Low Salary @ the VA as NP

[BermudaTriangle]

I would like some advice. I have been a NP for 3.5 years now and RN since 2011. I received a job offer from he VA at less than <95-100k annual. Non-negotiable. I am currently, working the job and I'm honestly not happy about the hoops to go through to increase to the next grade. And my salary took a hit because I mainly was employed via locums.

I am under 35 years of age, single with no child. I have so much financial responsibilities/debt. It's to the point where I may have to find a 2nd job, which is frustrating me.

Can anyone tell me if the VA is worth it long-term. I mean I have my own IRA and personal savings. What I make in 2 weeks I made in 1 week doing locums. Everyone keeps telling me its great long-term, but I really need the "NOW".

Any advise would help.

[Workitinurfava, BSN, RN]

20 hours ago, Knight2Nurse said:

And how could I forget:

We get off or paid double time for ALL federal holidays (and there are a lot of them!) along with accruing lots of paid time off: 5 full weeks of vacation time and 2 and a half weeks of sick time every year!

Exactly, my husband works for the federal government and the health care is so affordable. The retirement is great.

[OncRN2015, DNP, APRN, NP]

I found this post very interesting. I am interested in working at one of the AF bases here in Central CA, but the USA job posting said it would only be GS11/12 and 65-95k/yrs. I thought, wait... that can't be right. In CA starting pay is definitely more than 100k! Did you have any experience negotiating a higher GS or pay with the VA?

[Knight2Nurse, BSN]

1 hour ago, OncRN2015 said:

I found this post very interesting. I am interested in working at one of the AF bases here in Central CA, but the USA job posting said it would only be GS11/12 and 65-95k/yrs. I thought, wait... that can't be right. In CA starting pay is definitely more than 100k! Did you have any experience negotiating a higher GS or pay with the VA?

Ask about what the locality or cost of living adjustment is for that position. Generally the pay is matched with private sector every few years to stay competitive. There is no negotiating pay in the federal government, it’s a pay scale/table they work from matched to your level of experience for the job you’re applying for. You should be able to find all that information from the opm.gov website. Hope that helps you! Let me know if you have any other questions!

[EDNP100x, BSN, MSN, NP]

Here is some updated salary information for you all, here in Southern California I got offered 124,000/year as a NP with 4 years experience. That is about 59 dollars an hour which is what I was making as a new grad. Currently in the private sector I make 85/hr 1099. I decided to take the ay cut for stability and health benefits. I will start soon but I am excited. I hope it works out.