Taking a pay cut?

Nursing Students CNA/MA

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Nurses Month 2024 | Discounts & Freebies AORN Celebrates Nurses Month

I had an interview at an assisted living facility today. I've worked in home health for nearly two years and worked at home depot in the space between the two home health jobs. I've never made less than 8.40 an hour for an actual job. I interviewed today, the facility was wonderful, it was a place that I would really love working at, but they only pay 8.00 an hour before taxes! I could not believe my ears. I'm shocked that a company would pay trained CNA's less than cashiers get paid in retail. I just found the amount insulting. Needless to say, I didn't say anything to the interviewer, I wasn't even expecting to find out the salary in the first interview.

Has anybody ever taken a big pay cut to work somewhere they they love? Is anybody else shocked that CNA's get paid less than cashiers?

I decided to not take the job. I have an interview tomorrow with a hospital, and I know they offer weekend and night differentials, and I'm applying for a night and weekend job! Hopefully I rock the interview, hospital interviews scare me so much more than ALF, and Home Health interviews do.

Pay matters so much here because financial aid won't cover the cost of my nursing classes this summer, and I usually use the loans to cover living costs when I'm not getting paid enough at work.

That being said, $0.40 pay difference is a big deal to me. I would rather make more money in a non-skilled, simple job, than a job in which there is some physically and emotionally demanding work involving bathing people and diapering patients and which I had to go through an entire month of training and pass an expensive test to finally become a CNA. I can't believe that just one state over CNA's get paid as much as a crew member at McDonald's. Nobody becomes a CNA for the pay, but still...

Good luck with the hospital interview! I hope you rock it too =)

All the hospitals near me require CNA's to have a EMT certification.

It's appauling that CNA's get paid minimum wage but I feel a job in nursing is better than a job at Home Depot (or my old job -Dollar General) because its in the healthcare field and you're getting good experience. Plus, I feel an aide job is more secure. I never felt secure at D.G even though I was there for 3 years.

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Specializes in ER, Med-surg.
Good luck with the hospital interview! I hope you rock it too =)

All the hospitals near me require CNA's to have a EMT certification.

It's appauling that CNA's get paid minimum wage but I feel a job in nursing is better than a job at Home Depot (or my old job -Dollar General) because its in the healthcare field and you're getting good experience. Plus, I feel an aide job is more secure. I never felt secure at D.G even though I was there for 3 years.

Thanks for the luck, I need all that I can get!

WOW! I didn't realize how good I had it here in Florida. EMT certification for CNA's? My goodness that's...wow. I would have no chance! I didn't know that hospitals would have that type of requirement.

I agree with you, I do like working as a CNA better than the monotony of cashiering, and it gives me healthcare experience!

Thank you for the support, I really appreciate it :)

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Specializes in Adult ICU.

I work as an ED tech prn working part time hours and bring home 10 dollars/hour for working my butt off literally. Our part time or full timers make 2 dollars more an hour but should be more for the work we do.

My friend with 15 years of ED tech experience went to our competitors hospital and got a 5 dollar pay raise. She loves the money and the people but misses us.

You have to make a decision wether money or happiness is worth more.

For me its happiness. I would do this job for free if it means helping me get a job as a new grad nurse in my dream level 1 ICU job. My friend was an ED tech for about 5 years making around 12 dollars an hour and just got a new grad nurse position at one of the top trauma hospitals in nation in the ED.

Its likes nursing, there's an over abundace of CNAs because most nurses were CNAs before nurses.

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I work assisted living right now and I hate it. I'm pulling in $8/hr but we are constantly out of supplies like gloves, garbage bags, laundry detergent. We don't have house keeping either so the CNA's have to do all that, too. Most of the residents we have shouldn't really be there, either. Technically, in my state, residents in an assisted living facility are supposed to be able to get their self out of the building in 13 minutes and most of my residents are bed bound, can't hold their own weight. I love them all to pieces but having bed bound residents and no lifts? Ridiculous.

I think you made the right choice by choosing the hospital. Good luck in your interview!

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Specializes in Med-Surg/urology.
I work assisted living right now and I hate it. I'm pulling in $8/hr but we are constantly out of supplies like gloves, garbage bags, laundry detergent. We don't have house keeping either so the CNA's have to do all that, too. Most of the residents we have shouldn't really be there, either. Technically, in my state, residents in an assisted living facility are supposed to be able to get their self out of the building in 13 minutes and most of my residents are bed bound, can't hold their own weight. I love them all to pieces but having bed bound residents and no lifts? Ridiculous.

I think you made the right choice by choosing the hospital. Good luck in your interview!

I hear ya. My first CNA job was at an ALF & when I left...the place had gone so downhill. Those people pay $7k a month to live there..but yet there were no basic supplies like gloves or wipes. I thought the money was good (11/hr) but I worked my behind off for it..and like your facility we had to fix their meal plates & serve them like waitresses..do their dishes, and wash their clothes. Most of our residents had been in LTC facilities prior to coming to us..but yet people are under the assumption that aides that work in ALF's do nothing but "hang out with the residents all day":mad:

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..but yet people are under the assumption that aides that work in ALF's do nothing but "hang out with the residents all day":mad:

I wish I had time to just hang out with the resident's all day! God knows they would love it. But I'm too busy running around like a chicken with my head cut off. And that's on night shift!

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Specializes in DD, Mental Health, Geriatric.
Honestly, CNA's always have and probably always will be a minimum wage or just above minimum wage job. The amount people are paid for their job depends on a few things: 1. Amount of education/training involved 2. The demand for that position 3. Difficulty/specialty of the tasks performed 4. Experience in the area.

The place I work at now, a privately-owned and operated Adult Family Home, (one of two), pays the exact same rate to their caregivers no matter if they are NAR or CNA or how difficult the tasks. So, the same pay for making sure "Mary" gets her special lotion rubbed on her back daily as changing, bathing, dressing, positioning, transferring and feeding, wiping, cleaning, etc "Rhonda" every day/few hours, etc. And, though our shift ends at 8pm if we are staying the night we still must answer the call bells if rung in the middle of the night but because we are technically off duty after 8pm we stop getting paid hourly rates and instead we get a flat rate pay of $25 a night. And the resident manager of the place gets the same pay as the newcomer NAR, (I know. She volunteered the info being a "talker". Lol). Just goes to show how very different various businesses and business owners can be! I remember working 24/5 in an AFH getting paid a set salary of $600 no matter how much or less I was there or did or how many residents we had. like someone else said; it's really NOT about the money!

~Ami

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

Geez, do CNAs seriously only make about minimum wage? That's ridiculous imo for the amount of work you do... I mean, I realize CNA is not a high-paying job, but I still thought it was at least about $9-10 an hour an usually... and those couple of dollars really can make a difference when you are trying to support yourself, pay bills, etc.

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Anyway, you still have choice in your hand.

Try to make it fair.

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I know when I did my CNA course one of the nurses that taught it (who I didnt get along with well) told me that CNAs in my area make only 8 an hour. well I have a CNA job that pays 10.25 an hour, well when you look at it I make about as much as minimum wage when I add it all up at the end of the month because my facility always down staffs plus I am only 2 days a week. a normal shift is 12 hours long but I am also on the PRN list for call ins and no shows and theres alot of those where I work only because its awfully staffed at night plus there is no health insurence, no over time pay, and of course no differential pay. I think that CNAs should always make atleast 3 dollars more than minimum wage. Plus I feel that depending on the number of nurses that are on thats how many CNAs should be on at minimum for the whole shift. I wish I could find a better job but it took me forever to find this one right out of highschool plus I am to emotionally attached to just walk away and I like getting out of the house every now and again to go to work. I also worked with a girl who left and went to a different nursing home because 1) she only had to take care of 6 people vs like 30 2) they fed her for free 3) she got a full 40hours 4)she got benifits... but she only got 9.50 an hour. I think that you shouldnt go in to it just for the pay because if you do that then you are going to hate it. I am by no means doing my job for the pay I like the job stability and the fact that Im getting out and doing somthing. and the fact that I can save what I make so I can go to school for my RN.

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