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.
Specializes in Nursing Informatics, Home Health, Telehealth.
On 3/29/2020 at 6:55 PM, RosesrReder said:
Any idea how they calculate the steps? I know the levels are very subjective and see people coming in at a wide range of levels. Thank you.
Education, projects, leadership, years of experience, etc. I don't think there is an exact formula it all depends on how well you write your 9 dimensions and who's reading it. I am not a member of the board though, so this is just from my experience.
Grade 1, Steps 3 & 4= Level 2 (A level 1 nurse must progress through the 3 levels of Grade I nursing before promotion to Grade II; no levels can be skipped).
Grade 1, Step 5-9 = Level 3 (The next promotion would be Grade II; some nurses max out on steps and never promote to Grade II).
I am interested in applying as new grad ADN with 2 years of LPN experience in the pittsburgh, pa area. So my starting wage would be 60.7k or am I reading the chart wrong?
"Nurse I Level III - An ADN or Diploma in Nursing and approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience; OR an ADN or Diploma in Nursing and a Bachelor's degree in a related field and approximately 1-2 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a BSN with approximately 1-2 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a Master's degree in nursing (MSN) or related field with a BSN and no additional nursing practice/experience."
I believe that LPN count at 50% for experience. As a new RN grad you will have a good chance as starting off as a N1, step 1 or 2 which is around 55k a year.
Seems a little low and non competitive for the market of the area at the moment. Do you think negotiations are available or are they pretty firm on their offers? I also have 8 years of PCT experience.
The VA is known for starting low but End up high. In 20 years and you have your BSN your wages will be around 89k. You need to look at the benefits. Where else are you going to start at 8 hrs of vacation & 4 hrs of sick pay a pay period. There is no call offs, etc. work load is normally lighter than the public hospitals. It also has a defined pension and equivalent to a 401k. There are multiple health insurance options.
this are some of the things you have to think of besides just wages.
You will start your position as the same step and grade, just on the NP scale. Your first proficiency will be 1 year later and most NPs become nurse III at that time if they are involved in committees and such. It is still considerably less than the community pays for NPs though. I had offers for well over $30K more that I turned down to stay with the VA.
Hey there. I just submitted a giant Nurse III proficiency, and per the consensus, our NPSB is also quite bias and it seems nearly impossible to get unless you work on one certain floor. I am a 2 step 5 and chose not to redo my N3 proficiency as it was deferred. I did a massive national program evaluation that impacted both local and national levels. I obtained my FNP-DNP this year and did the NNEI scholarship, so I will be starting a new position as an NP at the same facility or at least in this VISN. From what I have read, I will just start at the same grade and step on the NP scale. Ny question to you is, are most NPs easily moved to Nurse 3s after a year of practice or is it still as giant of a feat to get a Nurse 3 as an NP as it is as an RN? Thank you!
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.
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.
JENFKB, BSN, MSN, RN
47 Posts
Education, projects, leadership, years of experience, etc. I don't think there is an exact formula it all depends on how well you write your 9 dimensions and who's reading it. I am not a member of the board though, so this is just from my experience.