Question about working w/o endorsement

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2011

It depends on the state and the facility......check the board site....

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/state_board_of_nursing/12515/licensure_information/572048

lapoRtaN · Sep 8, 2011

Thanks for the reply. Yes I check the site before. I guess my question is more about would not having the endorsement be a hinderance in the hiring process.

elkpark · Sep 8, 2011

You can certainly get hired, but you can't work without valid licensure in the state -- whether that's a permanent license, a temporary permit (which lots of states offer to people who have applied for permanent licensure), or working on a valid "compact license."

It would be up to the individual employer whether they would be willing to make you a job offer and start the employment process before you actually have a license in hand, but most healthcare employers (esp. the larger employers) are accustomed to dealing with people who are applying from out of state and may not yet be licensed and don't consider it a big deal (in my limited experience :)).

lapoRtaN · Sep 8, 2011

You can certainly get hired, but you can't work without valid licensure in the state -- whether that's a permanent license, a temporary permit (which lots of states offer to people who have applied for permanent licensure), or working on a valid "compact license."
It would be up to the individual employer whether they would be willing to make you a job offer and start the employment process before you actually have a license in hand, but most healthcare employers (esp. the larger employers) are accustomed to dealing with people who are applying from out of state and may not yet be licensed and don't consider it a big deal (in my limited experience :)).

Thanks that is what I am hoping for.

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Sep 9, 2011

I saw on the PA BoN website that PA offers temporary permits but only if you request one and pay the fee when you submit your application for endorsement (or initial license by examination).

AreEn17 · Sep 9, 2011

I've seen the term compact license quite a few times throughout the threads on AN. What does it mean?

Thanks in advance. :)

reg.nurse · Sep 9, 2011

In general if hired by an employer outside of your original state of licensing can u work temporarily while waiting for the
New state license? For example I am a new grad RN from NJ. I just relocated to PA and have a job interview. I'm wondering if they would hire me while I'm waiting for my PA endorsement? Anyone have experience with a similar situation?

My friend new grad from Ohio applied for jobs in PA, and got the job without even going to PA. Moved the next week, but I do not know if she had to wait for the new license. She did get hired though right away with the OH license. Apply, never hurts.

CCL RN, RN · Sep 9, 2011

You can certainly get hired, but you can't work without valid licensure in the state -- whether that's a permanent license, a temporary permit (which lots of states offer to people who have applied for permanent licensure), or working on a valid "compact license."
It would be up to the individual employer whether they would be willing to make you a job offer and start the employment process before you actually have a license in hand...

That's exactly how it worked for me. Got interviewed, hired, and had a 'pending' job offer. Could not begin orientation, or hold *any* job with nurse in the title, with being a licensed nurse in that state.

Luckily, WA has a super quck temp license. The minute it went through, I was scheduling my orientation.

lapoRtaN · Sep 9, 2011

Great guys. Thanks for the advice. Wis:yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah::yeah:h me luck next week

lapoRtaN · Sep 9, 2011

Ok I missed that up. Lol

elkpark · Sep 9, 2011

I've seen the term compact license quite a few times throughout the threads on AN. What does it mean?
Thanks in advance. :)

The Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) is an agreement among a bunch of the US states (24, I think?) to recognize each others' nursing licenses for working purposes. There's a lot of confusion about the Compact, but the easiest way to understand it is that it works exactly the same as our drivers' licenses.

Everyone understands perfectly well, with no confusion, that you are licensed to drive in your home state, and you can drive as far (in the US) as you want, for as long as you want, on your "home" license as long as you still live in your home state. If you move to another state, you have 30 (or 60, or whatever the state law says) days to apply for a new driver's license in your new state. The only reason we're able to drive freely around the country without having to stop at each state line and get a new driver's license in that state is because long ago, in the Dawn of the Automobile Age, all the state got together and signed a compact (an actual paper documen just like a treaty, but between entities other than separate countries) agreeing to recognize each other's drivers' licenses for travel purposes.

The NLC works exactly the same way, except that not all states have chosen to sign (join) the compact (as of now; states can still choose to sign -- that decision gets made by the state legislature). If you live and are licensed (as a nurse) in a "compact state" (a state that has signed the compact), your license has "compact privileges" and you can use your current license to practice in any other compact state for as long as you want (the rest of your career, if you like) -- as long as you maintain your permanent residence in your current "home" state. You can only get a license with "compact privileges" if you're a permanent resident of the state. If you apply for licensure in a compact state from outside the state, and don't live there, you will get a license, but it will be a traditional, "regular" license that doesn't have compact privileges and is only good within that state. If you have a license with compact privileges and move out of your "home" state, even to another compact state, you have to apply for a new license in your home state.

A lot of people (including on this site) seem to believe that "compact licensure" is some sort of national (or, at least, semi-national :)) licensure, and, once you have a compact license, you can move anywhere you like and work anywhere you like with just the single license, but it's nothing like that. There are only very specific applications (as described above), and it won't ever matter at all for the majority of US nurses. The two main groups of people who most benefit from the compact are a) travel nurses and b) nurses who happen to live near enough the border between two or more compact states to be able to commute into another state for work. (E.g., I lived for many years in a town on the border between two compact states, and held a job for a few years in which I commuted to work in the nearest city in the other state, without having to get a second license).