No offer yet but need help deciding what job to take.

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Hello all.

I really need some help deciding what to do.

I applied for jobs 2 weeks ago at Hospital A and am excited about the prospect of working there. It has great benefits, excellent pay, great educational opportunities and is a level one trauma teaching hospital. I spoke with the nurse recruiter today to check on my applications and she said at most it should be 2 more weeks before I hear something as she said they are reviewing all applications that meet the minimum requirements, mine included.

I applied at hospital B a week ago and they left me a message today saying they would like to interview me. Possible days were tomorrow or friday. Hospital B is a medium sized hospital, benefits are not as good, drive is slightly further, pay is somewhat lower and patient acuity is lower and for these reasons, I am not as excited about it. Additionally, hospital B is a hospital with a religious affiliation. I believe in god but, do not attend church regularly and am not sure if I would feel like I am any good at praying with patients that request it.

I am not sure what to do. I am unemployed at this time because I and my husband moved across the country for his career. If I do well on the interview and they offer me a job before I have heard from hospital A, what do I do? Should I accept a job that is just ok because I miss working, could use the money and they offered me a job first? Should I decline an offer of a job at Hospital B in hopes that the Hospital A will interview me and offer me a job? I will feel like an idiot if I pass on Hospital B's offer only to have no offer from hospital A. I also feel like I put myself in a bad situation having applied for all sorts of jobs, ones I want and ones that I am not as excited for at the same time. In hindsight, I should have waited for the ones I really wanted to get back to me.

If I accept an offer from hospital B, I don't think I would feel comfortable going back on my acceptance if something better came along at hospital A.

Has anyone else ever been in this situation? I could really use some advice from you all.

Thank you so much and have a good day!

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Specializes in Medical ICU, Orthopedics.

I don't think it would be improper to ask Hospital B for a little bit of time for you to get back to them. If they offer you the job perhaps you could politely say, "Thank you so much, would it be okay if I got back to you in a week about my decision?" Maybe you could use that as a selling point to Hospital A as well. Let the recruiter know you have a pending offer, but really find their hospital to be #1 on your list. Perhaps they could get your interview in before you had to let Hospital B know.

I wish you the best of luck! :)

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Lori, thank you so much for the advice!

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