2 NICU Job offers, need opinions on offers

[K.Alva]

Hello, so I recently was offered 2 positions in 2 awesome NICUS and now need to decide which one but its really hard.

1. NYU Winthrop: Full time, level III, benefits 403B, tuition reimbursement is $6000/yr, environment is great, perks-minimal, exposure- good, problem- I love this hospital, it offers a small/warm environment and currently work as an NA on a tele floor BUT I feel like it offers minimal growth, unit is older and very super crowded.

2. Cohen Children's Medical Center- Northwell: this is tricky, so its the best NICU has super high rankings and gets the craziest cases (so my exposure and learning would be great here), Position- they start me in a perdiem spot guaranteeing me 36 hours per week but no benefits until I progress to FT position, when asked...they said positions always open up & that they did this last year with new grads and they all already progressed to FT positions. salary-5-7K higher, benefits- same once they are available to me, tuition reimbursement is $5000/ yr, Environment- I got to shadow nurses on the unit as part of my interview and fell in love with the culture/nurses, perks- endless (clinical ladder with monetary incentives, ECHMO training, tons of committees etc ), problem- this is a the dream hospital for peds nurses, specific peds hospital and offers lots of growth opps, has brand new beautiful spacious unit and an environment I got to experience BUT the perdiem start is risky...

WHAT DO YOU THINK, WHAT WOULD YOU PICK AND WHY?

[JKL33]

They said my orientation would be 6 months w 1-2 preceptors and once on my own I would always be paired with a senior nurse. They told me that during my 6 months I will get experience in the lower acuity all the way up to the highest acuity neonates (1-1), they said there is a resource nurse on the unit always availble for me if I need it once I'm on my own too

The lack of benefits is not a good thing. At the same time, this proposed arrangement for some reason doesn't seem as offensive as roping a new grad into a contract when they have absolutely no idea what they're getting into, and claiming the need to do so is because of how much it costs to orient a new employee (which is clearly a cost of doing business that falls on the employee's shoulders, particularly if their staffing model is heavy on "replacement" rather than "retention").

In that vein, there's a benefit to this idea that we haven't mentioned yet, which is the difference in resigning from a temporary (literally "by the day") position as opposed to one where both parties have made more of a commitment and there might be a financial contract in place.

I don't think this is the world's worst answer to the related issues. Not the best, but not the worst.

[babyNP., APRN]

What are you long-term goals? Do you think you want to be an educator, nurse practitioner? If so, go with the children's hospital if you can swing it financially if you get cut (looks like the health insurance piece is taken care of) and if you feel like you're ready to feel like you're in school again and have an intensive time as a new grad. Level IV NICU as a new grad is tough and you have to go into it knowing that you will be working very hard since you have to unlearn a lot of what you did in nursing school that pertained to adults. If you're feeling burnt out from nursing school, might be better to go for the former.

Honestly, you probably won't go wrong either way, but the experience you get at a children's hospital is highly unique and extremely valuable in that you get used to taking care of acute babies much more often than a community Level III. I worked exclusively at a children's hospital for my nursing experience prior to going to grad school to be a NNP. I was very nervous about not having delivery experience but it wasn't as big a deal as I thought it would be and I was able to pick it up reasonably well. But having the critical care background I had with babies on various types of drips, post-op surgical kids, ECMO, etc etc gave me a great foundation.

[cleback]

I wouldn't trust an organization that hires a new grad prn and expects full time hours. That's just trying to get away with you working without benefits, which tells me they don't really care about their employees. No wonder positions always open up...(if this were true, wouldn't it make sense to hire you into a position opening soon? If they wanted to fairly compensate you and give you benefits they would).

I applied to a prn position that required 24 hrs a week commitment... politely said 'no thanks' and inside I saying "aw heck naw".

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I wouldn't trust an organization that hires a new grad prn and expects full time hours. That's just trying to get away with you working without benefits, which tells me they don't really care about their employees. No wonder positions always open up...(if this were true, wouldn't it make sense to hire you into a position opening soon? If they wanted to fairly compensate you and give you benefits they would).

I applied to a prn position that required 24 hrs a week commitment... politely said 'no thanks' and inside I saying "aw heck naw".

Uh yeah. A 24 hr/week position has been benefits eligible everywhere I've ever worked so a per diem position that requires a 24 hr/week commitment is totally just the employer trying to screw the employee out of benefits.

[vanilla bean]

Something sounds strange about a department hiring a new grad per diem.

It is the normal practice in the NICU where I was hired as a new grad. They periodically have a new grad class and all new grad hires are brought on as per diem. Orientation is 36 hours per week with a preceptor and if you pass your orientation period and are a good fit in the unit then you are transitioned into a benefited position.

[NurseCard, ADN]

The second one.