Nursing Home or Hospital

[YVSUOMAL]

Help! I really could use some advice. I live in Minnesota and right now nursing jobs are very hard to come by. I have been offered two nursing positions a .7fte position in a long term care facility here in Minnesota where I live - the pay is not real great and the benefits are terrible($20.00/hr and $500 a month for family coverage with a deductible and only 80/20 coverage)and a position in Fargo North Dakota which is about 4 hours from where I live, however it is a weekend specialty position(.6 fte) in the hospital with great pay and great benefits. I would drive down for the weekend and then come back up in during the week. Everyone keeps telling me to hold on the economy is going to change and the hospitals here will hire again. However, the hospital here just laid off another 30 nurses and the area here is flooded with nurses. My goal is to one day work in a major hospital here in the area and I am afraid once they do hire again and I am competing with other nurses for those positions the nursing home experience will not count for much. Is the hospital experience worth traveling every week?

[caliotter3]

Yes. By all means take the weekend hospital job and the LTC job. You are lucky to get two offers in an area bad for employment.

[YVSUOMAL]

I can not take both because the hours conflict otherwise I certainly would. I am stuck deciding between the two. Any thoughts?

[caliotter3]

Well, you need the hospital experience and hospital jobs are always more difficult to get. But that drive will wear you down after awhile. Maybe you could do alternative transportation, such as the bus, so you don't have to put all that wear and tear on your car. Take the hospital job and continue to look for another nearby job that will mesh with the hospital job. That would be my choice because another hospital job may not come around for a very long time.