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.
Example if you go to the link, click on Nurse Locality Pay Schedule, click Texas, the first line is Houston Registered Nurse,
what does the '3' under level 2 or the '5' under the level 3 mean?
Thanks for the info!
I've found out recently what this means, it means for instance Grade 1 then look to right at steps, the numbers 3 under level 2 mean level 2 wound start at step 3 the number 5 under level 3 means the level 3 nurse would start at step 5 and move up in steps based on a NUMBER of factors of which I'm going through now. Hope that makes sense
I was wondering if it seems reasonable for an RN with a BSN degree and over seven years experience to be offered a little over $56,000/year salary at the VA? Seems way too low from what I've heard in the past. Being offered a Grade I when I should be a Grade II according to my education and experience. Just heard that numerous people are being lowballed on their offers d/t number of applicants. Please help with any insight.
I was wondering if it seems reasonable for an RN with a BSN degree and over seven years experience to be offered a little over $56,000/year salary at the VA? Seems way too low from what I've heard in the past. Being offered a Grade I when I should be a Grade II according to my education and experience. Just heard that numerous people are being lowballed on their offers d/t number of applicants. Please help with any insight.
The prevailing wage in the region, the COL (and potential for Locality pay based on that) will greatly affect any offers you get. What is "low" in one place will be just dandy somewhere else. And, like anything else, competition matters: if there are lots of applicants to choose from, they aren't going to pay more than they have to (obviously, right?).
Can't say I've heard of an RN holding a BSN degree (AND having experience?) being offered less than a Nurse II placement. You sure about that?
It does sound low to me but did you submit a document that you wrote addressing the nine dimensions of nursing practice? This is critical in most VAs to determine your boarding step and level. Your LPN experience means absolutely nothing to the Nursing Board which reviews your submissions and decides your step and level. It is only based on RN experience.
Nurse 1 is based primarily on the impact you have on only your patients. Nurse 2 is more of how you impact your department. You need to show things you did that effected others like coworkers, impact on a unit or clinic like in quality or process improvement, etc. Did you change a process which resulted in a positive outcome for clinic or patients? There are some posts about this elsewhere in this forum. It could be that you did not provide enough meaty info for the board because you did not know how to write this document.
This happens to a lot of nurses when they are hired at the VA and it really sucks. That being said, there are RNs who have successfully requested reconsideration of their offers and got higher offers. I didn't know it was possible when I was hired but I wish I had. Good luck.
Edited to add--I strongly recommend reading the VA Hiring Process thread. It is long but has lots of good info in it, some of which is about initial offers.
I was offered N1, L3, G6. However, it doesn't look like they took my GPA or certification into consideration. Is it worth it to question? I have a start date finally and I don't want to hold anything up.
I don't know what your background or certifications are but unless things are directly related to RN experience , VA usually does not care. A Bachelor's or Master's in a field unrelated to healthcare mean nothing for most RN jobs. A re-evaluation of salary and boarding will definitely take more time and won't happen in just a couple days. The board has to meet to review it, if they even decide to review and consider higher salary.
Nursing school and administrative healthcare will not count for experience or working as a student nurse. The pay scale for a BSN will depend on where you are working at. I will be working at a VA in North Carolina and I will be making appox. 10K more a year than the VA I worked at in PA.
The experience you mention is good for getting interviews and offers but as noted above, only RN experience counts when determining where you will fall in the wide range of VA RN salaries. You will start low.
BSN is Nurse 1 Level 2. From a previous post, under the heading that says level 2 it tells you the step the level starts at. For example, in DC level 2 starts at step 3 with no experience. Nurse 1 is Grade 1 on their chart. I hope this helps.
Anyone currently work at the Portland, OR VA as a BSN RN? I just got offered a job and I was told by HR that within a few weeks the pay scale is raising in order to try and keep RN's. The HR rep wasn't able to tell me exactly my starting wage on the phone just yet , as there is still paperwork to process but, she said the new increase will start a new BSN RN at around $70,000/year. I have only three months of RN experience. I will post back when I know more. I am hopeful that this is correct. The other cool thing about the VA is that it qualifies for student loan forgiveness!
The payscale for RN nursing in the VA is based on title 38 (not the GS scales) and is adjusted for local markets. If you can't find clear figures, you're not looking very hard. All the ranges of pay are posted on usajobs.gov which posts all VA positions. Your military service isn't used to determine your pay unless it involves healthcare experience. You can ask the nurse recruiter at that facility to give your the worksheet that explains the 'boarding' process whereby they look at your experience, education, and skills and determine where you start. Nurse 1, 2, or 3 and at what 'step.' You'll get paid on the lower side of the middle. So if the pay scale in Tampa is 60-100k, you'll probably end up making around 70k. But raises are pretty much guaranteed if you work there for years, as long as you're not doing anything incompetent.
kerbear1969
17 Posts
I've found out recently what this means, it means for instance Grade 1 then look to right at steps, the numbers 3 under level 2 mean level 2 wound start at step 3 the number 5 under level 3 means the level 3 nurse would start at step 5 and move up in steps based on a NUMBER of factors of which I'm going through now. Hope that makes sense