salary rate?.....anyone?

sassafrazzled · Jun 7, 2006

I don't know about Norfolk.... You should check on Salary.com.... they have averages broken down by specialties. But, every facility will be quick to remind you, it all boils down to past experience. Most of them won't give any kind of quotes on the phone. (makes it frustrating to job hunt)

soapmom · Jun 7, 2006

i worked for sentara which is a big provider in the norfolk area. ten years ago, when i left from a supervisory position, i was making $18+/hr. of course there are other facilities in the area like chkd which is a children's hospital. they, sentara, do have excellent benefits.

good luck in your search. i think you can probably search for jobs at sentara by going to http://www.sentara.com. if that doesn't work, do a google for sentara healthcare.

alice

unwillingly retired from nursing

llg, PhD, RN · Jun 7, 2006

The salaries keep changing, so it is hard to keep up with the exact figures. Also, the different hospitals use different strategies of compensation, making it difficult to compare 1 hospital to another on pure salary figure. For example, one hospital will have a slightly lower hourly rate but with a higher shift differential. One hospital offers a performance bonus and another offers a bonus for seniority for each year you work there. etc.

In the end, there is not that much difference in the total compensation offered to nurses between the different hospitals in the Norfolk area. It's more a matter of which hospital has the specialty that you want to work in, the hours available that you prefer, and/or has the compensation package structured in a way that meets your needs well. They all know what each other is paying and all stay within a few % of each other.

My advice it to talk with the different hospitals that have the specialties that interest you most and find the unit on which you will be the happiest. Choose that job unless the compensation is significantly worse (which I doubt it will be.) Being unhappy in your work isn't worth $.25 an hour more.

llg

jhenbl · Jun 8, 2006

Thanks for that great advise! One more thing....which is more advisable...to apply personally to the hospitals or to wait for a call from the hospitals(i applied on-line)? (The ones that are calling me are nurse recruiters from an agency)