Members are discussing the hiring process and potential pay grades for nursing positions at the VA, with some sharing their experiences of long wait times and varying offers. Questions about salary scales, job postings, and negotiation strategies are also being raised, along with inquiries about tuition reimbursement and educational benefits for VA employees.
Would you be able to help interpret the VA pay scale. BSN with 6 years of experience. I noticed above Grade 01=Nurse 1 and Grade 02=Nurse 2
With a BSN are you automatically Grade 02/Nurse 2?
I am confused between Grade and Level as well. I see comments referencing Nurse 1 Level 1, Nurse 1 Level 2... The terms used such as Nurse 1,2 or 3 do not match the payscale.
Thank you
It is on the title 38 payscale. If your new coming into the VA its "all" about what you put on your resume, that is what they're basing your starting salary on as well as your degree. Once your in you can advance to next grade by petitioning the board, getting to grade 2 can be done but to grade 3 is an act of congress. Better to get hired at grade 3 for having your MSN.
Thank you for replying. I do have the pay scale for my station but I don’t understand where I would land on the scale. I am a former Navy Nurse through ROTC with a BSN, 6 years experience
Specializes in Care Coordination, General Surgery, Oncology.
It is not so cut and dry with academic degrees and RN levels at the VA. Grade 1 = Nurse 1, Grade 2 = Nurse 2, and Grade 3 = Nurse 3. If you are a beginning nurse with an associates or BSN, or new to the VA and don't "promote" yourself well enough to be boarded higher, then you will likely start as a Nurse 1, though the level and step will vary based on experience.
Nurse 1 is the only grade that has levels: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3. N1L1 is usually a brand new nurse w/ an Associate's. Typically, if you hold a BSN, you will start at a N1L2 or higher. The steps are just the tiered salary increases that can be achieved either through promotion or automatic step increases. You will be placed at the grade, level, and step that the board deems reflective of your experience.
The policy is that to advance to Nurse 2 you need to have a BSN, and to advance to Nurse 3 you need to have an MSN, but you can currently advance with an academic requirement waiver by one degree. I.e. if you have an AS, you can get an academic requirement waiver to advance from Nurse 1 to Nurse 2, but you would need to get a BSN or higher to advance to Nurse 3. But if you have a BSN, you can advance from Nurse 2 to Nurse 3 on an academic requirement waiver.
Unfortunately, each VA seems to board people completely different and arbitrarily. My first job out of nursing school was at the VA, where I was boarded N1L2S5. I had experience working at a different VA as a VALOR student during nursing school. Other RNs who started at the same time as me who were also right out of nursing school but didn't have VA experience were started at N1L2S4.
I have advanced to Nurse 3 with a BSN in the 5+ years I've been here based on my participation in committees, facility-wide nurse engagement, numerous process improvement projects, etc. You're at the mercy of whoever is reviewing your resume/proficiency/whatever when they make board actions because it took me 3 tries to get to Nurse 2 for some reasons that I won't get into here, and by the time I finally did get it, I was already operating at a "Nurse 3" level, so I very easily got my Nurse 3 the following year.
Hope this helps some. Bottom line is that you will be boarded based on how your experience is presented (and on the whims of whoever is looking over your resume), but you can also appeal to be placed higher if the offer is a lowball.
I was scrolling and came across this thread. I'm a veteran who falls under 10 point preference and will graduating with a MSN with no experience. Would I fall under Grade 1/Nurse 1, Level 3, Step 5?
I'm curious if you ever found out the answer to your question? Are you somebody who went into a direct entry MSN?
I was just talking about this to a friend who will be graduating from a direct entry MSN program (No ADN or BSN, just MSN) and was wondering where they would start if they got a job at the VA. It seems many of the VA pay descriptions assume people will have a BSN then MSN. What happens if you only have a MSN?
Hope somebody out there might be able to shed some light on this.....
I have applied for a VA position and am trying to make light of this payscale. I am an ADN with 13 years of experience in multiple fields and am wondering where I would fall in this scale. Any help would be appreciated!
Yes, a MSN from a Bridge Program with No RN experience would be a Nurse 1 Level 3. If there was at least 1 year experience, then probable entry to a Nurse 2.
@NurseStephen Thank you for your earlier response. You seem to be very knowledgable in "the ways" of the VA. ? I am somewhat in the same category as my friend, but I am a year behind her.
What I love about the VA is they do not make their rate of pay secret. It's all out there for everybody to see, so there are really no surprises when it comes to where you will start off at. I'm not sure if you have experience in the outside sector, but I've always heard the VA pays way less, yet I have no proof since many hospitals/corporations never seem to release their pay rates for public consumption; the exception being when they are recruiting new grads, sometimes. Do you have any knowledge if this is the case - the VA just pays low? If so, by how much? For example: VA in Idaho pays $50K, but if you go to Hospital X in Idaho, they'll pay you $57K. This is just a made up example, but you get the picture.
I know....the benefits probably outweigh the pay difference, but just wondering if the VA is becoming more competitive in wages to recruit healthcare staff.
Does anyone know if you do the VALOR program as a student nurse if you start out as a level 1 or level 2? Im in California and wondering what my starting pay will be. And how do they calculate the steps? Thanks !
Specializes in Care Coordination, General Surgery, Oncology.
I don't understand how/why my answers keep showing up earlier in the thread instead of below the comments I'm responding to. Does it show up like that for everyone else?
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If I understand correctly, you mean Nurse 1, level 2, in which case it's likely that you would start at level 2 regardless if you have a BSN. I believe I've commented elsewhere in this thread that I was hired at a step higher than the other new grads hired at the same time as me who had the same credentials other than the fact that I had been a VALOR student. Hired at N1L2S5 vs step 4 for the other new grad nurses hired at the same time. But your mileage may vary!
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
boywithacoin said:
I don't understand how/why my answers keep showing up earlier in the thread instead of below the comments I'm responding to. Does it show up like that for everyone else?
In threads that are questions, they are sorted by number of helpful votes. If you'd like to view by date, you are able to choose that option under the original post.
Hey again! Anyone know how to decipher the pay scale for N1L2S5 as a new grad nurse in Fresno? I cant figure it out for the life of me on the excel - mainly don't understand why columns level 2 and level 3 are next to one another in the same row? Am I correct to see that the minimum starting pay would be $82,966 Grade 1?
kerbear1969
17 Posts
It is on the title 38 payscale. If your new coming into the VA its "all" about what you put on your resume, that is what they're basing your starting salary on as well as your degree. Once your in you can advance to next grade by petitioning the board, getting to grade 2 can be done but to grade 3 is an act of congress. Better to get hired at grade 3 for having your MSN.