What's considered "Job-Hopping" in nursing?

Ruby Vee, BSN · Apr 22, 2014

I am by no means trying to put down your statement, but it seems that you are suggesting people to continue doing something that they absolutely abhor and in my opinion, that is physically, emotionally, and spiritually very unhealthy thing to do. I have a notion that you are basically saying "suck it up and just do that you hate." I am sure life is not that simple and not everyone has family to support that they have to suck up and do what they hate (although I don't think that should be an excuse to find what you like). If an unfortunate fate wind you up in some job that you really have no hopes and absolutely hate to the point that other parts of your life is affected by it, would you continue doing it? You might find any kind of nursing somewhat enjoyable to its own degree, but not everyone feels that way. I know plenty of nurses migrating away from jobs they hate, and end up doing what they love. I don't know why you would have low opinion about others looking to become happier through finding what fits them.

Life really IS that simple. You have no control over what happens to you in life, but you do have control over how you react to it. If you want to be happy, simply make up your mind to be happy, and then CHOOSE happiness at every possible opportunity.

My DH used to work in the oil fields in southern Louisiana before he went to nursing school. Sun up to sun down on a barge in a pest-infested swamp, back-breakingly hard labor with no chance to even go home between days. The guys were housed in a dorm in the middle of the swamp and only went home on weekends. When he later landed a nursing job that really was a miserable job, he was happy because he got to work indoors all day, got a much better wage and could go home at night.

The point is, there's always something worse than the job that you abhor, and few nursing jobs are so abhorrent that there is nothing to like about them. If you absolutely hate your job and it's affecting other parts of your life, the first thing to change is your attitude. You can't control the job, but you CAN control your attitude.

Once you change your attitude, you may find that your job isn't so awful after all.

My low opinion is of folks who are always chasing happiness -- always have to have that dream job in another hospital or another unit or another department so they can finally be happy. Always have to have just a bit more money so they can finally be happy. Always have to have that new outfit, fabulous shoes or a Dooney bag so that they can finally be happy. Always have to have a new boyfriend or an engagement ring or the perfect wedding so they can finally be happy. Guess what: most folks are exactly as happy as they make up their minds they're going to be. Nothing external is going to make you happy, including your job. You just have to make up your mind to BE happy. Job hopping gets you nothing but a suspect resume, a poor reputation and never vested in a retirement plan.

I've changed jobs before, although I'm not a job hopper. One thing I noticed is that I've taken ME to every job. Some of my dissatisfaction with previous jobs had a lot to do with ME and MY attitudes toward others. MY ego, MY intolerance of others, ME, MYSELF, and I.
Just remember that when thinking of leaving a job. You'll encounter similar problems whenever you go because you take yourself with you.

And this is another piece of wisdom. Some people take their unhappiness with them everywhere they go. I have changed jobs in the past, and every time I started a new job, I found out that I had taken myself with me. Move 1000 miles and take a new job, and your life isn't completely changed -- you've brought yourself with you.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Apr 22, 2014

Firstly, I don't think that there's anything wrong with job hopping if that's what a person wants to do. Some people are bored working on one unit and like to find a different unit to work on every year or two, in order to continue learning new things.
Secondly, you shouldn't have to force yourself to love your job. Loving your work should come pretty naturally. You shouldn't have to find reasons to want to stay.
From the perspective of a hospital getting frustrated that people are job hopping and making a lot of lateral transfers, well that's the hospital's fault for not making certain departments difficult to break into.
I used to want to work in the SICU so I applied a year ago. Although I had worked in a surgical floor briefly, my background primarily was general medicine and telemetry and the manager told me I was not selected because they found that nurses with surgical or critical care experience were more likely to succeed. So instead I had to take a job in the MICU where I have no intention of staying to get critical care experience, and then transfer again to surgery. It's stupid, but I have no other alternative.

Loving your work -- or people, or dogs, or fashion or whatever -- comes naturally to some folks. Others have to work at loving anything. And whether you love your job or not, when you start a career you want to have a good foundation. Forcing yourself to stay for two years gives you that foundation. You have the opportunity to become competent, to realize that you don't know what you don't know, and to discover what you really do love about your job. (And what you don't.)

It really isn't the hospital's fault that people are job hopping. It's the fault of the job hoppers.

RNfaster · Apr 22, 2014

I can agree with the following some of the time, but not all of the time:

"It really isn't the hospital's fault that people are job hopping. It's the fault of the job hoppers."

If a hospital does not staff adequately, does not have adequate supplies, does not pay good wages, does not offer good benefits, does not support other safe/legal/ethical standards, then the hospital can be at fault.

Sometimes a job hopper may be faulted for being capricious, etc. But other times, the hospital ought to look at its business and improve it (in my book anyway) to reduce turnover.

Nola009 · Apr 22, 2014

Ruby, I understand what you are saying.

I am happy enough where I work, which is a LTC facility I worked at as a CNA yrs ago. I already know many of the people who work there, so that has lowered the stress level of starting a new job for me a bit.

My (2nd) PRN job is pretty much run by new grads ---from floor nurses to the DON. I found that mgmt (a DON under 30 & with only a few years of experience) isnr supportive or very helpful. She thinks nothing of requesting us nurses, who have a very heavy pt load, to work two entire shifts and then come back in right on time the next day. As a new grad I only had three days of orientation. So, it's not just me saying the grass is greener, its that I wanted a better working experience. The coworker I was speaking of said she took a job that pays $3/hr more. Just wondering how normal it is for new nurses to leave their first within a year

By the way, most new grads in my area don't get hospital jobs right away. Like me, most start out in LTC or a SNF with no limit on patient to nurse ratio.

scott5698 · Apr 23, 2014

I believe, in most cases, its a combination of the above mentioned things, with neither side being able to recognize their own issues. My current employer (I'm a newbie) told me that they have surveyed the surrounding employers and that they pay equal to or more than most of them, along with better bennies. Yet, after interviewing around, I found them to be lacking. About 2 bucks less is salary, and 3 weeks less paid vacation. Tuition reimbursement was half as much and you had to work twice as long to qualify. The list goes on, yet they believe that they are at the top but can't figure out why they have such a time finding worker bees. Hmmm. I've worked at many large companies over the years and find this quite often. Couple this with some poor policies, sprinkled with a few bad habits, and if someone has standards or aspires to improve things, its easy to see why there is enough dissatisfaction for both sides.

elkpark · Apr 23, 2014

I can agree with the following some of the time, but not all of the time:
"It really isn't the hospital's fault that people are job hopping. It's the fault of the job hoppers."
If a hospital does not staff adequately, does not have adequate supplies, does not pay good wages, does not offer good benefits, does not support other safe/legal/ethical standards, then the hospital can be at fault.
Sometimes a job hopper may be faulted for being capricious, etc. But other times, the hospital ought to look at its business and improve it (in my book anyway) to reduce turnover.

Most of the concerns you list are factors that can be evaluated and considered before one accepts a job. If places with lousy wages, bad benefits, bad staffing, etc., couldn't get enough nurses to work there to keep the place running, they would have to make changes. However, they always seem to be able to find plenty of people who jump into the jobs and then figure out that it's a bad job. What I have observed over years of nursing is too many nurses not doing enough research "up front" prior to accepting a job. As long as many nurses are willing to take jobs first and ask questions later, there are going to be plenty of employers offering bad conditions and compensation.

KeepItRealRN, BSN, RN · Apr 23, 2014

Most of the concerns you list are factors that can be evaluated and considered before one accepts a job. If places with lousy wages, bad benefits, bad staffing, etc., couldn't get enough nurses to work there to keep the place running, they would have to make changes. However, they always seem to be able to find plenty of people who jump into the jobs and then figure out that it's a bad job. What I have observed over years of nursing is too many nurses not doing enough research "up front" prior to accepting a job. As long as many nurses are willing to take jobs first and ask questions later, there are going to be plenty of employers offering bad conditions and compensation.

^^^^^^^^

This

Ruby Vee, BSN · Apr 24, 2014

I believe, in most cases, its a combination of the above mentioned things, with neither side being able to recognize their own issues. My current employer (I'm a newbie) told me that they have surveyed the surrounding employers and that they pay equal to or more than most of them, along with better bennies. Yet, after interviewing around, I found them to be lacking. About 2 bucks less is salary, and 3 weeks less paid vacation. Tuition reimbursement was half as much and you had to work twice as long to qualify. The list goes on, yet they believe that they are at the top but can't figure out why they have such a time finding worker bees. Hmmm. I've worked at many large companies over the years and find this quite often. Couple this with some poor policies, sprinkled with a few bad habits, and if someone has standards or aspires to improve things, its easy to see why there is enough dissatisfaction for both sides.

THREE WEEKS difference in paid vacation? Are you sure you're comparing apples to apples?

pixie&pepper · Apr 24, 2014

You sound like you work in management or administration.

RNfaster · Apr 24, 2014

Most of the concerns you list are factors that can be evaluated and considered before one accepts a job. If places with lousy wages, bad benefits, bad staffing, etc., couldn't get enough nurses to work there to keep the place running, they would have to make changes. However, they always seem to be able to find plenty of people who jump into the jobs and then figure out that it's a bad job. What I have observed over years of nursing is too many nurses not doing enough research "up front" prior to accepting a job. As long as many nurses are willing to take jobs first and ask questions later, there are going to be plenty of employers offering bad conditions and compensation.

I think a significant percent of the folks that jump into the "lesser" institutions are likely new grads, desperate for experience.

Once one has experience and more contacts in the industry, one is in a much better position to know which institutions are better than others.

I wonder if other forces (besides employee churn --which is a negative) impact institutions' working conditions for employees: for-profit/not-for-profit, markets served (e.g., educational level, urban/suburban/rural, wealthy/middle class/poor, type of reimbursement, medical/surgical --if particular procedures are more profitable than others)...

joanna73, BSN, RN · Apr 24, 2014

Obviously, it depends where you work and the reasons for changing jobs. Sometimes staying longer than you would have intended pays off. And unless you're working as a travel nurse, relocating or working temp jobs, changing jobs every year would be considered by many managers as unstable.

Nola009 · Apr 25, 2014

You sound like you work in management or administration.

The people on AN who think 2-3 days of orientation is sufficient for new grads probably do. Oh, and the one(s?) who think a BSN trumps any and all working experience... yeah :rolleyes: