can't work then because their sister's roommate is getting married and they want to go to the party. so they change their schedule over and over, and guess what? they're not working on any of the days their preceptor is scheduled. so then they complain about having guest preceptors all the time, and that they're not getting a good orientation because they're never with "their" preceptor. and no matter how careful you are to make sure they all understand the expectations, as soon as a unit expectation clashes with their desires, they claim never to have received the information before.
i'm guessing the nurse manager just wanted to make sure the interviewee got the information in a way that she'd remember!
Personal opinion, I would not even take that job unless I needed the money real bad. That tone of that NM was terrible and I sure wouldn't want to be under her. The whole thing about mandatory overtime would cause me to not take the job unless I was desperate.
Establish boundaries early on regarding how much of your free time (if any) you are willing to sacrifice to OT, and don't get railroaded into all the holidays, they should be fairly distributed between the staff. Stand up for your rights.
Most institutions in my area every other weekend is the norm but expecting a new hire to work every holiday is abuse! In this area you work 3 NTL holidays- either Thanksgiving and New Years or Christmas + 1 or 2 others. As for mandatory OT- any place that uses mandatory OT often enough to warn you about it in your hire interview is too short staffed to work at. RUN! Mandatory OT is legal kidnaping and needs to be abolished if not by common sense then by law (or union contract).
I Think I Would Keep This Offer On The "back Burner" And Look Elsewhere. I Still Work At The Hosp Where I Started As A New Grad And If They Had Spoke To Me Like That Upon Hire I Would Have Definetly Looked Long And Hard For An Employer With Fairness, Compassion Fro Family And Self Etc!!! We Only Work Every Third Wkend, Big Difference. And As Far As Holidays, It Shoul Be Split Evenly With All Nurses On The Units And Rotated Every Year. There Is No Way You Should Work Every Other Wkend And All The Holidays!!! As Far As Mandatory Overtime, That Is Up To You, If You Are Willing To Commit To That Then.... Good Luck And Remember You Are A Valuable Asset And They Need To Treat You As Such, There Are A Lot Of Places Needing Nurses!!!
your manager sounds burned out. she probably truly is a nice person but unfortunately she has probably dealt with multiple new grads that have had terrible scheduling conflicts. i believe she was giving you the worst possible scenerio because she wanted to see if you really wanted the job. the way she presented it was bad. alot of new grads are shocked at the weekends and holiday requirement, which surprises me because how can you spend 3-4 years in nursing school and not be aware of this???? anyway good luck in your search. i see you are from chicago so pm me if you want a run down on the best places to work.:nuke:
It's too bad that the manager spoke to you that way, but, welcome to nursing. I'm a little baffled that you've gone through all those years of school and didn't know the hours that nurses work. Sounds pretty good to me. When I first started I worked 3 shifts in one week, every other week end and no vacation until after the first year. Don't rember about holidays because after you've done it as many years as I, they all run togheter. It's really not as bad as it sounds. I would suggest giving it a good try before you ditch it all. I would however suggest that you talk to other professions a l ittle about their jobs, I'm sure there are things that arn't perfect about their profession as well. (before you invest money and time into shcool again).
to even think that all this is my future as an RN. That, along with so many other reasons, is why I'm pursuing my passion to be part of the School System as a Counselor, Psychologist, or even Teacher...at least I'll have weekends, summer, and holidays off!
:D 
gbarrera2
49 Posts
Thank-you all for for words of wisdom. And to correct what I initially wrote, I was upset and shocked when I thought that mandated overtime was part of being a nurse. I have rejected the job offer and am going to write a letter to the Director of Nursing on my experience with the particular Nurse Manager.
Thanks again!