Which Job Should I Take?

[foodieRN26]

Hi all, 

I'm a primary care RN with several years of experience in telephone triage. I left my previous job several months ago, and was recently offered a per diem position doing vaccines. This position pays very well, but does not offer benefits and is far from home. It also doesn't offer much variety, which I do enjoy.

I'm anticipating receiving another offer from a community health clinic that is 5 minutes from my home sometime this week. I expect the pay will be ~$10/hour less than the per diem position, but I believe this position will be fully benefited. It also will offer the variety I am looking for and could be a great learning experience. 

I've considered accepting both positions, as the former is per diem requiring at least 2 days per week, and the latter is 20 hours per week, but I would prefer to stay in the 20-30 hour per week range to prevent burnout if at all possible. 

What do you think I should do? I have already accepted the per diem position. If I had been offered them at the same time, I probably would have taken the community health position. However, I would feel bad backing out of the position I've accepted, and worry how this would look to the organization later on down the road if I'm looking for a new job at their institution. 

Thanks so much for your input!

[Spinnurse]

On 3/2/2021 at 7:05 PM, foodieRN26 said:

Hi all, 

I'm a primary care RN with several years of experience in telephone triage. I left my previous job several months ago, and was recently offered a per diem position doing vaccines. This position pays very well, but does not offer benefits and is far from home. It also doesn't offer much variety, which I do enjoy.

I'm anticipating receiving another offer from a community health clinic that is 5 minutes from my home sometime this week. I expect the pay will be ~$10/hour less than the per diem position, but I believe this position will be fully benefited. It also will offer the variety I am looking for and could be a great learning experience. 

I've considered accepting both positions, as the former is per diem requiring at least 2 days per week, and the latter is 20 hours per week, but I would prefer to stay in the 20-30 hour per week range to prevent burnout if at all possible. 

What do you think I should do? I have already accepted the per diem position. If I had been offered them at the same time, I probably would have taken the community health position. However, I would feel bad backing out of the position I've accepted, and worry how this would look to the organization later on down the road if I'm looking for a new job at their institution. 

Thanks so much for your input!

If I were in your predicament, I would determine what my goals are. [You probably already did this and this is probably more info than u were asking for LOL]

I would ask myself 

Does this schedule work well for my work life balance? 

Is my goal to pay off debt and to push through working both jobs at once to reach a certain amount of debt pay off?? Can my body/health handle this?

can I use my spouse's benefits or must I have benefits?

Will I be able to be apart of outside after work functions?

My opinion is that since you took the PRN position already don't back out BUT do back out if you haven't even started yet because it sounds like u would need to quit the job sooner rather than later anyway from what u described about it) but I would prioritize your health/mental health, family and work life balance. So if the second job fits better for your life goals then back out of the PRN position with confidence. If finances are your priority then taking on both jobs would be helpful...u could look for a different PRN job in the mean time that is closer to you if possible as well. 

Hopefully that added to your decision, I went on a rant there. I personally am trying to find a job that gives me a better work life balance. Like you said you don't want to get burnt out.