Shifts

What exactly do you mean by shift work? If you are asking about night shift, no, I've seen a few new grads go directly to day shift. If you are asking about 12 hour shifts, there are still hospitals out there that do 8 hour shifts. If you are looking for a Mon-Fri 8-5 kinda gig, you would be best off in getting your BSN and your PHN and going into public health, or going for your Master's (after some experience) to work in private practice. There isn't a whole lot of room out there for RNs in doctor's offices and I think most want experienced RNs, although some new grads get lucky right off the bat. Also, hospital jobs are usually the best paying and have the best benefits, although there are exceptions to every rule. There are other 8-5 jobs out there for RNs but as a general rule, you need experience first.

I personally think that hospital bedside experience is some of the best out there for new nurses and once you get at least 2 years of that you can go very far. Skip the hospital as a new grad and you may have a much harder time coming back to acute care later on if you change your mind.

Either way, you are still a student and have plenty of time to figure out what you want to do. You may find that there is a certain specialty that you absolutely love, and the "shift work" is just a small price to pay for having the job of your dreams!

Thank you, carebear, for your honest and kind reply. I didn't even think of working a midnight shift as a small price to pay. You're totally right about that. I do want the hospital experience. In fact, the local hospital near me has a program associated with my community college whereby they will assist with education costs if you agree to work at their hospital for two years following graduation. It's something I am definitely looking into. Being new and inexperienced, I had to ask about the shift. I have never worked a midnight shift and really didn't want to, but I need to look at that as a positive thing. I also didn't know about the 12 hour shift either. Does that give you an extra day off?

Yes, with 12 hour shifts you can work three days a week to be considered full time. You will get 4 days off a week. With night shift, you have to factor in that your first day off will be spent sleeping and recouporating (sp). If you are working as a student, you will want to work during the day so you don't get too messed up for school. Nursing school is very tiring, between classes, skills lab and clinical rotations, not to mention the homework; you would be very wise to work as little as possible (not sure if you have family to support or if you have people to help you financially, but I was able to live with my family and just work the bare minimum). You are only in school for 2-3 years and will have the rest of your life to work and make money, take advantage if you can just work 8-12 hours a week and still get by with the help of financial aid/student loans/etc. Just my opinion on that!

I think the programs that pay for you to get through school are awesome though, as long as you have a supportive manager that accepts your school schedule and your request for certain days off to cater to your education. Also, you will be guaranteed a job when you graduate, which is great in this economy!! I hope you find a position that supports your endeavors to become a nurse; if not, you will have plenty of time for that later, lol. Oh and another benefit: If you get a job with the hospital before you graduate, you may have first dibs on a dayshift position. That's how a lot of new grads in my unit got their day position; you may be able to avoid night shift all together that way!

my experience has been that you are hired to a specific shift, days or nights. But if the census is too high or too low you may be asked to change shifts for one shift or several in order to keep you working and to cover the need. In other words, it is best to be flexible if possible.

Wow. I'm glad I asked about this because I learned several good things in the answers from both of you. Thank you so much. I've even learned to think about the shifts as a positive instead of a negative! I think because I'm older (I'm 55 years old) and having worked 8:00 to 4:00 my whole working life, made me think I would really like to stay in daytime work. But I see it isn't totally mandatory, and yes, I will be flexible when I get to that stage of my career. Thank you both so much for replying!