Turned down job offer

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I graduated with my associates degree in December and passed boards in January. I applied for many jobs with area hospitals with no luck of even getting an interview!! I saw an add in the paper for the Area Agency on Aging advertised as an RN position and I applied for it. I interviewed with the company this past Monday and they gave me more information about the position. It turned out to be a Case Management position with a 50-80 patient case load. The job was M-F no weekends or holidays with great benefits, and they offered me $40,000 annual salary. They called me on Thursday offering me the job and I turned it down. My thinking was that I would lose my clinical nursing skills and if I ended up not liking the job it would be nearly impossible to find a nursing job in the future. I would have LOVED the hours and I don't particularly care for bedside nursing care, but I think it is important to get that bedside experience. After a few days I think I may have made a mistake and I am considering calling them on Monday to ask them to reconsider me if the position is still open. What do you all think about a new nurse taking a nonclinical nursing position right out of school?

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I'm surprised they would have offered you something like that as a new grad and no Bachelors degree (I don't have one either, just saying usually I thought administrative positions required Bachelors). I think it would be very overwhelming. I think you made the right decision but that's just me. Good luck in whatever you do. I just graduated December too and start my first job in 2 weeks. Scared to death lol :)

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@melissa0713 Call them back and take it if the position is still available. If you know now that you do not care for bedside nursing don't even bother putting yourself through the torture. You may learn a lesson the hard way. Bedside nursing is back-breaking to say the least. Best of luck to you in whatever you decide. I am mostly speaking from my perspective as that is a job I would probably love (I loathe bedside and am desperate for a way out). Ultimately, you know what is best for you and the best advice I can give you is TRUST YOUR GUT! If you feel it's not right for you trust yourself. That job sounds great, but that salary is pretty low... So, you may have dodged a bullet. Who knows?!

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Torture? Wow... I think jumping into that job with no experience straight out of school would be more like torture....

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My advice is this, I graduated with my bachelors in May, I took my boards in August and when I got my license number in September I started applying...I got my first job offer in February (yes, it took that long!) but it was for a "phone triage" position working M-F, full time 24$/ hr..where I would mainly be answering phones...I knew when I was dreading the phone call offering me the job that it wasn't where my heart was..against all my friends/family advice I declined on the offer and continued my search. The very next month I was offered my dream job position in a hospital cross training into a post partum/L&D/nursery unit..it took me a total of 6 months of non stop applying and filling out 500+ job apps..but it was worth it! It is so frustrating being a new graduate and many days I cried and felt completely helpless. You have to deal with people who don't know what it's like saying "but nursing is so high in demand" or questioning how hard you are actually looking..something that made my decision to decline much easier was the fact it was a M-F job, leaving no room for interviews in the event that you keep searching for that dream job. Good luck to you!!

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