Published
I know this may be impossible but I'm going to try to avoid night shifts. I hate working nights. I don't care if they pay me more. Am I the only one that feels this way?
No! I just graduated and am struggling with the same thing. Our brains are not designed to fight the dark/light thing. It affects us on all levels. I had a bear of a time after 3 nights in a row and had to say good bye to a job that gave me no other options. Put yourself first. The good stuff will happen.
Usually as a new grad, you'll start off working nights. Everyone wants a dayshift job but in today's market, that isn't always feasible. You may get lucky and land a dayshift position right off the bat, though.
I work nights, have been for the past 2+ years and personally I love it. I prefer it over days, not just because of the pay (and the incentive is very nice, I figured I make $600-$800 MORE per paycheck by working nights) but I love my coworkers on nights. I find that the dayshift people don't really help each out as much as they do on nights. I worked with a nurse who has been in nursing for 20+ years and has worked both days and nights in a variety of specialties...she noticed that everyone seems more team work-oriented on nights compared to days.
Heavenly4505
107 Posts
I WISH I could get night shift! The only job I could get at the present time is on SECOND shift (3:00 - 11:30PM). This really sucks because I have school-age children, and I rarely see them on this shift. When I leave for work they are in school, and when I come home they are fast asleep. I only see them for about an hour in the morning when I'm getting them ready for school and then on my days/weekends off. I wanted 3rd shift, but no openings at the moment. I'm not a morning person, but I would even take 1st shift if offered to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful to have a job with so many new grads unemployed (I'm a LPN working on my RN through Excelsior), but I feel bad that I don't see my kids much. As a CNA, I worked 12 hour night shifts and LOVED it. I came home in the morning, took my kids to school, then came home and slept while they were in school. I got up around 3:00 PM, got them off the bus, helped them with homework, had dinner with them, got to see them for several hours before I went in to work in the evening. It worked out great! Second shift is not quite so great, but I will stick it out until I can either get on a different shift at this same facility, or find a job someplace else on a shift that works better for me. You gotta take what you can get sometimes. Sure, it's a little hard to sleep during the day, but right now, I'm sacrificing time with my babies, which is more important to me than anything!