If you get a low offer...

caliotter3 · Sep 4, 2009

After months of unemployment I took the lowball offer. I do take every opportunity to remind them how I feel about it and they certainly can't be surprised if I don't move to something better.

CECE,RN · Sep 4, 2009

Yes, your nursing experience is worth something. Just politely 'remind' them of your nursing experience, as if they overlooked that part. Tell them how much you are really interested in the position and at least try to negotiate. They are hiring, so they have enough money in their budget, hopefully, to cover someone with your experience....remember, they called you to come in for an interview. If their firm on the starting pay, then you take what you can get, but you don't want to be making the same amount of money as a new grad when you are experienced.....it's just not right. And like the previous poster wrote, you can always move to something better when the economy turns around if you do have to accept the low offer they suggested. Good luck. :yeahthat:

caliotter3 · Sep 4, 2009

This particular employer has a reputation from other nurses that I have talked to for offering low wages. That is allegedly one reason they take new grads. I heard this before they even lowered the wages to what they are now. And the last ad had even lower wages offered. They know there is a never-ending sea of new grads out there, desperate for work.

DeLana_RN, BSN, RN · Sep 4, 2009

What they don't understand, if they (a) don't pay sign-on bonuses and (b) make insulting offers, nurses will have zero loyalty and be ready to jump ship as soon as the economy improves. And it will.

You would think the last nursing shortage taught them a lesson... it obviously didn't. Well, I'll let you know how it goes (I don't expect to hear from them until after the holiday).

Thanks for the input!

DeLana

llg, PhD, RN · Sep 4, 2009

What they don't understand, if they (a) don't pay sign-on bonuses and (b) make insulting offers, nurses will have zero loyalty and be ready to jump ship as soon as the economy improves. And it will.
DeLana

While I agree with you about the low wages, sign-on bonuses do not encourage loyalty in the long fun. Nurses are "encouraged" to stay only as long as required to earn the bonus. After that, the financial incentive is for them to job hop to another hospital offering a sign-on bonus. A lot of hospitals learned that lesson the hard way -- and that is why many stopped offering them even before the recession. They saw the "hiring bonus culture" lead to expensive turnover among experienced staff.

To get nurses to stay long term, hospitals need to create incentives to stay (such as retention bonuses, increased pay and benefits for increased years with the same employer, etc.).

It will be interesting to see what happens as the recession eases. There may be an increased need to hire that will stimulate the return of hiring bonuses ... but there may also be an increased emphasis on retention strategies.

Medic/Nurse, BSN, RN · Sep 4, 2009

I got LOW-BALLED once.

I'll share - it is almost funny.

I arrived, everyone was all smiles - toured the ER, ICU's, and entire facility. Introduced even. This was a smaller, older facility - but CLOSE to where my hubby lived - so I thought it would be worth a "try".

OKAY. All is gong well - they seem GLAD and ENTHUSIATIC to be "getting me". (Makes me now wonder IF anyone ever turns 'em down).

We get to HR - yada, yada, yada - finally, CUT TO THE MONEY SCENE!!!

:clown: (for hr ) Your experience and education is nice. We can reward it - you will make 15.10 an hour.

:angel: (me!) As a nurse?

:clown: Yes, as an RN.

:angel: (Finally, realized my mouth was hanging open and close it!) Well, that is was low - any department or shift modifiers to that rate.

:clown: No, we are not even paying weekend differentials - our employess seem to want to work on weekends. So it works out. We don't have a nursing shortage - we draw from 3 primary and 2 other Schools of Nursing and can always fill our slots.

:angel: Well, I appreciate that. Lucky you. Droves on new-grads on the way to somewhere else - not my idea of a good place to work anyway. Thanks - but, I've wasted enough of your time. You are not even close to an offer that given my experience and credentials will be able to accept.

Off I go!!!!!!! :roll :roll :roll :roll :roll

As soon as I got home - my hubby met me at the door - "Honey, this woman at the hospital says it is VERY IMPORTANT that you call her RIGHT AWAY!".

So I called the :clown: back. (after I made sure I had my purse - didn't want to assume anything and I really could think of NO REASON to ever go back to that hospital!)

:angel: His this is :angel: and I am returning your call.

:clown: Wonderful. We met after you left and because of your unique qualifications and experience we can offer you an additional 75 cents an hour. We really want you to join our team.

:angel: I appreciate that - but, this is a money decision. You are off per hour by about 5 maybe 8 dollars depending - again, I do not want to waste your time. I cannot and willnot work for that - too hard, too much risk. Thanks anyway.

So - I did not go to work for them - and short of a miracle WOULD NEVER (not that the :clown: would ask!)

Practice SAFE!

aminv · Sep 4, 2009

i just got a job offer, but the condition is to work on LPN salary instead of RN. LOL. i told them give me a month to think about it.

RNperdiem, RN · Sep 4, 2009

Does your hospital have set wages for PRN depending on day/night/weekends?

I though most PRN wage rates were fixed, and PRN wages were raised at my hospital a few years ago to become more competive with agency rates.

You could contact a few nursing agencies and see how the pay is there.

Lacie, BSN, RN · Sep 4, 2009

I'm hearing offers at wages I was making 15-20 years ago!!!!! One offered me $15.00/hr the other 18.00/hr. I was making $27.00. Talk about insulting!! Your right they are no longer considering the long line of experience etc you may have any more. I never go for the sign on bonuses as I have found when those offers are coming up then there is a big red flag for me. Then your stuck if you hate the job. My last job didnt bother to tell us you dont get paid holidays nor did you get paid time and half for working those holidays. I know now to ask and not assume anymore. I ask them to show me the benefits in writing as the descriptions turned out to be way above what the actual benefits turned out to be - very poor! Good Luck Delana!! We're in the same boat and it's really hard not to get disgusted with the whole thing.

diane227, LPN, RN · Sep 4, 2009

At every hospital I have worked in we had a pay scale to go by. We started nurses based on that scale taking into account the number of year of experience they had. Are people not doing this any more?

Jules A, MSN · Sep 4, 2009

At every hospital I have worked in we had a pay scale to go by. We started nurses based on that scale taking into account the number of year of experience they had. Are people not doing this any more?

One of my jobs does this but its not a great system, imo. I'm working with a RN who has no experience in our speciality, has had numerous jobs in the 4 years since she graduated so even basic nursing skills are seriously lacking and is miserable to work with. She makes more than I do despite having several years of experience in this speciality and being far more skilled on the floor. I feel very valued on this team and will be asking for a substantial increase at my evaluation or I'll find work elsewhere. What is really interesting is that this job didn't talk money until I had already done the paperwork, employment physical etc. and felt very invested in this postion. I assumed that my experience as a LPN in this field would be worth a bit more. Oh well my mistake but a good learning experience. :)