Negotiating for more $$$

[dianacs]

Hello all...I will be a graduate nurse (knock on wood) at the end of the year. I have verbally accepted a position at a certain facility when I graduate. However, I have not yet signed a contract or otherwise formalized the agreement.

In the meantime, a recruiter from another facility has been contacting me periodically. Today she told me that her facility has just started offering a sign-on bonus which is 3x that of the facility I agreed to work at. No, there is nothing wrong with this other hospital--it would also be a fine place to work at.

My question is: would it be appropriate to tell the first facility that I am still being actively recruited by another facility and could they match the higher sign-on bonus? And if so, it would have to be under the same terms as the current, lower bonus--i.e. no extra time commitment or anything like that. I guess the worst they could say is no; I wanted to run this by you all first. Thanks.

[JacelRN, BSN, RN]

As a new grad you will have some ground to work from. Many places want to hire you and you can go to the place that offers you the best deal.

My advice to you is this:

1) Money really isn't everything. If the hospitals are completely alike in all policies, then your best interest might be the money.

2) Check nurse-patient ratios, supportive personel, shifts available, etc. Many hospitals will offer an insane sign-on bonus to get you there and locked in a contract only for you to find you are overworked and understaffed.

3) Do your research on both hospitals and consider the above along with health insurance, benefits like PTO and vaccation, raises, etc.

Good luck with your decision and make a good one for you!

JacelRN

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

You don't get what you want out of life without asking for it. So it is appropriate. They might appreciate a heads up as to what the other hospitals are doing, but my guess is they already know. Unfortunately nurse recruiting departments have to jump through budgeting hoops to get sign-on bonuses approved and it probably isn't within this recruiters power to up the bonus when you ask for it.

Good luck!

[nekhismom]

Ditto what Jacel said. Places that offer huge sign on bonuses have a reputation for being not such great places to work. Be careful if you do decide to get a huge sign on bonus. As Tweety said, check everything out first!

GOod luck!

[live4today, RN]

Ditto what Jacel said. Places that offer huge sign on bonuses have a reputation for being not such great places to work. Be careful if you do decide to get a huge sign on bonus. As Tweety said, check everything out first!

GOod luck!

You are so right about that nekhismom. I took a sign on bonus once to work for a hospital, and it was a huuuuuuuuge mistake. If they have to pay to get you, steer clear of the place. You have all been forewarned!

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

You are so right about that nekhismom. I took a sign on bonus once to work for a hospital, and it was a huuuuuuuuge mistake. If they have to pay to get you, steer clear of the place. You have all been forewarned!

Same here. Now I know what the sign on bonus really was-

A way to get nurses locked into a horrible job.

[live4today, RN]

Same here. Now I know what the sign on bonus really was-

A way to get nurses locked into a horrible job.

Ohhhhhhh honey....HORRIBLE is such a MILD form of the word for those places. :chuckle

[chris_at_lucas_RN, RN]

I have verbally accepted a position at a certain facility when I graduate. However, I have not yet signed a contract or otherwise formalized the agreement.

If you have verbally accepted a position, that sounds like someone offered and you accepted.

If you don't intend to keep your word, the decent thing would probably be to tell whoever you have the agreement with that you might not be hiring on.

Since you are a student, you probably could just say that you agreed based on what you thought was fairly complete info about working as a nurse, but now you understand it better, and you think you might have been hasty.

Either way, you won't be fulfilling your verbal commitment. But at least if you are honest about it, you look like you have more integrity. (If you asked them for a job and they verbally said, okay--wouldn't you kind of expect that job to be there?)

[Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN]

If you have verbally accepted a position, that sounds like someone offered and you accepted.

If you don't intend to keep your word, the decent thing would probably be to tell whoever you have the agreement with that you might not be hiring on.

...

This is true.

But don't overly fret about it. If they'd called you for whatever reason and indicated they couldn't (or wouldn't) honor their commitment to you for whatever reason, you'd just be expected to carry on... as there was no written contract.

Same deal for them if you decide the new offer is better and they don't budge.

[Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN]

Ditto what Jacel said. Places that offer huge sign on bonuses have a reputation for being not such great places to work. Be careful if you do decide to get a huge sign on bonus. As Tweety said, check everything out first!

GOod luck!

Another perfect ditto.

[treddrn]

Stay clear of that sign on bonus trap! If they really wanted a nurse to work for them then they would find ways to retain the nurses they have. Once word got out about how happy the nurses are then more nurses would come in and there would be a waiting list to work there. How about giving the nurses a bonus for staying and stop trapping new hires!! Look at how nurses are scheduled and the fairness of the policies towards the nurses. Be aware of those cliques at the job.....

[nekhismom]

Ohhhhhhh honey....HORRIBLE is such a MILD form of the word for those places. :chuckle

I call my place my personal purgatory. So, yes, HORRIBLE would be WAY, WAY too mild!!! :rotfl: