how do i max my income as new grad

pedsnurze1 · Jan 10, 2007

What is a Baylor job?

childpsychnurse · Jan 10, 2007

Before you jump the gun and start thinking dollars-I suggest you think about yourself! Being too gung-ho to make money puts too much stress on you and can result in a quick burn out. If you focus on your orientation and do well, the hours will come to you as you will be the first one they call to pick up shifts, believe me! After my orientation, I averaged 2 shifts a week overtime because I had the reputation of solid work and never said "no"!

Your excited and ready to graduate, but let the stress come in time-don't rush it! Just my 2-cents.

hpcat · Jan 10, 2007

Doesn't matter how much you make, it's the cost of living that will get ya.

On L.I., the hospital my sister in law (RN) works for just renegotiated their contract. Starting salary, fresh out of school/no experience, with night different = $71,000. Even a state/county job which pays less, with at least 1 year experience, is around $58,000. My sister in law floats, she has a 2 yr degree, 10 yrs experience with maternity & works nights, she makes around $45 an hour regular pay (and sometimes get OT - around $67 an hour).

Nice pay, right?

Unfortunately, you'll never find a house for $150,000, maybe a condo or co-op though. Anything semi-decent in houses starts in the mid-200's and you're living in the boonies like me. Figure at least $350+ beyond that. Property taxes are gigantic (I pay $5500, my sister in law pays almost $10,000) Sales tax is 8.25% I think. Apartments in private homes can be had starting around $900/mo, in a complex you'll pay at least $1400 for a 1-bedroom plus utilities. You could find cheaper, but I don't think you wanna live there.

Check out some of the mortgage calculators online to see how much you'll be paying monthly (remember to figure in taxes + insurance).

mmgm76 · Jan 11, 2007

Not sure if this was covered within the many replies to this, but another way to maximize is to choose Per Diem from the start. Although you sacrifice benefits and PTO, the difference can be as high as $7.00/hr. 1 year after graduating, I'm making $45.17/hr including differential as a per diem. California does pay well, but we also cannot buy a home in the area we live for

BungyRN · Jan 11, 2007

lol
I agree that the way to max your income is to work weekend nights. Kinda yucky for families though. When I needed more $$$, I worked an extra 2 12 hour shifts. NOt too much fun, but we had bills to pay.

I'm an RN, though now a stay-at-home parent while my husband does his grad year; I haven't found that weekend PMs/nights are any harder than week days since my schedule is essentially flexible. Only hard thing is how to keep a 2 year old from waking daddy after a night shift. (We go out a lot - LOL).

olderthandirt · Jan 11, 2007

Private duty pays mega bucks especially in coastal areas. I live in NY and in the big cities you can make $75/$100 per hour.

angel o' mercy · Jan 11, 2007

I live in the Philly Suburbs and work 3 12's 7p-7a. Our new grad rate is 26.00 HR with a 3.50 shift diff. Not too shabby for two years of school.

Last year with reg +OT i brought in 62,000. When you comsider what we sometimes make pre RN

But like the previos post mentioned, cost of living factors in to that. You cant rent a decent apartment for

Ohmygosh · Jan 11, 2007

Doesn't matter how much you make, it's the cost of living that will get ya.
On L.I., the hospital my sister in law (RN) works for just renegotiated their contract. Starting salary, fresh out of school/no experience, with night different = $71,000. Even a state/county job which pays less, with at least 1 year experience, is around $58,000. My sister in law floats, she has a 2 yr degree, 10 yrs experience with maternity & works nights, she makes around $45 an hour regular pay (and sometimes get OT - around $67 an hour).
Nice pay, right?
Unfortunately, you'll never find a house for $150,000, maybe a condo or co-op though. Anything semi-decent in houses starts in the mid-200's and you're living in the boonies like me. Figure at least $350+ beyond that. Property taxes are gigantic (I pay $5500, my sister in law pays almost $10,000) Sales tax is 8.25% I think. Apartments in private homes can be had starting around $900/mo, in a complex you'll pay at least $1400 for a 1-bedroom plus utilities. You could find cheaper, but I don't think you wanna live there.
Check out some of the mortgage calculators online to see how much you'll be paying monthly (remember to figure in taxes + insurance).

I am assuming that "L.I." means Long Island....there is a vast difference in the cost of living in New York and Birmingham Alabama where the OP is located. :nono: It is very reasonable to expect to find a home --a nice home at that --for 150,000.00 in Alabama. Not a fancy home - but a nice decent single family dwelling -in a nice area.

As far a property taxes--each county in Alabama seems to have their own formula for taxing its citizens. Property taxes in Shelby Co. Alabama are outrageous! The taxes on a home valued at about $500,000 in that county is less than $2000.00 per year (or at least that is what my parent's had to pay). Just one county to the south in Chilton County Alabama a home with the same value would be less than $700.00 per year (according to my brother who lives there).

Jeez...If I am right in my assumption about L.I.----I could never live there--If property is that expensive --what do you guys pay for a cup of coffee?? :lol2:

metalmom · Jan 13, 2007

I'm not sure where the idea came from that California pays so well. In the OC the starting pay at many hospitals is $21.00/hr. Believe me that is what I was offered at more than one hospital and I have friends that work as new grads in the OC and that is what they are making. I was fortunate. I got offered a huge increase right off the bat because of my Psych Tech experience. And OT here I am.

AfloydRN, BSN, RN · Jan 13, 2007

Try to find a union hospital. We make great $ and our benefits rock. We get weekend alternative pay along w/ shift diff after 3 pm. I haven't found any other hospitals in our state that come close.

FinallyaSalary · Jan 17, 2007

I just accepted an RN position in NH. I was quite surprised of the pay scale coming from NJ/NY where they pay a lot more. Personally, as a new graduate I chose not to negotiate, mostly because my professor from college said to wait at least 6 mos to a year before requesting a raise. I was quite surprised when I was told $20/hr myself. I almost wanted to negotiate, but as someone previously mentioned in one of the threads, that with experience you can negotiate salary. So I'm just gonna hold my chin up high and work as hard as I can and hope that the hospital manager can see my true value as an asset to the company that is not worth losing.

Also, I noticed that when the census drops nurses get cut. I've never heard of such a thing, at least not from my neck of the woods. Most of my former classmates in NJ and NY complain of having too many patients and not enough nurses. What is that to say for the Seacoast? Overstaffing a population that doesn't need to be. I'm confused, anyway that's quite a disappointment. Has it happened often to some of the fellow nurses out there? And if so, approx how many times? I just don't want to feel underappreciated and at a loss of hours when I've worked so hard to get to where I am.

rmc2 · Jan 24, 2007

As with other respondents, there usually is not much room for negotiating rates for staff RNs, particulary for the new graduates. The rate is usually set, and if the RNs in that hospital, etc. are represented by an union, then the rates are even more predetermined.

Your best bet, I would say, is to choose, what some hospitals called Weekend Alternative Programs or Weekend Incentive Programs, whereby you commit for ie a set number of months to work every Saturday and Sunday for 8 to 12 hours per shift. Either you will get a substantial shift differential, or you will get a bonus - like some many more hours paid. So if you work 24 hours per week (12 hours each on Sat and Sun), then instead of you getting paid for 24 hrs you could get paid for i.e 30 hours, thus a bonus of 6 hours.

Overtime is also a good way to enhance your pay.