Which Job Should I Choose

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello,

I certainly need some advice. I have been an RN (B.S.N) for 3 years and have worked in LTC as well as psychiatric nursing. I recently applied to multiple jobs and managed to get 6 interviews. I have received a job offer for all of the jobs I have interviewed for, and now I am trying to make a final decision.

1st Job Offer- Prestigious Hospital in Indianapolis. Medsurg floor. 12 hour shifts. Pay $25.80 per hour plus night shift differential. 35 minute commute. Nice manager and seems to have a nice support system among the staff. I accepted this position last week. I have given my current job my two week notice which will be over next Friday August 28th.

2nd Job Offer- Prestigious Hospital in Indianapolis. It is a medical psych unit that is projected to open October 5th. 12 hour shifts. Pay (Should at least be able to match $25.80) plus weekend shift differential. 15 minute commute. Nice manager and seems to have nice support system among the staff.

I just interviewed for the 2nd position today and the manager told me that he wants to hire me, he just needs to get everything pushed through HR so that I can see what my salary would be. He told me that "We needs BSNs and we are willing to pay for them" so I am confident it will at least match the pay of the first position. I REALLY want to take the second position, but I have alot of concerns about it being a newly opening unit. I know that there will be alot of stress as the new staff get used to the new unit and how everything works. I am also concerned that the med-psych unit will not be as busy as it is projected to be, so staff will be sent home. I need full time hours. It is imperative. I also like that the second job is only 15 minutes from my home, as compared to 35 minutes, especially with Indiana winters.

But then I have already put in my two weeks notice at my current job to start the first job offer, so can I rescind my two weeks notice and say that I would not need it to be effective until October 5th? I also have the awkward phone call of calling HR at the first job offer and telling them that they have essentially been wasting their time on me.

What are your opinions?

Do any of you have experience working on a hospital unit that has just started? What were the pros and cons?

Thank you for your help in advance !!!!

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.

My first job after graduating nursing school was in a brand new psych unit. There weren't even any patients at the time I started. It was kind of funny when we did get that first patient; you never saw a patient get so much attention from staff!

I thought it was a terrific opportunity. It gave all of us the chance to get to know each other before we were up and running with a full census.

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Is there any chance that the opening date could be pushed back? Or that the unit won't open at all? Those would be my concerns.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

I'm normally not a fan of doing this sort of thing but since job two can't give you any specifics at this time I would probably take the first job, get settled in and see how it feels. A bird in the hand as they say. If you don't like it and the second job materializes as predicted you can always resign.

I worked at a hospital that did a major renovation and opened a double sized inpatient medical psych unit and although we were full right away it was a 6 month cluster to adapt to the increase in census, initial equipment glitches and new staff despite having a core staff of experienced psych RNs and techs. Have you worked med psych before? It is a whole different beast compared to regular inpatient psych. I also wouldn't count on anything salary wise until you have that offer in hand.

Congrats on having 2 offers and good luck with whatever you decide.

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HR from the second job called and offered me $27.00/hr base pay. That is $3 more per hour than I am making now. So the second offer just got even more appealing. I'm just worried that the unit will not be as successful as projected and they will have to lay nurses off.

I know med/psych is a whole different beast, that is another reason why I would like to take the first job. But then I keep comparing the commute times. In the winter I know it's going to take me an hour to get to the first job. I feel like since I am working med psych I am still working med surg, so I have the opportunity to move to different units after a year or so. I don't know, I just keep going back and forth, back and forth.

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Specializes in L&D.

Is the second job day shift?

That would be a deal breaker for me :)

Plus better pay and commute? Win-win!

I like the idea of a new unit because no cliques or bullies have formed yet!

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Why would day shift be a deal breaker? I would only have 4 patients, instead of the 14 or 21 that I have now, so I feel like I could manage.

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Specializes in L&D.

I meant that I would take the day shift one.

Not a fan of nights.

Sorry that post didn't make sense. I read it and thought about editing it.

I'd take the second one! (If days :))

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