My money situation is desperate right now and the only job offer I have had (after puting in atleast 30 applications) is at a non-skilled, long-term care facility. The pay is great but the job is so far from what I want it's not even funny. My only responsibilities as an RN will be assessments and paperwork....that's it!
What should I do? I have to take this job, we literally are running out of money for food and had to borrow money for rent this month. If I take this job, I am afraid I will lose all that I have learned and that no hospitals will want to hire me.
I would like to volunteer or work as a tech or cna at the local hospital, but with the work schedule and family, I won't have time, so no opportunity for opening doors that way. I can go for my RN to BSN and perhaps work on some certificates, like ACLS and PALS, etc...will that help me to get a hospital job after working at a non-skilled facility for 6 months to a year?
I have worked so hard the last few years and this is so depressing. No one else in my family is a nurse in order to understand why I am so torn about taking this job. They think that it's great pay and great benefits, go for it! I think that it will ruin my career before it even starts
Jobless & waiting for hospital job = NO pay + NO experience
After accruing several years of LTC experience I received a couple of job offers at local acute care hospitals, so LTC is not a career destroyer. In fact, it is a career in its own right.
Some new grads insist they would never be caught dead working in a nursing home. My advice is to never say never, and to try it out before you knock it. The acute care hospital is not the exalted castle that people make it out to be.
Totally agree! It's a RN job period. I just got a call for an interview for a Ltc today. If I get it I will take it!
Um... to be blunt, it wouldn't even be a question for me. If I were in a position where I needed to borrow money for rent, I would take any job I could get to put food on the table for me and my family, even if it was waiting tables, or mopping floors. (Both of which I have done by the way, which is probably why I have never been in the situation to need to borrow money to pay the rent)
Don't judge someone who is in the situation to borrow money for rent. My family and I have worked hard to get to where we are now and have busted our butts in school to get off of food stamps and change our lives. I would have gotten a job as a waitress or mopping floors if their were actually any jobs in this town to be found. As it is I will have to drive over an hour to get to the job I have been offered. I am praying my car will make it because if I break down, I will be stuck on an empty highway at night (if you can call it that) with nothing for miles in both directions and very little traffic. As soon as we can save up the money we will be moving to a town that has more opportunities.
Thank you all for taking the time to respond to my post. I may have not been clear but this is not an LTC facility. I will not be doing any meds, IV's, foley's, nothing...only assessments and computer work. If it were not for the lack of any type of skills, this would otherwise be a great job. I just can see myself applying to a hospital or other job in a year and I will look no different that new grads coming out of school, except I wil have forgotten much of what I had learned.
Don't get me wrong, I will take this job and I will make it work. I would not be where I am today if I weren't a fighter. I am glad to have ANY opportunity right now, with as bad as the market is. I will do the best job I possibly can, build good references, work on cert's, join a few associations, concentrate on my BSN, etc.
I am just very disappointed and wanted to vent my frustration. Thank you for letting me whine and feel a little sorry for myself for a moment. Time to pick myself up and be an adult and take care of business.
Because we have sacrificed so much to finish school, we have not been able to celebrate any holidays, anniversaries or birthdays for two years. This Christmas we plan to fill our living room with toys and a big beautiful tree. The changes me and my family are going to be able to go through thanks to this job will be amazing.
For anyone who has ever been on foodstamps and low income, it is very difficult to get off. It is literally easier to not work and recieve assistance. But I have plans for my family and myself, and this is a huge step to make those plans work. We had been able to pay all our bills while in school due to student loans and grants, but now that school has ended and it has taken longer than I thought it would to get a job, bills have gotten super tight. I thought I would have a job or two lined up before I finished that final semester, but that has been two months ago. If I could find a job, it would be for minimum wage, the gas and daycare alone would eat it all up, food stamps would get cut so we would have to pay more for food and then there would be nothing left for actual bills....I would be paying money to work. Been there done that, was completely astounded that it made mor financial sense not to work at all. It's not as easy as people who have never been in this situation think it is.
To make it just a little worse, I was offered a job at a very large and amazing hospital in an ICU but it is twice as far away as the non-skilled facility. There is just no way my car would make it, not to mention I would never get to see my family, I would be exhausted, no time for my BSN, etc. And there is no way we could afford to move right now.
To have that opportunity soooo close and yet I cannot reach out and take it. Broke my heart, but I will fight for what will be the best for my family and try to find my own personal (and seperate) happiness is some other way. Don't take that the wrong way. As a mother of course my happiness is tied to my families happiness. But as mothers we often sacrifice so much of ourselves for everyone else that there is nothing left for ourselves. That worked for my mother, it was all she wanted, but for me I need just a little more. I need a little time away from my family and something that is just for me.
P2P...is there a way for you to get there with other transposition??? Relocation expenses, etc???
I worked years ago with a great nurse who was my preceptor who would travel from upstate south to my part of the state to work. She work at this facility for over 15 years, and she had a family and a situation that you speak of.
We do what we have to do for our families, yes, even if travel across country and criss cross it for the sake of it. I have met and have been mentored by many nurses like yourself.
Try to find out if this ICU job assists with that...it doesn't HURT to ASK for the sake of getting an opportunity that could be a match...If it is meant for you to be an ICU nurse, YOU WILL BECOME ONE...it just means you will be set on a course where you will pick up the things you need before you get there.
Sending positive vibes to your success-it will happen!
Thank you LadyFree! I will ask, your correct, it wouldn't hurt. Hopefully, if I turn the position down at the ICU, another position at this hospital could still be open to me in the future.
as a acute care nurse...........that seems like a dream job :) Its easier to find a job when you have a job. take the job, be able to eat and in 6 months start applying to other gigs while working a pretty cushy gig. congrats!
I admire your desire to better your life. You truly are an inspiration. Best of luck in your endeavors and I have no doubt good things are coming your way!
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Thank you LadyFree! I will ask, your correct, it wouldn't hurt. Hopefully, if I turn the position down at the ICU, another position at this hospital could still be open to me in the future.
((HUGS))......The BSN can come later.....and you will get tuition reimbursement. You have sacrificed so much so far.....I would lean towards the ICU...but I LOVE ICU. It would be temporary that you would not see your family for once you are working and bringing home money....which one will give you more opportunity down the road? Is there a way to drive so far and take public transportation the rest of the way?
Once you are secure and happy....room for OT and advancement....everyone will benefit
You should be proud of what you accomplished......I vote try for the ICU. But ANY JOB is better than NO JOB!
Thank you all for your support, I appreciate your comments. I have decided that it is just not practical to take the ICU job, there is just no way. I have turned it around in my head every which way for the past few days, trying to think of just some way that I could make it work. It is a difficult thing for me to admit because I have always been of the mindset that if you just work hard enough, try hard enough or if I am smart enough I can solve any problem. But over the past few years I have learned that sometimes it just doesn't matter how hard you fight, some things just can't be done. I am not giving up though. I will work at the non-skilled facility, do the best job that I can, develop whatever skills I can, build relationships and contacts and in a year I will have enough money saved that my family and I can comfortably move without having to sacrifice so much like we have these past few years.
I will get my BSN as quickly as I can and I am sure that will open a few doors. I will join an association or two, get my ACLS and PALS...I will make it work. I know that I have worked so hard these past few years to build a career for myself but I have also done this to build a better life for my family, and that is what this job will help me accomplish.
I know this thread is from last year..I was interested in comments about new grads and LTC and this had great answers..
Anyways, it sounded like you went through a hard time..Hope all is well now..so, did you take the job? and if so, did you like it and did you feel like you did grow as nurse..Also, did it open any acute care doors?
Specializes in ED, Telemetry,Hospice, ICU, Supervisor.
Any RN work is better than NO RN work. Look you got mouths to feed and shelter to keep over their heads. Put your pride aside and provide for your family.
Take the LTC job and in 6 months, try for another hospital job. Now you have more experience that those other new grads.
RNReadyManc
100 Posts
Totally agree! It's a RN job period. I just got a call for an interview for a Ltc today. If I get it I will take it!