New Grads- any success in negotiating your pay?

[SNB1014, RN]

for example: my husband works in finance. he's not scared to highball HR saying he wanted 82K/year knowing they would probably only give 76k (that's good since he was shooting for 75K! )

well as a new grad female i sort of got flustered on the phone with HR when i got offered a position. I have been eagerly awaiting the moment when I would be offered a RN position. They offered more than double what I made as a nurse tech and i just blabbered out "OMG yes I'll take it!!"

oops. i forgot to negotiate! evidently women are not as strong as men in this area. yes, im generalizing, i know. but i want to hear success stories!

when I went into HR the following week for a drug test, I said I would like to discuss my hourly rates, tried to re-sell myself etc. well she said, "sweetheart, i understand what you're saying, but here it is in black and white....we pay new grads on day shift X. sorry"

do most new grads simply feel like me? too thankful and excited to bother?

[llg, PhD, RN]

I have never worked at a hospital where the hourly rate was negotiable for new grads. Experienced nurses might have a little wiggle room, but not new grads ... not in today's economy.

Congratulations on landing a job!

[ArtisticNurse]

I tried negotiating with an LTC facility because they offered a lower than average pay for an RN (0-1 yr experience). Heck, it might even be lower than the average LPN rate. They said it was fixed.

After investing time in getting know the facility, they didn't give me the job and provided the excuse similar to "I don't have enough experience". When I told them I have less than a year experience. They probably went for an LPN.

[Sun0408, ASN, RN]

In most cases a staff RN aka floor nurse the salary is set and negotiations are not an option for new grads.. Advanced practice, management type positions have some wiggle room. As a new grad, the pay is based on just that and is pretty standard. The more experience you have the higher wages will be. Experience, CCRN, BSN, additional certs etc can give you a little wiggle room depending on the facility.

Unlike other professions "we" as nurses really do not bring profit to the facility we work for, we cost them money since our duties,tasks,responsibilities are not chargeable although expected.

[elizabell]

No, no room for negotiation at all. Everyone starts at the same exact rate.

What makes it even worse is that there isn't even room for negotiation after you've been there a year or so. Four of us started at the same time and we received the exact same puny raise (2.25%) after our annual review.

[ERloverRN]

No room for negotiation. I have been a nurse for four years and they go by your years as a nurse and apply it to a pay scale.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

PPs are correct. Hospitals use a compensation grid that pretty much dictates exactly what each type of position is paid. This is actually a good thing. On average, nursing staff represents ~40% of the hospital's labor force. Just imagine the chaos of trying to keep track of everything if new hires were paid based on their negotiating skills. OP is correct, evidence has shown that females are not as good at this, so the end result would be blatant discrimination in favor of male staff.... and a quick trip to Federal wage discrimination lawsuits. Not a desirable outcome.

It is usually possible to negotiate salaries for those "one of" type jobs - normally managers or higher level specialty positions.

[elkpark]

Very few new grads have anything "extra" or "special" to offer a healthcare employer that would give them any leverage to negotiate. If one person doesn't want the standard "new grad" rate that the facility offers, there are plenty of equally inexperienced new grads lined up, waiting to get jobs. Negotiation becomes a possibility only if one has significant experience, skills, knowledge, expertise above and beyond the majority of RNs.

But congrats on getting a job! That's a significant accomplishment by itself nowadays!

[NurseGuyBri]

As in most of the above cases, my facility has a set grid of pay. A new LPN

[pugmom79]

No. The new grad nurse rate is nonnegotiable where I will be

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

The facility I accepted a position for has a clinical ladder model...I have experience as a LPN (7 years) and will get the base salary for new grad, increase in 6 months, THEN the adjustment based on experience in a year. Adjustments are also applied if you get a certification, accept leadership positions, etc. I think it depends on the facility, as well as experience. Don't expect to be able to negotiate as a new grad, a least in this market. Get the experience, and if you decide in the future go to another organization, find out how they value experience, if they have a clinical ladder model, etc.

[Inori, BSN, RN]

sadly no .. new grads have zero ability to negotiate pay because you're costing the hospital more monies to hire you than to hire a non new grad and plenty of other people willing to take that salary or even work for cheaper. New grad pay at my company its nonnegotiable, its a set rate with just a small addition for BSN degree holders, and then salary is calculated according to years of nursing experience and also years worked with the company. Ii researched it and figured they'd be paying at the lower end of market rate which is true congrats and good luck. In this day of poor economy those of us who have a job are lucky.