I am 38 years old and have been in Law Enforcement for 16 years. I am doing a complete career change, I just finished up a year of pre-nursing classes and have been officially accepted into a BSN program. I will graduate in two years.
My question is when should I quit my current job, to start working in a nursing/medical setting. I would like to get my foot in the door someplace, but I know it will be a huge pay cut for me as well. I think the exposure and experience would be worth it in the long run. I am also unsure which positions to apply for.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to which positions to apply for, or when I should make the transition to medical/nursing work. Currently, I work full time, Monday through Friday, and my BSN program is an evening and weekend program.
I could wait until I graduate and then leave my job, but I am worried with no experience finding a job might be more difficult. Thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated good, bad or indifferent!
Specializes in Leadership, Psych, HomeCare, Amb. Care.
At our local hospital I am 100% certain this is the way it works, your non-RN job can and does count towards your RN seniority once you become an RN.
I think you may be confusing employment seniority vs nursing seniority.
The housekeeper you mentioned may have the PTO, pension, and other perks of a long time employee, but in terms of salary, unit seniority, etc the new RN would probably start at day one
Actually, I know that's not how it works at my local hospital, my mom is a NP and my sister is an RN at this hospital and that is exactly how it works there. Again this is not the question, it's when should I make the transition.......
Specializes in Leadership, Psych, HomeCare, Amb. Care.
Education is expensive, and you may at some point decide that nursing isn't for you. I'd keep the old job as long as I could, maybe till your last year of nursing school
In my area, it's almost a necessity to work as an aide/uap if you want to find a hospital job. I work at a large academic hospital and probably half of our new grad positions are for in-house staff, only. The big children's hospital down the road hires almost exclusively from its uap pool, etc. I would personally apply for a uap spot as soon as possible...again, in my area, the pre-req is passing nursing skills/fundamentals I. Waiting until you are a senior will close a lot of doors since by the time you've been adequately trained, you'll be graduating and looking for a RN job. If you can afford the paycut, I would get into a medical based job as soon as you're eligible
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Tally4970
33 Posts
At our local hospital I am 100% certain this is the way it works, your non-RN job can and does count towards your RN seniority once you become an RN.