Was offered an 8 week "Internship " with no guarantee of full time work afterwards

[RUNBNursing, BSN]

Hello all!

I need some advice about an offer I got today. 

I'm in 4 year, part time, doctoral program (women's health nurse practitioner) which I just started this month. I currently work a non clinical 9 to 5 job doing home visits with first time moms. I decided to look for work with 12 hour shifts as it aligns much better with my program and for the clinical experience. 

2 days ago I interviewed for a mother/baby position at THE perinatal center in my region, known for the most yearly births than any other hospital nearby (5000+). These spots are coveted even though they come with a reduced pay "internship".

The internship is basically an 6 to 8 week full time orientation, the pay is reduced to $20 an hour (from a base pay of $32) and afterwards there is not guarantee that I would get a full time position. The nurse recruiter said it is very unlikely I would be put on per diem as they require experience for a PD position, most interns get full time positions, and some get part time. It all depends on availability and performance. Since it's a big hospital (3 postpartum units) the nurse recruiter said even if I don't get full time, I probably won't have to wait too long until a full time position does become available. 

I have a young son and bills to pay! Not sure if this is the right move to me, but this is the first interview I've gotten in months of searching for work since getting into the hospital with no acute care experience has proven to be very difficult. 

What would you do?

Thanks!

[RatherBHiking, BSN, RN]

Well take this with a grain of salt because I am not in a doctorate program or know a lot about internships but my gut says stay where you are. Reason being, you have a young son and you're going to school and the job you have now is a lot less stress mentally and physically which is important when being a mom and a student. Also, I guarantee you will have extra shifts and call-in's, neither of which would be easy IF you got the job but there's not even a guarantee of that. Plus possible nights. I just can't imagine handling all that with a doctorate program and a small child who needs you too. There's a reason your hesitating. This will not be your only chance to get a clinical job and once you get your doctorate a lot of doors will probably open for you anyway. It would be different if you didn't have a job at all and needed nursing experience in general but you're working with moms and babies, doing lots of teaching, etc and there's nothing wrong with that. 

[RUNBNursing, BSN]

On 9/13/2020 at 6:39 PM, Blue_Moon said:

Well take this with a grain of salt because I am not in a doctorate program or know a lot about internships but my gut says stay where you are. Reason being, you have a young son and you're going to school and the job you have now is a lot less stress mentally and physically which is important when being a mom and a student. Also, I guarantee you will have extra shifts and call-in's, neither of which would be easy IF you got the job but there's not even a guarantee of that. Plus possible nights. I just can't imagine handling all that with a doctorate program and a small child who needs you too. There's a reason your hesitating. This will not be your only chance to get a clinical job and once you get your doctorate a lot of doors will probably open for you anyway. It would be different if you didn't have a job at all and needed nursing experience in general but you're working with moms and babies, doing lots of teaching, etc and there's nothing wrong with that. 

Thank you so much for your your advice, I think you touched on a lot of important points. I know its not comparable, but I went through my BSN program with a newborn and working as a PCT at a big hospital in the evenings and sometimes nights, I found it was doable for me. My son is 6 yo and very independent now. I get a lot of help from my partner and my sister. The manager knows I'm in a DNP program, she assured me that even if there is no full time position immediately after orientation, I could definitely work full time hours as Per Diem, although I would be the first to be canceled if census was low. She also said we all have a fixed schedule and would know it much in advance, giving us plenty of time to switch days if we need it (ie when I have school).

My current job is less stressful physically, but one of the main reasons I want to leave is the stress of always feeling like I'm on the job, like I've never done, and the difficulty separating home from work from school since its all happening at home. 

I have decided to move forward with the position and am feeling optimistic ?.