Leaving at 6 months in?

The following letter submitted anonymously in search for answers. Join the conversation!

Updated:  

Hey everyone!

I hope I'm posting this in the right forum. I'm a new grad with 5 months of experience on an ortho/med-surg floor. I've been looking for labor and delivery jobs lately and I finally secured an interview at a local hospital!

I just wanted some unbiased opinions about how it could affect my professional career if I were to leave my current job at 6 months (by the time I work out a notice, it will be about 6 months). I know I don't have an offer yet and I certainly won't leave my current job until I do, but I have always loved L&D. I wanted to work in L&D before graduating, but I was offered my current job and L&D wasn't hiring.

With all of that being said, I feel like I have given ortho a good shot and I have learned so much already about being a nurse. However, L&D positions don't come around too often where I live. I just wanted to hear some feedback from everyone!

Thanks!

Share this post

+ Add A Comment

23 Answers

Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Just don't make a habit of it. Once is fine, but you will need to stick with it no matter what for a good 2 years or risk looking like a job hopper.

Specializes in Med-Surg.

Others may disagree with me, but I say you should do what is best for you.

You are correct that L&D/women's jobs do not come up often. It can be difficult to transition into if you don't get hired as a new grad. If it is your goal to work there, and you are given this opportunity, I would take it.

Be cautious that this move could burn bridges with your current employer. While the move may be the best thing for YOU, it will inconvenience your unit. It could hurt your chance of being hired back into the hospital system in the future.

Weigh the pros and cons, do what is best for you. I agree with the above poster that there isn't much reward for job loyalty anymore.

Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

I'll give you a brief version of my own story, similar to your own.

After applying like CRAZY for anything I could stomach, I finally landed a position in outpatient urology with a major health system. It was a far cry from my dream of L&D, but it was full time work with clinic hours, and the people were awesome. And it was EXPERIENCE. I very gently put out a few feelers a few months in, not really expecting anything to happen. I figured I'd be at this job for a few years, and I wouldn't leave for anything short of my dream job. I turned down a few positions along the way, because they just weren't the right fit. Then I got a call within the same hospital system for a L&D training position. They were sending people to classes with a new grad program if they were coming from other specialties. I could hardly contain myself when I was offered the job! I ended up leaving the uro job with 10.5 months under my belt, and it was hard to leave it, but I know I did the right thing, and I am SOOOOOO happy in L&D! I did everything I could to keep on good terms when I left my old position (I felt SOOO guilty leaving), and I truly miss the people I worked with and my patients, but I am so happy doing what I do every day now.

Do what's best for you. Don't leave for anything short of the perfect position, if you have a good thing going now. Good luck with your interview!

I'm well aware of all the points made above. IMO, avoiding job-hopping is "looking out for (yourself)."

If this is a one-time thing and OP makes sure to (1) not only have a job lined up before quitting this job, but also (2) to make sure to stay to (ideally) over a year in that second job, then I really don't think there's anything wrong, or that OP will be unemployable. Plus, the OP is talking about doing this in this one occurrence and never mentioned that this has occurred prior to now.

So, yes, I think you should do what's best for you, OP.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I'm farely new also but I will say this: did you not have instructors in school who would say "oh when I was ltc or when I was at hospital x and hospital b then nursing home x..." I had so many instructors who worked in so many different areas of nursing it honestly made them so knowledgeable and such good instructors. They didn't have bad attitudes so they weren't getting fired they would leave for a new experience or better pay. I see it common in nursing. Nurses leave for better pay or better schedules.

I dont think leaving 6 months in is bad. Your new employer will see it as ok you are landing your dream job.... That's why you are leaving your current place. Hen of you leave there for another l&d they will see you are leaving because it's a better opportunity but you are in the same field of nursing.

you haven't worked a month and said ok bye... You have a good foundation. I don't think you have to worry!

Congrats on on getting your dream field!!! :-) good luck

Your current employer is not going to "understand you're getting your dream job" when you leave after less than a year. You may find yourself on the "Do not rehire" list, and deservedly so. Six months is not "a good foundation," no matter how many nursing students, new nurses or other Millenials tell you it is. Six months is "barely off orientation and a long way to go toward being truly competent." Leaving now is a bad idea.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I can understand this point of view....somewhat. Maybe I'm overly cynical, but it seems to me that hospitals factor in new-grad turnover (and nurse turnover generally) as part of the cost of doing business. And they don't do much to improve working conditions to decrease that turnover, especially on med-surg and progressive-care-type units where many new grads start.

Again, it's cynical. I would hate to impose difficulties on managers and coworkers I like by leaving a job, and I imagine that's the OP's concern too. But to the hospital administration we're cogs - somewhat costly, maybe, but replaceable and not that complicated. Of course they'll avoid hiring new grads if the economy's bad and they have a huge supply of experienced nurses, as has been the case in recent years. I think those are the economics in play, and not so much that new grads might leave before they've "earned their keep." My two cents.

Again, this is why managers don't like to hire new grads and crusty old bats don't like to precept them -- they job hop. It takes about two years for a new nurse to become competent. If the new nurse leaves before that time, the nursing unit loses the cost of her orientation. And preceptors become burned out from the constant turnover. There is no way to "factor in" the cost of hiring new grads every six months . . . Managers and preceptors just try to avoid them.

Specializes in TBI and SCI.

I'm farely new also but I will say this: did you not have instructors in school who would say "oh when I was LTC or when I was at hospital x and hospital b then nursing home x..." I had so many instructors who worked in so many different areas of nursing it honestly made them so knowledgeable and such good instructors. They didn't have bad attitudes so they weren't getting fired they would leave for a new experience or better pay. I see it common in nursing. Nurses leave for better pay or better schedules.

I don't think leaving 6 months in is bad. Your new employer will see it as OK you are landing your dream job.... That's why you are leaving your current place. Hen of you leave there for another l&d they will see you are leaving because it's a better opportunity but you are in the same field of nursing.

You haven't worked a month and said OK bye... You have a good foundation. I don't think you have to worry!

Congrats on on getting your dream field! ? good luck

Specializes in SICU/CVICU.

And people wonder why experienced nurses don't want to be preceptors. Who wants to expend their time and energy in being an engaged preceptor when they leave after a couple of months. This is why I don't want to precept anymore.

A lot of nursing school instructors will mention how bad it is to look like a "job-hopper"....and a lot of nursing school instructors have been away from the bedside for 10 or 20 years. In the current economy, it's up to individuals and businesses to protect their own interests as best they can. If you can get a better offer (better work, better pay, better commute, better environment, whatever), go for it. Even if your current manager is really nice and you like the job, it could change....hospitals watch their bottom line, and your nice manager will let you go if that's what the administrators say. I don't think there's really any reward for loyalty to jobs anymore - in fact, you probably end up with better pay if you switch companies more often.

I've learned so much on my floor. I'm so grateful for my manager and employer for investing in me ...

Then why screw them over by leaving before they've even come close to recouping the investment they made in you?? This is exactly why more and more employers are increasingly reluctant to hire new grads at all.

Then why screw them over by leaving before they've even come close to recouping the investment they made in you?? This is exactly why more and more employers are increasingly reluctant to hire new grads at all.

I can understand this point of view....somewhat. Maybe I'm overly cynical, but it seems to me that hospitals factor in new-grad turnover (and nurse turnover generally) as part of the cost of doing business. And they don't do much to improve working conditions to decrease that turnover, especially on med-surg and progressive-care-type units where many new grads start.

Again, it's cynical. I would hate to impose difficulties on managers and coworkers I like by leaving a job, and I imagine that's the OP's concern too. But to the hospital administration we're cogs - somewhat costly, maybe, but replaceable and not that complicated. Of course they'll avoid hiring new grads if the economy's bad and they have a huge supply of experienced nurses, as has been the case in recent years. I think those are the economics in play, and not so much that new grads might leave before they've "earned their keep." My two cents.

Specializes in Peds, Neuro, Orthopedics.

I left my first RN job 7 months in, and instantly earned myself a $10 an hour raise, plus a better quality of life (I left the pitiful south for a northern state). You need to do what's best for you. That employer isn't going to be loyal to you when a recession (or whatever) hits. Look out for #1.

+ Add a Comment