Casual Nurse/Travel

World Canada

Published

Hi, I'm still kind of new with this whole "position" thing and I have recently accepted a temp part time position. I am dying to see the world with my boyfriend (he also does shift work but gets a lot more time off than me). I'm wondering what the best position would be for me if I want to be able to take two weeks off at a time to travel to places with him. Do you think casual nursing would be a good move? Anyone actually prefer to be casual over having a position? Eager to hear your thoughts and arguments about this! Just wondering if I made a bad choice in taking this temp part time position. Or even if I chose the wrong career! I'm a nurse in St. John's Newfoundland by the way!

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

One of the problems with being casual is that you have no benefits. No pension plan, no health care/dental plan, no sick days, no paid vacation. The other problem is you have no guaranteed hours. If you're sure you can pay your bills on a hit-or-miss basis and won't need a root canal/antibiotics/physiotherapy for an injury, then casual might work for you. On the other hand, if you're in a part-time position, you can often make enough shift trades to give yourself the time off you're looking for to travel, plus you have a guaranteed income AND those benefits so many of us need.

Thanks so much for your reply! I totally agree with what you've said. The thing is, we don't have many senior staff and as I gain more seniority it's going to be harder to get time off which sucks!

I think if you're fine not having benefits and are able to pay into the pension plan and the flexibility works for you then being casual isn't bad. I'm part time at my job, 0.3 FTE. I get to pay into my pension plan, get money in lieu of benefits and am garunteed 2 12 hour shifts each pay period.

At my facility there are so many sick calls and gaps in the schedule that I could work full time hours if I wanted to. I don't think I'll ever go full time. I love the flexibility and because I get in lieu of benefits I actually make more an hour than the full time staff.

Specializes in Medicine.

I think casual would be a good choice for you. You can still get lots of shifts (at least where I am in Ontario) and you can easily make yourself "not available" during certain times you want off, and they call/email you with available ***** and its up to you to take them or not (just be aware that if you're known to rarely take shifts offered than they may let you go, so be sure to take a decent amount of shifts to keep your position)

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