What a mess!

[Nire83]

i need some direction here!

graduated in dec and the doctors office where i had been working as an ma was nice enough to hire me as an rn and train me. they did not have a position for me but fit me in where they could. i continued to apply other places because i don't want to work in a doctor's office. i want to be in a hospital (but all hospitals want 1 year of experience). a month after i was fully trained i accepted a new job working as an rn for early intervention....and i hated it!!! i lasted 2 weeks and quit. i was working 70+ hours a week and only getting paid for 20, i was basically making minimum wage and felt like they were totally taking advantage of me. so now i'm unemployed and back to applying places like crazy. however, i'm still working per diem for the office and worked over this past weekend. one of the managers mentioned that they let a few nurses go, and since i was gone too they are looking to hire a full time nurse.

i immediately called my manager and hr and told them that i was looking to come back and was wondering if the position had been filled. i talked to my manager today who said the position was mine, and while they had other applicants because i had been there so long and was already trained obviously i was their top choice. as luck would have it i am now getting tons of call back and have several interviews this week.

a few things have been duds but there is a summer camp for disabled children who have much more medical needs (tube feeds, trachs, seizure precautions...etc) than what i will ever see in the office. they are offering really good money, but the thing is that it's only for 8 weeks. i have a second interview on friday so i'm going to talk to them more about this, because i'm hoping that at the end of the summer i can transition into one of the company's long term care schools. spoke to the director today who basically said he wasn't sure. he mentioned that they have had a lot of trouble in the past keeping the same nurse year after year because of the lack of consistency so he recognizes that this might be a good solution. however, since they really don't know me or know if i'll be a good fit i don't think they can offer me a position in september without first seeing how i do in the summer position.

what the heck do i do?! the office is waiting for an answer, and i bumped the job out of other nurse's hands because i was an internal candidate that came forward....so i can't drag this out. i doubt that they would hold the position for me until september, and frankly i feel bad about continuing to use them as a failsafe. but it's a job, a job that i know and am trained at. butttt it would be so much more exciting (and better for my career) to take this summer camp job.

argh! this is so hard. to make matters even worse i signed up for a bunch of summer weekend hours at the office (before people started calling me for interviews), so if i do take the summer job i have to tell them "just kidding" about wanting the full time position and that i also cant work all the hours that i told them last week that i could work.

[RN4S22]

You are right you do seem like you are in a little of a mess. But don’t worry and follow your heart I know a nursing job is hard to come by but you don’t want to take a job you don’t love. I also understand that at a doctor’s office you might not be learning a lot. I think you really want the summer job and you should take it always follow you passion you would probably learn a lot doing that job anyway. You never know they could love you and offer you a full time job after the summer.

I think you will always second guess yourself if you don’t take the summer job so it’s a chance that you have to take. But no matter what choice you make you should stick to it and not second guess your decision. Good luck and I know it’s hard but just think about it and do what feel right to you.

[itsmejuli]

The nursing job in the office is your bread and butter for now in this economic climate. This job will also look better on your resume than the 8 week summer job since the office job will show steady, continuous employment in the same position.

The time will come when you'll be pursuing your dream nursing job. Perhaps its just not the time right now.

[Little_Mouse]

I have to agree with itsmejuli. Call it being on the safe side, but she makes a valid point: it will show consistency on a resume and it will bring in a steady income, versus something that will only last for 8 weeks. Working at the md's office isn't something you have to be "stuck" with; just see it as something temporary, a stepping stone for now until a job in a hospital comes along. It's something that is steady and reliable for now.

BUT...if you can afford to wait for that hospital job, then go for the experience at the camp.

[Little_Mouse]

I have to agree with itsmejuli. Call it being on the safe side, but she makes a valid point: it will show consistency on a resume and it will bring in a steady income, versus something that will only last for 8 weeks. Working at the md's office isn't something you have to be "stuck" with; just see it as something temporary, a stepping stone for now until a job in a hospital comes along. It's something that is steady and reliable for now.

BUT...if you can afford to wait for that hospital job, then go for the experience at the camp.

[Nire83]

Thanks everyone.

FTR - I have been at the office for 7 years, so i would think that shows consistancy. I'm still so torn. I'm actually going on ANOTHER interview today (just to confuse myself even more).