Seeking advice on new job offer

Nurses Job Hunt

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I am looking for advice on taking a new position vs staying at my current job. I currently work for a well known hospital in their NICU, I work night shift, have been there for 2.5 years, and make about $85k a year. I enjoyed the job initially but the majority of the friends I made there have now left. I also struggle with working nights- I feel constantly tired and disconnected from everyone around me because of my schedule. We’ve also had a significant shift in the unit culture, we’ve lost about 50 nurses since January. This now means we are called in every time for our on call shifts, and the hospital recently changed the policy that the on call shift is no longer time and a half. I feel incredibly burnt out but I’m starting to feel more confident as a nurse and worry about walking away when I’m just getting good at my job. 

I was recently offered a position at a nonprofit organization as an reproductive health educator for pregnant/parenting teens. The position is hybrid (3 days WFH and 2 in office), requires no weekend or holiday work, and offers great flexibility. I’m also in graduate school for nurse education so this position would be a great resume booster. Unfortunately it also comes with a significant pay cut at 67k. This means I would need to stay on PRN at my current position and work about 2 shifts a month to cover the difference in salary. 

I know I will need to leave either position in a year to move in with my boyfriend (there aren’t many opportunities for his career field where I am). 

I want to take the new position but I’m concerned about working more than I currently am (36hrs vs 40hrs) and then adding 2 additional shifts on top of that. 

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On 8/29/2022 at 10:41 PM, Nicunurse2 said:

I am looking for advice on taking a new position vs staying at my current job. I currently work for a well known hospital in their NICU, I work night shift, have been there for 2.5 years, and make about $85k a year. I enjoyed the job initially but the majority of the friends I made there have now left. I also struggle with working nights- I feel constantly tired and disconnected from everyone around me because of my schedule. We’ve also had a significant shift in the unit culture, we’ve lost about 50 nurses since January. This now means we are called in every time for our on call shifts, and the hospital recently changed the policy that the on call shift is no longer time and a half. I feel incredibly burnt out but I’m starting to feel more confident as a nurse and worry about walking away when I’m just getting good at my job. 

I was recently offered a position at a nonprofit organization as an reproductive health educator for pregnant/parenting teens. The position is hybrid (3 days WFH and 2 in office), requires no weekend or holiday work, and offers great flexibility. I’m also in graduate school for nurse education so this position would be a great resume booster. Unfortunately it also comes with a significant pay cut at 67k. This means I would need to stay on PRN at my current position and work about 2 shifts a month to cover the difference in salary. 

I know I will need to leave either position in a year to move in with my boyfriend (there aren’t many opportunities for his career field where I am). 

I want to take the new position but I’m concerned about working more than I currently am (36hrs vs 40hrs) and then adding 2 additional shifts on top of that. 

Hi I think you should take the new position even though its 40 hrs + 2 shifts I think you will have more work-life balance… God bless you for doing 2.5 years in the NICU… I’m a new grad and l want to go into critical care… I was offered a telemetry day position and the director says she hires telemetry nurses internally for ICU but I’m still considering 2 offers for a surgical step down unit & a critical care nurse residency. This 2 would be nights and I have the same concerns as you. However I am in the position in my life right now to do nights… sounds like you’ve put the work in and the universe is trying to reward you with this opportunity and will probably be better for you go back to school … nights + school would be really rough I think you should go for this new opportunity 

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Plus you would still be doing nursing PRN but also get to work from home which will give you more energy for grad school 

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