Tentative Offer for RN position

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I received a tentative offer for a RN position at the VA hospital. I have a MSN and have been a nurse in critical care for 10 years. Does anyone have any idea roughly what my Grade/Step will be? Is there room for negotiation? TYIA

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Seems like a questions for HR. Just give them a call and ask. It won't hurt to ask them and you can always ask for more money. The worst they will say is no. I don't work at VA, I am sure someone here has a copy of a grid to share with you.

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I don't think it works that way (for VA at least) to be able to just call HR and ask or else I would have already done that. I already know the salary range and have a spreadsheet with all possible salaries. I am asking around to see what the typical grade/step is for nurses with similar background/experience. Thanks.

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On 4/23/2019 at 1:39 PM, Forest2 said:

Seems like a questions for HR. Just give them a call and ask. It won't hurt to ask them and you can always ask for more money. The worst they will say is no. I don't work at VA, I am sure someone here has a copy of a grid to share with you.

No Forest2, the VA RN hiring does not work that way! The VA, DOJ/BOP, DOD, NHS, IHS...etc. are totally different than any civilian HR. To call VA/VHA HR....that would be horrible advice and it totally incorrect and really a waste of time. Your best bet would be to call the nurse recruiter where you are applying or within the VISN you are applying to. Have you been working with an RN recruiter or are you applying blind through USAJobs?

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I applied through VA jobs. I have no point of contact. Thank you for your response.

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Right, you applied through vacareers.va.gov and got rerouted and put your information through USAJobs, right?

You can email me directly and I will get you the name of the nurse recruiter or you can call the facility where you applied for on USAJobs. Often the nurse recruiter will work in Staff Education/Nurse Education. So if you call the facility HR, you are usually dealing with some very low-level front desk clerk and they often will have no clue what you are talking about and they will tell you, "We handle recruiting for the hospital." So call and ask to talk to Staff Ed, then the Nurse Education coordinator.

The VA is a great place to work and have a career. But it can be frustrating at first if you have spent time in the private sector. When you come aboard be prepared to suspend reality and embrace what we call, "The VA Way."

OK? If I don't hear from you: Good luck!

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Specializes in ED, ICU, Prehospital.
On 4/23/2019 at 12:47 PM, Janjayel said:

I received a tentative offer for a RN position at the VA hospital. I have a MSN and have been a nurse in critical care for 10 years. Does anyone have any idea roughly what my Grade/Step will be? Is there room for negotiation? TYIA

6 minutes ago by HomeBound

HomeBound has 20 years experience.

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I disagree. You can "negotiate" prior to your grade and step assignment, before you sign the firm offer letter. You put together your portfolio as well as your professional biography--and attach every single piece of correlating documentation that you've got. And I mean.....everything.

Take a look at what a Nurse I and Nurse II requirements actually are. (attached).

Just because you have a BSN, means nothing. At the VA, it's all about the Dimensions. Your certifications and experience are worth something, yes---but what they want to see is "growth" and "leadership".

In order for you to be considered from the outside as a Nurse II, you have to have done some sort of "unit based project". Are you on the infection control committee spying on everyone who doesn't wash their hands---and then collating that into a nice excel spreadsheet and then emailing everyone about it? Unit based project. Did you develop and flesh out the "code lavender" idea and make a nice set of saches for overwhelmed colleagues, offering 15 minute time-outs for those RNs having a horrible shift? Unit based project.

In order for you to be considered from the outside as a Nurse III--you have to have extensive education as well as extensive leadership documentation. You also have to have done a major project. Within the VA, to achieve Nurse III, you have to do a "hospital wide project". Meaning---something that will change the way nurses within your VA system do things. Such as---a major wound care overhaul--standardize processes and policies for that, give orientation/in service on it, etc.

Coming into the VA as a Nurse 1 Level 3 Step 8 is amazingly good. You only have a short way to go to achieve Nurse II---and you'd have the time in the first year to become intimately involved in what your VA unit is doing.

That said. If you want to come in as a Nurse II? You'd better get on some committees, change or influence some things on your present unit, get a crap ton of "extracurricular" certificates- rn.com and others offer these 2-4hr long CEU offerings. Does your hospital have extra LMS/TMS certifications you can get? GET THEM.

Can you sit for another certification in your specialty? Do it.

VOLUNTEER. That show leadership qualities. Go and do soup kitchen or an Alzheimer's unit or tutor nursing students.

Do you precept? No? THEN VOLUNTEER TO DO IT. If you have to take a class in doing it then do that.

Are you an ACLS or BLS instructor? It just takes a class to become certified.

RESEARCH is HUGE at the VA. Have you written papers that were published? How about papers for your BSN or MSN? Were they noted by the instructor as exemplary? How about publishing in a nursing journal---even if it's just a "letter to the editor" on a contemporary nursing issue?

This is what the VA looks at. It's NOT all about how many years you punched in at your hospital and the fact that you graduated nursing school and passed the NCLEX.

The VA may get a bad rap about some things---but they hire the cream of the crop--and they'll pay for it if you can prove you are worth that money.

Sit down, take stock of what you've done, what you can do at this point to improve--write it all up in a nice portfolio and a personal biography---and attach all of your documentation along with a resume that is literally---18 pages long.

Yes. VA resumes are very detailed and long. They will tell you up front. "WE WILL NOT ASSUME THAT YOU KNOW HOW TO DO ANYTHING UNTIL YOU PROVE IT". Include your RN Mgrs name, hours actually worked (this adds into your time in service and will effect your pay step), shift, every single thing you do as a nurse on your floor. Do you "collaborate"? Do you "utilize resources"? Are you able to work without constant supervision? What equipment do you use? Have you done any certifications or inservices?

This all counts.

And yeah---it does matter a bit about who is on the NPSB. Some of them are so ridiculously educated---they can't remember what it was like being you, starting out your career.

However. Some are also tasked to lowball you. There are VAs that are notorious for this. This is no different than what a public sector hospital does.

Therefore...you CAN negotiate BEFORE you commit. I can tell you with 150% certainty---you won't get anywhere once you sign and agree to what they've offered you. It's not in their best interest to do so---and they also know you won't quit after going through the gauntlet that IS government systems.

If anyone is looking to get into the VA---my advice is to get your portfolio together NOW---and don't just slap it into a binder and be done. THINK ABOUT IT and do it carefully. This will effect your entire career path at the VA.

Regarding the "just call HR" advice.

Not a good thing to do. Use the point of contact that is listed on ALL and EVERY "complete job announcement" at the bottom of the job you're interested in. Those are the recruiters' names and direct email addresses.

Does it work? Usually, no. Until you get a referral, the recruiters really don't care about you individually. You have to pass through the gauntlet of their application requirements. Have you crossed every single T and dotted every I that they asked for? You might get through with the basic requirements they want added in.

The VA receives 500-1000 applications per week for any given Va facility. Ten percent are considered "qualified" and have done the paperwork correctly. One percent of that 10% are referred to the hiring manager. Depending on how many openings there are---you may have a chance at getting an interview in front of a panel of 3-4 nurses/educators. Then you have a 1% chance in that 10% chance of that 1000 applicants of getting hired.

It's not like public sector. They are meticulous about everything. It's military based. The way that they do everything is "documentation driven". If you don't do it right? It doesn't matter if you have an MSN with 100 years of experience and every certification ever written. You won't get in if you haven't done the paperwork and provided all documentation.

I was once rejected for a CNA position at the VA. I had everything down. I worked there as a student. People knew me and lined up to help me get in.

Know what I got culled over? My OF-306 was 1 day out of date. Meaning...you have to do a "declaration of federal employment" (FOR SOME. others don't require it up front. this one did.) Although it's in the fine print (NOTE TO YOU ALL---READ THE FINE PRINT BEFORE YOU APPLY)---what this particular VA did to cull applicants was to pick any small thing so that they could reject applicants.

It was not published that the OF-306 needed to be dated within a 30 day window of the date you applied. Which is what some people do---just save the OF-306 at usajobs.gov and submit it with their packet---never looking at the date they signed it.

So, I applied on Feb 2 and my OF-306 that I submitted with my packet was dated Jan 1.

And they WILL NOT TELL YOU THIS. They won't email you and remind you to give them an updated piece of documentation.

You mess it up? You get rejected. And that means you don't get in front of the RN Mgr---the HR person stops you dead in your tracks. That job may not come open again for another 5 years.

The biggest thing that culls people these days? Digitally signing ANY of your paperwork.

Just do not do it. They tell you clearly, up front---DO NOT DO IT.

They will reject you faster than you can say "what just happened?"

Print out your paperwork and sign it in black ink.

Yeah. You then have to rescan it and send---but if you think you're just too edgy and cute and cool to print things and sign them personally---you're never.....ever.....EVER.....getting into the VA.

Period.

So just print it ALL out. Resume. Bio. Portfolio. VA required forms. Do them in longhand (the forms) with nice writing. If you can't manage that---fill out the form in a word document---print it out---sign it---rescan it---and THEN send the packet.

Check your dates. Check your spelling. Use the exact wording that the VA uses in their job descriptions in your resume.

DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME and you won't be singing the blues later. All of this VA bashing is about this regimented application process. It's military based, folks. Just do what they ask, to the letter---and you'll be fine.

Nurse Qualification Standards - Nurse II[14108].pdf

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I was offered as Nurse 2 Step 4 with possibility to move up to Step 5 depending on references. I feel like this was a fair offer.

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Specializes in Informatics, ICU, Case Management, Education.

HomeBound I applied to a few positions at the VA. I wish I had all this information before hand ?

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