New grad first job as Clinic RN?

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Looking for some advice from the seasoned nurses out there. I graduated from nursing school with my ADN in 12/19, licensed in IL in 1/20, had our second child in 4/20 and now I have been looking for jobs. I am currently enrolled for my BSN and hold a BA from my previous college days and a failed career as an educator.  I have experience in AP/AR and office management. 

Finding a job in the IL Chicagoland area without a BSN has been challenging since I didn't work as a PCT somewhere during school. I have managed to get 2 job interviews within the last week. One for a nursing home where I would be the only nurse with 1 or 2 CNAs all night in charge of 22-30 residents and the other for a float pool clinic nurse within a hospital in WI. I don't feel good about the nursing home job. It just doesn't seem safe and I worry that if I have an emergency with my kids I won't be able to leave since there is nobody there to cover for me. The float pool clinic job intrigues me. I would work within different specialty clinics within a hospital. It's M-F 8:30-5:30 PT with the option to pick up more, no nights, weekends or holidays. This seems like a great option since my kids are still young (4 yrs old and 5 months old) and I am working on that BSN. However, the pay isn't great. But I am wondering if some of those positives outweigh the pay right now? I also want to know if taking a job a clinic nurse is a mistake as a new grad. Obviously there will be skills that won't be used and I worry about that. However, I'm not sure if floor nursing in a hospital is really something I want to do. Do I take a pass on the clinic job or give it a chance? What would you do?! 

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Specializes in school nurse.

Honestly, as a new nurse, you'd be really lucky to get the clinic schedule right out of the gate. If you dig into it, you can learn a lot. 

Hospital nursing is often overrated and is NOT the end all and be all of a career.

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Specializes in ER, Pre-Op, PACU.

Honestly, having a nursing job with good hours and without pulling overtime and weekends and holidays when you are raising your children is a nice deal! I have always worked in hospitals but like others said, hospital nursing isn’t everything. I just managed to slide into my first hospital job without pulling tons of holidays and weekends and overtime. I have always worked in the ER and now see how much time I missed with family because of working so many holidays and weekends. Honestly, now I don’t know how worth it it was and the pay isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Take the clinic job and enjoy watching your children grow up!

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

This whole skills argument against new grads starting somewhere other than acute care is hogwash. NO ONE has 'all the skills'. Nurses who practice in different areas have different skills. 

HRSA gave out millions in grants a couple years back for the express purpose of getting RNs back into office settings and practicing to the full extent of their license. 

 

https://www.ecommunity.com/news/2018/community-health-network-foundation-receives-25-million-award-transform-primary-care

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I’m going to go against the flow here. Any job with “float” in the title can be a minefield for new grads. I work in a clinic. When a new float shows up we expect to show them where things are, give them a 30 second run down on how things work and then it’s pretty “much have a great day find us if you have any questions”. It’s the same for floors. Not the best environment to learn how to be a nurse in. Not to mention that clinic nursing is much more autonomous than most people believe. Successful autonomy comes with practice and experience.  Plus you’ve been out of school and not working for nearly a year. The hours sound great but unless there is an extensive orientation I fear this may not end well. 

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8 hours ago, Jedrnurse said:

Honestly, as a new nurse, you'd be really lucky to get the clinic schedule right out of the gate. If you dig into it, you can learn a lot. 

Hospital nursing is often overrated and is NOT the end all and be all of a career.

Thank you for this response! I feel like yes, there is a lot to learn and I am eager to do it.  The schedule also seems great but then again don't most jobs before you get into the thick of them?! ?

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8 hours ago, speedynurse said:

Honestly, having a nursing job with good hours and without pulling overtime and weekends and holidays when you are raising your children is a nice deal! I have always worked in hospitals but like others said, hospital nursing isn’t everything. I just managed to slide into my first hospital job without pulling tons of holidays and weekends and overtime. I have always worked in the ER and now see how much time I missed with family because of working so many holidays and weekends. Honestly, now I don’t know how worth it it was and the pay isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Take the clinic job and enjoy watching your children grow up!

Thanks for this! This is exactly what I am struggling with. We had kids later in life so I want to enjoy them while I can. It is such a small window of time that you get to spend with them before they are off in school full time and doing their own thing.

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7 hours ago, meanmaryjean said:

This whole skills argument against new grads starting somewhere other than acute care is hogwash. NO ONE has 'all the skills'. Nurses who practice in different areas have different skills. 

HRSA gave out millions in grants a couple years back for the express purpose of getting RNs back into office settings and practicing to the full extent of their license. 

 

https://www.ecommunity.com/news/2018/community-health-network-foundation-receives-25-million-award-transform-primary-care

That was a great read and very interesting! I feel like there is so much pressure for new grads to get that hospital job or you aren't really doing nursing. At least that is how our school sold it to us. It was almost like you were looked down on if you didn't work in the ICU or ER. But, one of the things people always mention is how flexible nursing is and how many opportunities there are. I feel like this is an opportunity I never thought of but it seems like it could lead to other possibilities for me.

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1 hour ago, Wuzzie said:

I’m going to go against the flow here. Any job with “float” in the title can be a minefield for new grads. I work in a clinic. When a new float shows up we expect to show them where things are, give them a 30 second run down on how things work and then it’s pretty “much have a great day find us if you have any questions”. It’s the same for floors. Not the best environment to learn how to be a nurse in. Not to mention that clinic nursing is much more autonomous than most people believe. Successful autonomy comes with practice and experience.  Plus you’ve been out of school and not working for nearly a year. The hours sound great but unless there is an extensive orientation I fear this may not end well. 

This is good to know and definitely gives me something to think about.  In the interview they told me they would definitely make sure I was thoroughly trained and comfortable before sending me off on my own. But just as we put our best face forward for an interview I feel that a potential employer does the same thing. I guess I would worry about my confidence in myself since I have no previous experience. I see where this could make things very stressful for me and probably for the people I would be there to help. It is something I had not thought of before your post so I thank you for that!

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 I second Wuzzie, that anything with "float" in the title is a tough gig.  You will be learning different layouts, different doctors ,different co-workers and different procedures  for each clinic. How many different clinics are you supposed to staff? 

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I basically agree with everybody who has posted.

I'd take the clinic job but be under no illusions of how perfect it's going to be; especially a float position. There are a lot of pluses and one thing you obviously won't have to worry about is working night shift/weekends. But hospitals and hospital-affiliated clinics are still part of the same big system so they likely aren't devoid of the same sort of disappointments found therein (general disregard and lack of autonomy for nurses).

Maybe half the battle is just not going in with the idea of how perfect it's going to be. Just take it all in and learn your roles.

I 100% agree with the idea that there's no need to start in acute care. Or ever work there at all.

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Specializes in Community health.

I graduated and immediately took a job in outpatient. 8:00-4:30, no weekends, no holidays. Honestly it’s been perfect for me, a wife with a school-aged child. I knew I never wanted to work bedside though, so that is something to consider. And I’ve learned a TON since I started working. No, I don’t do IVs or foleys, but I am learning an enormous amount about ambulatory care. Wherever you work, you’ll learn a lot in your first couple years!

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