So I just put in my two week notice at my job as a server at a restaurant. I just made $110 in tips + minimum wage in 8 hours tonight ,which is pretty decent. My job is flexible, fast-paced, and had great people, and was stable.
I'm giving all this up to take a six week course, to look for a CNA job that probably pays $10/hr and is about the same stress level and hard work as a waitress if not more.
I think I'm crazy but I had to make a choice, and nursing experience seemed like the way to go, especially when my husband can help out.
BUT Goodness, it is hard to give up a good job that fit with my school schedule!!! Wish me luck :)
I blame it on a mid-life crisis, but seven years ago I quit my job as a corporate CFO, had absolutely no idea what I would do, and a few months later ended up being a CNA. It was the most bizarre, and amazing, thing I have ever done. (If anyone had told me I'd be a nurse oneday, I would have wondered what they were smoking.) There are not words to explain what happened to me after my first CNA clinical (when I went home wanting to shower in Clorox and burn my scrubs), but it was transformational. I did the steps, CNA, LPN, RN and am working on my NP. That CNA "pay cut" I took was the best career move I've ever made.
I am so encouraged by your post. I am soon to be 43 and a full-time self-employed medical transcriptionist and mother of two children, ages 6 and 11. I am planning on getting my CNA this summer and will also take a 50% pay cut to do this. I am hoping to get a job in a hospital that will provide some tuition reimbursement as I complete school for my RN degree. I am really excited but scared about the pay cut as well as having the energy to work and attend school. Any info or advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
Specializes in Med/Surge, Geriatrics(LTC), Pediatricts,.
S.Braden, you asked for advise, ok, when you go back to school, realize you are 43, and have been out of school for a while, so you won't be that "straight A" student, be happy with passing. You will have to spend lots of time with your nose in the books, so things like housework, and homecooked meals, pressed jeans, and everything perfect, will have to be put aside till you are finished with school. Be happy the kids took a bath and clothes are clean. Be happy you can walk through your house, don't worry about the vacuming, washing windows, and doing the "June Cleaver housecleaning" 'cause it aint gonna happen, unless you are wealthy enough to hire a maid, or your Mom comes to stay while you are in school. The best advise I can give is to stick with it, it'll be worth it in the end. I'm 51, and after I finish my Critical Care Tech class in June, I plan to go back to finish my RN, I'm LPN now. As far as advise on how to deal with the cut in pay. All I can say is, is the job worth it to you? Do you get that warm fuzzy feeling at the end of your shift even though pay day isn't as prosperous as your other job. Like I said in another message, it isn't always about the money why we do this job. However, you may hit it just right, and find a job in a hospital that pays very generously, and you will have the money as well as that warm fuzzy feeling. Sometimes too, take a look at the benefits the job offers, do you get a great health insurance plan, is the retirement plan going to pay off, are your hours flexable so you can still take care of your young ones? What does the health related job have that other jobs you've held don't, is what to ask yourself. Remember to tithe your earnings too, God will provide your needs. Everything else is just wants.
The only issue is that some employers are not willing to be flexible such as mine. Work hours Mon-thru Friday, 9am to 6pm. We are a promotions company, the area I work in gets very busy at certain parts of the day, my position would need to be replaced with someone full time. This is probably the same issue people who have to quit their jobs have.
Nursedora: Thanks for all the great advice! I had to laugh out loud on the clean house and pressed jeans -- I can't do any of that now so I might be on the next episode of "Hoarders" on TLC if I go back to school!! I am used to juggling a hectic lifestyle with two kids and being full-time self-employed so it will be interesting to say the least but medicine is my calling and I just regret that it took me so long to realize it!! I will probably be asking a lot of questions from time to time. I see you have been an LPN for awhile. After getting my CNA, I hope to work part-time doing that as well as still continuing to do some medical transcription on the side to supplement my income while going to school part-time. I am considering becoming an LPN first and then working towards my RN degree. Would you recommend that route and if so, why?
Specializes in Med/Surge, Geriatrics(LTC), Pediatricts,.
S.Braden, on your question to me about being an LPN first... Yes, I would recommend becoming an LPN and getting some good experience as an LPN first, this will give you a good basis to know what the LPN can and can not do as per your state protocol. As well, you will be familiar with the job itself, and be able to competently do the job, some facilities, LTC, and nursing homes, RN's have to pitch in and wipe buts, pass meds, do treatments, right along with the CNA's and LPN's. At the Skilled Nursing facility where I worked, we had two kinds of RN's, those who bypassed being a CNA and or LPN, and those who worked up the different levels, those who bypassed, moaned and complained all the time when they had to fill in when an LPN was off, or when the CNA's needed a hand, while those who worked up the levels took it all in stride, and pitched in. However, I wouldn't waite to long to go for your RN, I've kicked myself over and over for waiting so long, it would have been much easier to go back to school ten years ago, than it is now. But circumstances sometimes get in the way. Don't look at getting LPN for a safety net to "fall back on" only look forward, and strive for advancement, and personal achievement. Also, if you enjoy being an LPN, there is nothing wrong with staying an LPN as well, there is another thread about should LPN's be phazed out, and most of us there like the work we do as an LPN. As far as the pay difference between RN/LPN, some facilities pay a fair wage for each level, while others don't, some facilities have respect toward LPN's an Nurses, same as toward RN's whle others don't. Ultimatly, it will come down to your choice, what you like doing, and what gratification you get out of the job. About the clean house and pressed jeans, that is example for don't sweat the small stuff when you go back to school, and it sounds like you already have a handle on that with the juggling act you already to.
S. Braden
4 Posts
I am so encouraged by your post. I am soon to be 43 and a full-time self-employed medical transcriptionist and mother of two children, ages 6 and 11. I am planning on getting my CNA this summer and will also take a 50% pay cut to do this. I am hoping to get a job in a hospital that will provide some tuition reimbursement as I complete school for my RN degree. I am really excited but scared about the pay cut as well as having the energy to work and attend school. Any info or advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!