New RN, leaving after 6 months unprofessional?

[RubyRubyRuby]

I am a 24 year old recently graduated RN 4 months into my first role in a busy endocrinology medical ward. I haven't been happy in this role from day one, I have been unsupported and the ratio is sometimes one nurse to 10 patients. I have always wanted to travel for an extended period and an excellent opportunity has arisen to go in two months time; I'll be 6 months into my role.

I don't want to miss out on this opportunity and I feel that if I don't go soon I may never go travelling but I'm also aware that it could look unprofessional from a future employer's perspective and I know that it is recommended to stay for at least a year in your first role while you are still in the transitional period. Does anybody have any advice for me?

[3ringnursing, BSN]

The travel opportunity aside, I never recommend anyone stay in a job they dislike regardless of the reasons you feel obligate you to stay. Real or imagined, that yolk of guilt and responsibility seems rather a harsh sentence for anyone to have to endure - after all it's a job, not a prison sentence.

Leave if that is what you truly want and feel is best for you.

I know this probably sounds unbelievable to you right now, but at 24 years old you have your whole life just sitting waiting for you. I know since you only have 24 years of life experience to draw from for comparison - and all 24 of those years seem long when you consider it is all the years you have lived - but really step back and contemplate objectively that you have a long, unencumbered nursing career ahead of you. Never say never! Anything is possible - and the world is your oyster baby! There will be plenty of travel opportunities for you in future if that is what you really want.

Do what you want to do. This job isn't for you? I say ditch it.

After all, whose life is it anyway? You only get one, so live it the way you see fit for you. Don't wait until you are 50 to figure this out (this may seem totally unbelievable right now, and I get it - but you will be surprised to learn that it [i.e., 50] will be here and gone before you know it!).

Go find a job better suited to you. You're the one has to go to it everyday. You've already proven you are intelligent by getting through a grueling RN program, then pass the NCLEX licensure exam - you are a responsible adult and you've earned the right to figure out what is best for you.

Oh, and one more thing I would tell you if you were my own daughter (and since I have a son 1 year younger than you I feel I am entitled): start saving for retirement RIGHT NOW. At least 10% of your monthly salary should be socked away into your employer's 401K or 403B retirement savings plan - if you can swing it financially contribute the maximum up to what your employer will match your contributions because this equals free money to you.

As I already said, life flies by at the blink of an eye - mach 12 in fact. Suddenly one day retirement will be right around the corner my friend - best not to be unprepared. After all, you don't want to have to work forever, right?

Another thing to consider - when you eventually find a job you like stay put. Every time you leap frog from one job to the next you need to understand that you lose retirement savings wise. You have to wait to become fully vested with each new employer, typically 3-5 years. Once you are fully vested your employer matches your retirement savings up to a designated point, dollar for dollar, the exact amounts differing with each employer. With every new job you start all over again and have to wait to be vested all over again too. This equals having to wait for your employer's maximum matched contribution to your retirement savings account to start - translational: lost free cash for you.

I wish someone sat me down and make me realize that 23 years ago when I first became an RN, but you my friend do have that someone: me.

Please take this advice to heart. And best of luck where ever life takes you!

[marylou5]

Human resources would not be impressed with your resume... being a new grad, leaving your first job after 4 months........a travel for fun, hiatus.

Hmmm....you have not developed any real skills in 4 months...3 months orientation!

You wasted hospital money training you as a new employee.

You have not been on the job long enough for HR to consider you contributed...much.

You chose to leave a job you had for 4 months...at least a year is the expectation, for a non emergency vacation.

Your job expectations would be zilch to non existent!

Time to accept responsibility to those who sacrificed to educate you..and step up.

[Kyrshamarks, BSN, RN]

As you lay on your deathbed with family gathered around and a grandchild asks you what your greatest regret is, are you going to say I regret going to Tibet (or where ever) and not sticking to first job where I was miserable for another 6 months? I don't think so. Travel, experience life, don't be miserable because that is what is expected of you for a sake of job. Don't live to work, work to live.

[Julius Seizure]

OP, please let us know what you decide to do. I am invested in the story now!

[RehabRN5]

I think I probably wouldn't regret quitting a job I hated for a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel. You only get one chance at life. Yes, I think it is unprofessional to leave a job after 6 months to travel, but I don't think it will make you unemployable as a nurse. As long as you are open to working in a type of nursing, or in a location, that needs nurses I think you will be ok. Obviously be smart about your finances and make sure you have some money saved for lapses in employment. Leave your current job on good terms. It is a risk, so you just have to weigh the pros and cons and figure out what is most important to you. I hope you get what you want!

[Wuzzie]

I think I probably wouldn't regret quitting a job I hated for a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel. You only get one chance at life. Yes, I think it is unprofessional to leave a job after 6 months to travel, but I don't think it will make you unemployable as a nurse. As long as you are open to working in a type of nursing, or in a location, that needs nurses I think you will be ok. Obviously be smart about your finances and make sure you have some money saved for lapses in employment. Leave your current job on good terms. It is a risk, so you just have to weigh the pros and cons and figure out what is most important to you. I hope you get what you want!

Just exactly how does one go about doing this when one leaves a job barely off orientation and only 6 months in without the reason being some unforeseeable circumstance (and travel doesn't count) beyond one's control.

[Feelgood RN]

OP, please let us know what you decide to do. I am invested in the story now!

Lol! I think after all these replies and nothing from the OP it's safe to say that they chose the VACATION!

[RNperdiem, RN]

Where does the idea come from that travel is a once in a lifetime thing?

Don't people take trips all the time? Even extended travel is possible if your manager is cooperative.

Where I work, people save up time off and take a long visit back home to India or the Phillipines.

[Julius Seizure]

Where does the idea come from that travel is a once in a lifetime thing?

Don't people take trips all the time? Even extended travel is possible if your manager is cooperative.

Where I work, people save up time off and take a long visit back home to India or the Phillipines.

Where I worked, it was hard to get eight days off in a row.

[Boog'sCRRN246, RN]

Where does the idea come from that travel is a once in a lifetime thing?

Don't people take trips all the time? Even extended travel is possible if your manager is cooperative.

Where I work, people save up time off and take a long visit back home to India or the Phillipines.

In my experience, and possibly due to where I am located, traveling for recreation is thought of as frivolous and if you're not working yourself to death six to seven days per week, you're not contributing to society. I feel like this is an underlying theme of American culture. I read articles all the time where a person is just out on a Saturday night, gets in some kind of trouble, and the first thing someone says is "Get a job," or "I was in bed at that time b/c I have to WORK in the morning." Americans are very much obsessed with work, work, work and complaining about not getting a vacation.

Also, when it's hard to get just one or two days off because your manager is constantly having to justify positions, the thought of extended travel is laughable (not my personal opinion, just what I'm used to hearing).

[GGarryy]

I left to travel after 3 years and felt in over my head. You have to be ready to walk on to a unit with nothing more than a tour and take patients. Most of the time you don't get computer training even if they say you will. The units who need travelers don't usually have support staff. The managers will sell the unit like there is a ton of teamwork but if that were true they would be staffed. The traveler is the cheapest person to get rid of, so if you aren't cutting it, or you ruffle any feathers, you're gone. That "contract" you have only protects the hospital if you call in or leave. They can cancel it whenever they want to. I've been traveling for 7 years. I love it. I'm not telling you this to stop you. I'm saying be very careful about what you decide. I have been offered jobs just to drive across the country and be told my job was changed after they looked at my resume. I have been placed on units I didn't have experience in without my consent. If you screw up that hospital will not back you, you don't work for them. Your company will say you should have said you weren't comfortable. Do you genuinely believe after a few months you can walk blind onto a unit and take a full patient load safely?

The other thing to consider is how difficult it is to get a staff job with less than 2 years of experience. If traveling doesn't work out, you will still need to work. I quite my first job after 8 months to move back to my home town. BIG mistake. Even though there were 30+ hospitals in the area, it took me months to get a job. I didn't qualify as a new grad, but I didn't qualify as an RN1 either because I had less than a year of experience. I would suck it up for a few more months then transfer to a different floor at the hospital you are at. It doesn't look bad to say you just realized you aren't interested in endocrine. But I wouldn't leave your hospital, very few places take travelers with less than 2 years experience and you might find yourself against a wall. I'm in my 30s and still traveling (most others are older than me you have plenty of time).

[Feelgood RN]

The units who need travelers don't usually have support staff. The managers will sell the unit like there is a ton of teamwork but if that were true they would be staffed. The traveler is the cheapest person to get rid of, so if you aren't cutting it, or you ruffle any feathers, you're gone.

Not all units that need travelers are unstaffed due to no teamwork. The nurses I work with are excellent, the reason we are not fully staffed is because we're an hour to 2 hours from any fully functioning towns.

Travelers are the EASIEST to get rid of. Of course if you aren't cutting it or ruffle feathers then you're probably not going to last long. If you don't fit there may be another traveler that matches the puzzle better. It costs more money to have a traveler come in and fill staff positions than just hiring another FTE so if it's not working out then you're paying extra for something that's essentially broken.

I'm very appreciative of travelers that come out to our hospital. I've made sure that, even though they don't get bonus pay, they get the Christmas hams and Thanksgiving turkeys or the shirts and nurse appreciation gifts that the hospital gives out. I will not however keep someone that is going to bring drama or a bad work ethic into an otherwise great nursing team.