New grad RN and home health/assisted living job offer. Take it?

[countrygurl89]

I just graduated with my BSN on December 21st and will be taking my boards February 6th. I have always thought I wanted to start out in a hospital nursing job but did have some interest in home health/public health. I have submitted several applications to a hospital 30 miles from my house and recently submitted an application to a healthcare company about 5 minutes from my house(they do home care, hospice and have a few assisted living facilities). I just had an interview at the healthcare company this morning and they pretty much offered me the job on the spot. I am not sure whether or not to accept the offer. They do have company cars but not always enough for all the nurses and they don't reimburse mileage. We do get paid hourly though. Basic hours would be M-F 7:30-4 with on-call rotations and flexible schedules. The position they offered me would be full-time 32-40 hours per week and basically working as an RN between home care, hospice and assisted living RN manager. However, I also have my application for a local hospital ER (30 miles away) being reviewed by the hiring manager. It is a .7FTE (about 56-64 hours/2 weeks) position with weekends and holidays, and union. I hear their benefits are amazing. They also pay about $7 more per hour than the healthcare company. Should I hold out for the hospital or accept the position at the healthcare facility? Any advice would help as I'm not sure what to do.

[lefrench123]

It sounds like both jobs have their pros and cons. I personally would go for the hospital position (more money, benefits, and more acute experience starting out) BUT I would take the home health job until I heard back. I know some people find doing this to be TABOO but if you got the hospital job you would probably still be on orientation and could simply say that at that time the hospital job offered the experience you were looking for, etc.

[krazieklutz03]

Take the healthcare company job until you hear back from the hospital. You might burn bridges but they have to understand better pay, better experience, better benefits. Don't feel guilty.

[SE_BSN_RN, BSN]

Agree with both posters above. Take what comes first, don't wait!

[Concerto_in_C, BSN, RN]

It's not even about the schedule or compensation in a hospital (but I admit my schedule and my compensation package in the hospital are the best ever).

It's about learning.

The caliber of the people you work with in a hospital (physicians, medical students, pharmacists, resp. therapists, physical therapists) is so much higher than home health. Those young people are brilliant and you will learn so much by interacting with them, it will have a decisive impact on how your career will develop and where you are going to be 5 years or 10 years from now. Nursing is learning-this is the key that opens the doors of opportunities in later life.

[Jmira.BSN.RN]

Take the job that is offered to you! Any money and RN experience is better than none at all. Good luck

[Nonetheless]

I would hold off on home health for 6 months to 12 months and try for a hospital job.

However, I have the financial resources to hang out and volunteer and stuff for an extensive period of time: I don't need to worry about money.

[MissyNik]

Cant you tell them you have to give your job a 2-3 week notice before you start? This will buy you some more time to wait and see if the hospital will call with an offer.

[jaytee12003]

No brainer, take the Home Health agency make sure the hospital is what you want before you quit the Home Health agency, because some nurses prefers the flexibility of Home Health.