itsthegreeneyes

I recently applied to a couple positions posted by Kaiser in the Bay Area. Within a week or two, I received a call and email from recruiter stating they wanted to set up an interview. In the email, there was link to another generic Kaiser job posting that the recruiter wanted to me to apply to. Upon further examination, I noticed the recruiter did not work directly for Kaiser, although there were Kaiser icons all over the email, rather the recruiter was from an agency. Has anyone had this experience? Is this a legitimate pathway to get hired on at Kaiser? If I was hired this way, am I an employee of the agency or of Kaiser? Thanks for any insight you can provide.

I graduated as a part of the first class at the Concord campus in 2008. People were able to work during the program, but full-time would probably not be possible nor would it be advisable. I worked one 8-hour shift a week after Level I when I was eligble to work as a CNA but I also had a newborn at home so that required a lot too. Some people worked 3 days a week. Most clinicals and classes are M-F during business hours but there are some clinicals and classes in the evening some quarters. When you select skills labs and clinical your priority changes every quarter to be fair. So depending on your priority you may or may not get a choice in your schedule. It also depends on other variables like how much you need to study because everyone is different. For some people nursing school is really really difficult and they need to work extra hard. Then some people made it look easy. Also keep in mind if you are going to get fininacial aid, most of the time you need to maintain 12 units a quarter so you may have to take extra "cushion" classes to meet that requirement which means busy work. Things may have changed since I have been there, but I hope this helps. Good Luck.

To answer your question UC Davis does not have an actual inpatient Psych unit. Most Psych cases are sent to Med-Surg floors until placement can be found like across the street at the county psych facility.

Good for these nurses. It's about time that SoCal RN wages catch up with that of Northern California. It has always amazed me that although the cost of living seems much higher in SoCal that the wages have never caught up. Good Luck to these nurses and all of SoCal. Hopefully one day wages throughout the state will be similar so people such as myself that have stayed in Northern California for the pay can come down South.

I would set up a job agent on the HR website so that you can see when jobs that match your qualifications open up. You could also contact the nurse recruiter or find out who the critical care manager is and contact them. I understand why you fell in love, I worked there as a CNA and then due to no new grad opportunities had to go elsewhere as an RN. It is a wonderful place to work as a RN, thus the magnet status. As an RN you really get to participate in true nursing because you have so much support staff. I don't know if you are set on the Walnut Creek Campus, but Concord is just as nice. I know they have not been hiring as much as they were when I was hired a couple years ago due to budget, but they opened a new tower in Concord last year and they are opening a new tower in Walnut Creek this year.

Its possible that this person is or was an LVN which is overseen by a different agency in california the BVNPT so this may explain why you could not verify their license or your grandmmother's (plus it would have to be an active license) if you were not contacting right people. RNs are overseen by the BRN. Last I heard you could still challenge the boards for LVNs with some verified experience in the medican field in such as CNA and taking a couple courses (i.e.- pharmacology).

I think it might be facility specific. At my facility, the RNs do most lab draws especially on admission as we only have lab techs in the morning. I know there are probably more stringent protocols regarding everything related to administering blood products. RNs draw them and can, but two separate RNs must complete two separate pokes if the patient is new to the facility and they need both a type+screen and a blood type verification.

I work in the UC System and have only worked within this system since becoming an RN. The benefits are by far the best that I have seen. I do know that Kaiser talks up their benefits from friends that recently attended a job fair, but they still do not have anything on the UC system. I know Kaiser almost forces you to have their health insurance which I know some people are not a fan of. Kaiser also does not have some of the extras that the UC does. Within the UC system we have various benefits from supplemental life, legal (legal services cheap if you sign up for a small monthly deduction), supplemental disability (pays approx 70 % of your income for short-term disability). Then there are the many health plans to pick from all of which you come out of pocket for each month but there are many options from under 100 a month to a couple hundred a month (depending on your income bracket, who you are covering, etc...). Vision and Dental are employer-paid. You can get a pension and your healthcare benefits covered for life depending on how long you work there. However, the UC Regents just voted for our pension contribution to increase over the next couple of years. There are also savings plans they offer such as a 403b and 457a. Some issues to consider when choosing between the UCs, pay is vastly different from campus to campus as well as cost of living in the surrounding communities. Some UCs practice primary nursing. You will probably have to pay for parking which again varies from campus to campus. I hope I have given you a quick run down and if you have any questions feel free to PM me. I also believe the benefits handbook is published online somewhere so you may be able to see everything I am talking about if you do some searching. As far a Sutter I do not know much about them but I have heard they pay well comparable to Kaiser (UCs are usually lower, but have really good benefits). I have also heard working conditions are nice at most Sutters.

I agree with your statement, I heard it compared to herding cattle just like you said buffalo stampede. My 2 cents- If they treat you like that as a prospective employee then how will they treat you as an actual employee if/when you are hired. However, I did hear of some people getting job offers on the spot but some were only offered per diem and these were the registry travelers that have been working there currently full-time.

Sorry it has already passed. It was was this past Wednesday. It was not very fruitful from what I heard. Some peopl wait 3 hours just to get a rushed one-on-one with a nurse manager for only a handful of positions at each facility.

If you go to their HR website, its under events in the career section under the Experience RN and Nurse Management fair for Antich/Walnut Creek. You have to enter your information and upload your resume and then they email you with the event details.

After gaining some RN experience and commuting a long way weekly, I wanted to try to pursue something closer to home. Does anyone have an advice on working at Alta Bates, Highland, or Contra Costa Regional Medical Center. I am coming from a teaching facility (MD-RN dynamics different from non-teaching hospital) with little to no ancillary staff (no CNAs, limited lab techs, etc...). I am most interested to hear about the working conditions and pay is also a factor as I am making good money but I want to know if the significance is that much greater. Good benefits are also a plus. I also know that Alta Bates in Union which is also a requirement for but are the county facilities represented by unions. Thanks for any replies or PMs.

CSU Dominguez Hills has a mostly online one that many of my colleague have utilized for RN-BSN and BSN-MSN. I believe you have to go to LA a couple times during the programs but not that often plus they offer a flexible schedule like picking which day you go down there. There is always University of Phoeniz I think but they are really expensive.

Its SB 1111 if you want to research it more.

I work in the Sacramento area as a new grad (Graduated in Dec 2008, NCLEX in Feb 2009, Working in Sept 2009) and make a hourly of mid-forties. My classmates that were lucky enough to land a job in the Bay Area make around $50+ an hour. Just out of curiousity NurseCubanitaRN2b, why would you want to avoid a unionized hospital? I have worked in both unionized and non-unionized facilities, and would choose a unionized facility any day over the other option. Just curious about your reasoning?