Need Advice on potential relocation/less than one year experience.

"nursy", RN · Feb 14, 2020

I'd be really interested to know what your husband thinks? A lot of military families spend long periods of time apart. Can your marriage survive that?

The travel option would be interesting except not sure you have enough experience to get hired.

KAffeegirl · Feb 15, 2020

No one really understands military life except for those in it. We’ve been doing long distance for 8 years. This will be our last move before getting out. My marriage isn’t of concern. I mean would I love to go with him? Absolutely. Would I love to live in Korea? Hell yeah. Do I want to eat kimchi? Yes please. But I’ve worked to hard to get my degree. I don’t want to take a year off after only one year in. Thank you!

adventure_rn, MSN, NP · Feb 15, 2020

Alternative idea: what is your PRN policy at your current facility? Most places won't let you go to PRN until you've been working for at least a year, but depending on your unit's minimum PRN requirements, that might be an option once you hit your one-year mark.

Some units have minimal PRN requirements (I've seen as little as one shift every three months). If your facility has really lax PRN requirements, you might be able to stay on 'PRN' an only be in the states for a single weekend every 3-4 months by blocking your shifts together.

This obviously won't work if your unit has really high minimum PRN requirements--you can't fly back and forth from Korea every two weeks. However, being PRN might give you the flexibility to take off for long stretches so you can travel to spend time together. It would also allow you to stay on as staff within your current unit, so you could readily go back to being full-time once your husband's deployment ends.

In a way, it works kind of like being a traveler (namely, flexibility with the ability to take off long stretches of time), but you'd be far better qualified to go PRN at your current job than to take a travel job with so little experience.

If your current job won't let you go PRN (or the requirements are too restrictive) you could look for a different PRN job. It isn't as ideal as doing it on your unit; you'd probably have to orient full-time for a while in order to become proficient before you drop down to the bare minimum shifts. However, it would keep your employment history and nursing practice 'current.'

Did you sign a two-year contract? Honestly, as long as you aren't breaking a contract, it's possible that you could quit your job to be with your husband and still get rehired onto your current unit. Good nurses are hard to come by; if your manager is the understanding sort, they might be willing to rehire you down the line considering the circumstances.

I'd definitely wait until you've been at the job for at least a year (ideally for a full year off orientation). Perhaps you could stay in your current job until you have a full year of experience, then resign to spend the remainder of the year with your husband. In the handful of times that I've resigned, the managers were usually quite vocal in saying that they'd gladly rehire me if the circumstances worked out. I definitely wouldn't leave until you have at least a full year of experience under your belt (even if that means being long-distance for half the year); however, if you quit after a year to live with your husband in Korea, I don't think it's necessarily a career death sentence. Once you have that 'golden year' of experience, you'll be eligible to apply for experienced nurse jobs, which will vastly increase your job search pool.

Nunya, BSN · Feb 15, 2020

Are you positive you can't get a job in Korea with your degree? You're a RN (I assume), you passed the same Boards as everyone else. I would talk to someone in the civil service dept to make sure. And if you can't get paid ask about volunteering work. And if they say no to both I would seriously email the Chief Nurse, express that you want to volunteer (she can't do anything to get you a paying job) and if you would be able to do that there. If you have some good recommendations I can't see where she wouldn't jump at that opportunity to have another RN working without pay. Also, military bases hire nurses for WIC programs and for school nurses, though it would be hard to get a SN position and I'm not sure if it's the same civil service as hospital nurses but it's still a big organization. I would consider staying where you are for a year and then trying to travel, you're going to need to make big bucks if you want to fly back and forth a couple times a year.

PS: military nurse 84-96, civil service 02-12

Nunya, BSN · Feb 16, 2020

You need a year's experience to get hired civil service I think, not they might hire you local hire, which means you just get a salary and not a housing allowance etc. Ask about that too if you call in the US, but I think that's done locally in Korea.