Nurse Manager Opportunity

SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN · Apr 29, 2015

I have not been given the opportunity to serve in the manager role previously, but these individuals must have seen something in me to raise this point.

No not necessarily, they could be asking anyone with a pulse. Or, the people who approached you with the idea of management were just blowing smoke up your bottom to get you hooked on working for that company/department. Or the person who is retiring is being forced to do so and actually has no say or authority in who will be his/her replacement. Or there may be a more popular candidate in the mind of others, who is likely to get the job over you and every one else but that was never told to you during your interview.

On the other hand, who cares? Do you want the position or not? If so, do your research.

Research includes talking to people and feeling out the politics/behind-the-scene-dynamics of the department/company as well as the players involved, the day-to-day tasks and life of the job, the expectations of new managers, and the support system and training you can expect to receive after you start. After you have honestly gotten a good picture of the position, approach the right person (preferably the one who is retiring) with your interest. Good luck! :)

RN34TX · May 8, 2015

MBARNBSN made some very good points about the possibilities of your situation. They could just be blowing smoke dangling a carrot in front of you to see how much you will do with an empty promise of a manager position.

With respect to your questions, My background before becoming a manager was that of a staff and charge nurse, nothing more. My salary change was a $15,000 a year increase. I went into management because my manager was leaving and she wanted to groom me as her replacement and I was deathly afraid of who was going to become my boss if I didn't step up and take the position myself. Prior to this I had no desire to be a manager or supervisor of any kind.

Like MBARNBSN said, sometimes the manager has no say so as to who will be replacing him/her and some of my colleagues stated the same thing but they could not have been farther from the truth in my case. My manager's opinion on who should replace her weighed very heavily as it should.

What at I learned from that experience is this:

If you apply for a manager position and they call and tell you that they are only doing interviews on one particular day only and you need to be there that day or forget it, it means that they already have someone in mind and that the other candidates are being interviewed just to show that they are making an effort to consider other applicants but they already know who they want.

The benefits include generally working hours that are not a set schedule as long as you are there during the majority of the business day (I can go into work at 6:30 am or 9:30 am for instance) and if I want to take a day or week off I just take it. I don't have to worry about what other nurses might have put in time off requests for the same time.

I also have more authority now to do things that I couldn't do alone as a staff nurse such as stepping in and taking action against workplace bullying/incivility.

The cons are that your work is never done and you could easily work from 6am to 10pm every day and still not get caught up with all that administration as well as your staff expects of you.

When you work staff, you clock out for the day and it all becomes someone else's problem until you return the next day with a new assignment. I lay awake at night sometimes worrying about things and I know I shouldn't. Didn't do that as a staff nurse except when a particular patient went bad or something.

When you you try to stay in the trenches and help out your staff when they are short, your manager work sits undone while you work as a staff nurse taking care of patients.

Those are some of the cons.

jdethman · May 20, 2015

I recently made a transition to another department within my organization and during the two interviews I had with various members of maangement (including the Director of the department) the question was posed two different times about considering becoming a manager.
!

By your avatar you are male so to make your desire known schedule a meeting with the manger (if they are respected) and director same day different times (assuming they are the hiring manager). Say "I am very interested in the management position and will be applying when it is posted" "I would like to know what you believe the units biggest problems are, so I can begin to work on the solution". Some women will slam another women for being so bold but men can get away with it. To take that further it is expected. They opened the door for you, walk through it.

MBARNBSN is right "On the other hand, who cares? Do you want the position or not? If so, do your research."

As far as my story it is roughly the same as RNTX34.

Good luck and tell us how it goes.

PS

Clearly my answer is not taking into consideration unit or organization politics, but my view tents to be Audaces fortuna iuvat - fortune favors the bold

FlorinRN · Oct 11, 2016

hey there! When people see more in you, than you could say about yourself,,,,then you definitely should "look into yourself" and see what they see? You are a great nurse, think outside the box, and able to see/say/do more than the nurse in his/her cubicle? Then...you should go all out and challenge yourself! You could always return to bedside, but rarely the other way around. Yes, it implies many responsibilities, patience, creativity, educational skills, advocacy and everything in-between, but it gives you the possibility to advance your knowledge and career, along with some $$$. I would say: GO FOR IT!!!

jrt4 · Oct 18, 2016

I agree with what most of the posters have said so far. I have asked RNs that I interview if they are interested in management if they have a lot of experience in an area. For example, last week I had an RN who had experience as a assistant nurse manager and has a lot of ED experience. We have been looking for an ED Manager for some time...not necessarily that this person would have gotten the job but if they are interested, it might be worth asking the question.

I wouldn't expect a huge raise initially as most internal transfers are done by % of current pay or experience. If you ever take a position outside after gaining some experience as a manager you will likely be able to increase your pay. Just to put it in perspective...I am making about twice what my peers are making as bedside RNs. Get a masters degree! It opens a lot of doors.

jrt4 · Oct 18, 2016

You need to prepare yourself for 40-50 hour work weeks and stress. Its a different role and there is flexibility with your schedule for the most part if you need to leave during the middle of the day for an appointment or early on a Friday but you also have 24/7 accountability so work/life balance is sometimes not all that great. There is good and bad...I wouldn't want to go back to bedside nursing at this point.

Orca, ADN, ASN, RN · Oct 19, 2016

Hopefully their interest in you as a manager is genuine. As others have pointed out, sometimes it isn't. They could be compiling an applicant list for a position for which someone else has already been pre-selected. I have been in that situation several times. At the very least, you can gain experience in interviewing for positions at this level, get an idea about what types of questions are asked, and fine tune your answers. I have gotten something out of every interview I have gone to, even the ones when I knew that the outcome was predetermined.