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Nurses General Nursing

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Hey everyone! I'm looking for some career advice and was hoping someone could chime in...

This October I'll be hitting my one year mark at the hospital I work at now. I have very little complaints about my job. The only issue I truly have is my nearly two hour commute to and from work. I live in an expensive city and I drive to work. As you may imagine, this is pretty daunting between gas, parking fees and lack of sleep. In the future I intended on applying to hospitals closer to home that would allow me to commute via train. I've always had one hospital in mind as it is #1 in my city and much closer to home. It's really my dream hospital.

I'm now reconsidering how soon I try to seek closer employment because I've received an e-mail that the aforementioned #1 hospital in my city has an upcoming nursing recruitment event in September.

If selected for an interview, I think this would be such a great way to get my foot in the door at my dream hospital. However I am concerned that come September I'd be just short of a year at my current job and I know how that can look to potential employers.

I think it is also worth mentioning that the #1 hospital has just taken on an active parent relationship to my hospital. Therefore our name has completely changed to theirs, we will be learning their documentation system soon, and be given the same uniforms their RNs have. I am worried that because of this new relationship, it will work its way through the grapevine that I am interested in another hospital for employment and face some type of consequences because of it.

Any ideas? Should I go for it or try my luck after hitting a year and change at my current job?

Thanks in advance all!

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

I don't think it will cause you any issues to apply to this different hospital. This hospital becoming the parent hospital of your current hospital just makes it better because you are staying within the same system. Go ahead and apply. 2 hours is a long commute. By the time you interview, accept the job, and work out your notice, it may put you at a year.

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Lev, thanks for the input. This is my first job as an RN so I usually have so many questions about the proper way to go about things.

Do you by any chance know if future employers usually understand it may take over a month before you assume a new position with them? Being that I would have to put in my resignation letter and work about four weeks before my last day. Thanks again.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
Lev, thanks for the input. This is my first job as an RN so I usually have so many questions about the proper way to go about things.

Do you by any chance know if future employers usually understand it may take over a month before you assume a new position with them? Being that I would have to put in my resignation letter and work about four weeks before my last day. Thanks again.

Yes they do..If get offered the job or if brought up in interview let them know that job requires 4 weeks notice so would be available to work on x date.

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Yes they do..If get offered the job or if brought up in interview let them know that job requires 4 weeks notice so would be available to work on x date.

Thanks. I'm nervous as to what a potential employer may think of me leaving prior to even reaching the one year mark but I'm thinking about going for it.

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

I applied for my current job, my dream job, when I was 10 months at my previous job (first job as a nurse) I don;t think it is like a magic switch at a year. "just shy" of a year is close enough.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I agree that you should explore the opportunities at your dream hospital. There is very little potential danger in this situation.

Be pleasant. Don't say anything bad about your current job or the people there. Just say that it is a 2-hour commute and everyone will understand. Since the 2 hospitals are affiliated, they won't want you to run out on your current job without giving proper notice. Your current hospital is part of "their family" now and they will want to work together nicely.

This sounds like a good situation. Don't be afraid to check into it. However, I wouldn't tell my current job that I am looking at another opportunity until you get well into the process of transferring and have to tell. It's rarely a good idea to let a current employer know that you are looking to leave.

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I applied for my current job, my dream job, when I was 10 months at my previous job (first job as a nurse) I don;t think it is like a magic switch at a year. "just shy" of a year is close enough.

Congratulations to you. I know how hard it is for new grads in this economic climate to land their dream job. And thanks for your input.

Did you find it hard to readjust to a new hospital while you were still considered to be a fairly new nurse? I still find myself asking questions about all sorts of things and I know sometimes nurses eat their young. I'd hate to transfer and be the new nurse with almost a year of experience who still asks "silly" questions. I wonder if they'd expect me to hit the ground running...

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I agree that you should explore the opportunities at your dream hospital. There is very little potential danger in this situation.

Be pleasant. Don't say anything bad about your current job or the people there. Just say that it is a 2-hour commute and everyone will understand. Since the 2 hospitals are affiliated, they won't want you to run out on your current job without giving proper notice. Your current hospital is part of "their family" now and they will want to work together nicely.

This sounds like a good situation. Don't be afraid to check into it. However, I wouldn't tell my current job that I am looking at another opportunity until you get well into the process of transferring and have to tell. It's rarely a good idea to let a current employer know that you are looking to leave.

Thanks for your advice! I'm so glad to be getting all of this support and encouragement. I've read so many articles on how important it is to hit the one year mark but I also don't want to miss out on this opportunity. I think I'm going to go for it. After all, there is a screening process. Before you get to attend the event you must RSVP and anticipate a possible invite. I figure if I receive an invite, they can't be looking at me too badly for the aforementioned reasons... Right?

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