Need Advice from Soon-to-be or recent grads!

I am a senior BSN student. I have recently been talking with a recruit in Hannibal Missouri. This is the offer I was given (pre-interview). I was wondering if this was a good offer, as i do not have any idea what to compare it to. Any feedback would be great! Please help me decide?

* Base pay for a new graduate nurse is $14.70. BSN nurses also receive an

additional .50. So your starting rate would be $15.20.

* The base rate in our specialty units is $15.33 or $15.83 for BSN grads.

Our specialty areas include ICU, Emergency Department, Surgery, and

Women's Care.

* We prefer that nurses have at least one year's experience in a

Medical-Surgical environment before they begin working in a specialty area.

We do, however, hire new graduates in specialty areas depending on the

graduate.

* We do not have a career ladder in place to acknowledge certifications and

continuing education. We instead have a yearly performance bonus (besides

your annual salary increase) that takes these extra efforts into

consideration.

* We also have $1,000 per year tuition reimbursement and are currently in

the process of increasing that amount.

* I'll have to check on the ratio of RN:LPN. I'm not sure. We have more

RN's than LPN's though. We also employee nurse assistants and medical

secretaries on all shifts.

Please tell me what you think? I will be working in Emergency and ICU

[Rileycat]

Brandy...

I am not from your area so I wouldn't know if the offer given to you was a good one or not. I have read many posts on nursing wages and have come to the conclusion that the amount of pay a nurse gets varies greatly from area to area.

I would suggest going on a few interviews in your area so you can compare the wages and benefits for the different hospitals in your area. Interviewing at different places will also give you an idea of where you will be happier. Sometimes benefits are more important than wages. Also, sometimes it is better to be paid a little less in order to work closer to home...especially if you have children. After seeing what is available to you, your decision will be easier. With the nursing shortage you don't need to jump at the first offer you get, unless you truely love that place.

My only recommendation is this: happiness is more important than money. One dollar more per hour isn't worth it if you hate the floor you work on or hate the people you work with. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions about the hospital. You are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you. Try to find a hospital that fills your needs. I wish you luck in your job pursuit.

[essarge]

Brandy,

While I am not graduating until '04, I can tell you that there are allot of very good sites online to check out average salaries in your area. Salary.com is one that comes to mind. These sites will tell you low end and high end. Being a recent graduate, I would probably ask for somewhere between low end and mid-level.

Don't be afraid to ask for more than they are offering. With the nursing shortage, you'd be surprised at the power you have to negotiate.

Good luck and let us know how things turn out.

[CEN35]

i agree with both the previous posters. the one other thing that is important, is the rn to lpn ratio in the unit you are working. this is not a cut down on lpn's. however, if they tell you there are 15 icu beds, 2 rn's and 4 lpns.........that could be kinda tough during a bad situation with one patient......while trying to keep up with the others.

[BrandyBSN]

Thank you to everyone who replied! I have checked with a couple of the hospitals in Columbia Missouri as well. They are much larger hospitals, and it suprised me that the RNs at those larger hospitals worked for much less, and had a much lower benefits package with a higher premium. Very surprising to me!

[CEN35]

brandi.........you will find it varies from institution to institution, and region to region quite a bit.