I am trying to figure out how to resign from my nursing job at a skilled facility but not sure how to go about it as I don't know about the etiquette and processes, so please any help would be greatly appreciated.
I graduated this year, passed boards and applied to many areas, got a few interviews and accepted this position. It is 3 hours away and so I relocated. The offer was $19/hr. with a 3 month orientation. I got off of orientation recently, so I am on my own now. The work load is heavy and stressful with too many patient per nurse ratio, but okay because there's no abuse, evil coworkers, unsafe conditions, etc. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. It's not something I am passionate about, I am more interested in cardiac telemetry or even just hospital med- surg floor. I just dread going to work a bit. Sorry I feel like I have to hold back a lot to try to appreciate this job because nobody hired me and this facility did in this economic hardship, so I am trying to put out more positive. Preceptors for the most part are amazing and supportive.
I want to leave because of many reasons. One is that I feel like it's not my niche in nursing, even though I am helping people and my preceptors think I am doing a good job. Two is that half of my monthly paycheck goes to rent and I am getting married soon, so I am trying to save money. If I move back home, there is a place for me to stay free of charge. My original plan was to stick with this job for 2-3 years and move back home, but due to personal life changes, we are speeding up marriage. My fiance and I would like for me to move back now instead of waiting for the full one year. The only problem is that it would be very difficult to find another nursing job as a newbie with no experience. Should I start applying before resigning? And if so, for the references section, should I still include the recent new grad position? What if the references are needed and if I put down my manager's phone number, and the interviewer calls, wouldn't he/she find out that I'm planning on leaving? Can you advise me step by step what to do and how to go about it? I feel bad because I am not happy with this job and I want to go back home and find another nursing job.
If I leave at 6 months, should I include that in the resume? I know it will look poorly, so how should I explain it other than honestly telling them why I left the job? Will that count as experience and allow me to apply to exp. positions or should I apply to new grad positions/programs?
My advice to you is to stick it out for a year at the job you have now, even though you don't like it. Let me explain why.
I graduated in 2007 and worked as a camp nurse for 3 months, so I could study for the NCLEX-RN and chill before starting my first new grad job. (I already had my LPN license to work as camp nurse.) While working as a camp nurse, I met a couple of other nurses (it was a girl scouts camp -- some of the former scouts had become RNs and would come back to the camp and help out).
I also met the nurse who worked the camp nurse job the summer before I did. She also sometimes came back to help out. She had graduated two years before me in 2005. She got hired at a hospital as a new grad RN with the understanding that after her orientation, she would work in their Peds unit, which had 2 openings. Of course when she finished her orientation, both Peds jobs had been filled by other nurses at the hospital.
So they put her to work in Orthopedics. This was not her dream job and she did not appreciate the "bait and switch". So after a couple of months she gave 2 weeks notice and quit.
She did not have another job lined up yet. She thought that she would be able to get another job quickly because of the nursing shortage.
It took her 6 months to find another job because she only had 6 months of experience when she quit the hospital job in Orthopedics. She told me that basically no one would touch her because she didn't have a full year of experience under her belt. Everyone wanted to know why she left after six months. I don't know what she told them, but whatever she said, no one When she finally got another job, it was as a psych nurse in a psych facility. She had planned to move out from her parents after getting hired at the hospital that put her in Orthopedics, but because it took her 6 months to get another job, she could not move out.
Keep in mind, this was before the recession hit and hospitals started cutting staff, cutting benefits, and freezing wages.
Whether there is enough demand for you to get a job with less than 1 year of hospital nursing experience is greatly dependent on the region where you're working.
If you are in a sporificely populated area that doesn't graduate many new nurses, you may have an easy time finding another job. If you're near a big city, you might have a hard time.
We're in Chicago, which is why I think it took the other camp nurse six months to find a job -- again, before the recession hit. New grads are graduating all the time in Chicago because there are a number of nursing schools (both ADN and BSN). So there are more new grads here than there are jobs for them, in this economy.
Plus many hospitals have cut staff, and some hospitals here have closed to become outpatient care centers, or cut ER services and stopped accepting ambulances. The Cook County hospitals system lost 500 nursing jobs in just 3 years (1, 700 nurses employed in 2008; only 1,200 nurses employed at present).
I talked to the new public health nurse at my nearby local clinic. She is a new grad. She graduated in 2009 and it took her one full year of looking to get a job. She had only 3 interviews in that year. That's how she wound up at the public health clinic. She told me she had applied to tons and tons of jobs and still had only 3 interviews in one full year.
Listen to what others are saying.
Whether in nursing or in any other field -- don't quit one job without having another one lined up first.
And don't quit the first one until you have a job offer in writing from the next job -- a letter of offer. If it isn't in writing, you don't know what could happen that would prevent you from getting hired.
Regarding applying for other jobs -- many applications ask you if they can contact a current or former employer after you list the job. You can check "No" but if you don't have any other healthcare job references -- besides nursing school instructors -- for prospective employers to contact, that won't look good.
You should always give a minimum of 2 weeks notice that you are leaving a job. Less than that looks unprofessional.
totallackofsurprise
27 Posts
My advice to you is to stick it out for a year at the job you have now, even though you don't like it. Let me explain why.
I graduated in 2007 and worked as a camp nurse for 3 months, so I could study for the NCLEX-RN and chill before starting my first new grad job. (I already had my LPN license to work as camp nurse.) While working as a camp nurse, I met a couple of other nurses (it was a girl scouts camp -- some of the former scouts had become RNs and would come back to the camp and help out).
I also met the nurse who worked the camp nurse job the summer before I did. She also sometimes came back to help out. She had graduated two years before me in 2005. She got hired at a hospital as a new grad RN with the understanding that after her orientation, she would work in their Peds unit, which had 2 openings. Of course when she finished her orientation, both Peds jobs had been filled by other nurses at the hospital.
So they put her to work in Orthopedics. This was not her dream job and she did not appreciate the "bait and switch". So after a couple of months she gave 2 weeks notice and quit.
She did not have another job lined up yet. She thought that she would be able to get another job quickly because of the nursing shortage.
It took her 6 months to find another job because she only had 6 months of experience when she quit the hospital job in Orthopedics. She told me that basically no one would touch her because she didn't have a full year of experience under her belt. Everyone wanted to know why she left after six months. I don't know what she told them, but whatever she said, no one When she finally got another job, it was as a psych nurse in a psych facility. She had planned to move out from her parents after getting hired at the hospital that put her in Orthopedics, but because it took her 6 months to get another job, she could not move out.
Keep in mind, this was before the recession hit and hospitals started cutting staff, cutting benefits, and freezing wages.
Whether there is enough demand for you to get a job with less than 1 year of hospital nursing experience is greatly dependent on the region where you're working.
If you are in a sporificely populated area that doesn't graduate many new nurses, you may have an easy time finding another job. If you're near a big city, you might have a hard time.
We're in Chicago, which is why I think it took the other camp nurse six months to find a job -- again, before the recession hit. New grads are graduating all the time in Chicago because there are a number of nursing schools (both ADN and BSN). So there are more new grads here than there are jobs for them, in this economy.
Plus many hospitals have cut staff, and some hospitals here have closed to become outpatient care centers, or cut ER services and stopped accepting ambulances. The Cook County hospitals system lost 500 nursing jobs in just 3 years (1, 700 nurses employed in 2008; only 1,200 nurses employed at present).
I talked to the new public health nurse at my nearby local clinic. She is a new grad. She graduated in 2009 and it took her one full year of looking to get a job. She had only 3 interviews in that year. That's how she wound up at the public health clinic. She told me she had applied to tons and tons of jobs and still had only 3 interviews in one full year.
Listen to what others are saying.
Whether in nursing or in any other field -- don't quit one job without having another one lined up first.
And don't quit the first one until you have a job offer in writing from the next job -- a letter of offer. If it isn't in writing, you don't know what could happen that would prevent you from getting hired.
Regarding applying for other jobs -- many applications ask you if they can contact a current or former employer after you list the job. You can check "No" but if you don't have any other healthcare job references -- besides nursing school instructors -- for prospective employers to contact, that won't look good.
You should always give a minimum of 2 weeks notice that you are leaving a job. Less than that looks unprofessional.