VA hiring process

[Rn 1979]

Hello,

Last month I applied at the VA hospital one hour away from me and in different state, anyway I contacted nursing recruiter which she mange to do skype interview with me and another two mangers due to COVID 19 pandemic. My hiring experience looks very different and confusing, in my current job I'm a float nurse and mostly work in the ICU. I did get an offer to work in the VA but they called me three different times telling me that I was selected to be in different unit and finally the called me again and told me that they accepted me in surgical floor, I accepted the offer because it's a good opportunity to work in the VA. The nurse recruiter contacted my mangers for the past 5 years and asked them for reference and she is done with that. Few days after that they send me and email to complete Vetpro and they stated that they're expediting the process due to covid 19 and I completed that in the same day and when I looked at it the next day morning everything was verified including references and education and everything else, the next day they sent me tentative offer in their ICU. I'm so confused about the whole process, is it normal for them to call my mangers and ask them to be my reference? I submitted the same info over an over again and also completed the nursing dimensions like weeks ago and the nursing boarding. How long usually it takes in situations like these to give me the firm offer?

[Happysnbsn]

Congratulations,

I’m going to apply to the VA also. Can you tell me how much money they offered you? Also, do you know if they offer tuition reimbursement?

[Rn 1979]

They called me from the VA yesterday and they actually gave me a firm offer very quickly, they said they expedite my process due to COIVD 19. I have 3 years experience in acute care as a float nurse and they hire me as a nurse II level 12 which I'm really happy about and the salary away much more what I was expecting. My hiring process toke less than a month and Vetpro they did it in 3 days but I gave them all my mangers for the past 5 years as a reference.

[Kareina22, BSN]

VA Registered Nurse Salaries are public record and can be found under “Title 38 Pay Schedules for Nursing.” You can select your state and find your VA Hospital’s city and then the location (many hospitals have community-based locations in outlying towns). For example, Fresno, California’s salary for new ASN nurses, no experience with no other degrees, has a starting salary of $74,961 (Grade I, Level 1, Step 1) and the same new nurse with a BSN would start with $77,209 (Grade 1, Level 1, Step 2). Here is the link for RN pay schedules:
https://www.va.gov/ohrm/pay/