without a job until after new years

ruby_jane, BSN, RN · Dec 7, 2018

So struggle is my old friend that keeps me humble. When it comes to survival no honest job is beneath you!
Hppy

As always, Happy, I appreciate your perspective on life and things! Humility and grace. Best wishes for the season.

SaltineQueen · Dec 7, 2018

I refuse to be a tech like how the hell am i working backwards. I just want to learn to use my skills and do what i have always wanted to do. . like i said I am NEW to the field. My parents never even finished high school so I cannot ask them for advise.

You've been given lots of alternatives. If you would rather have sex with strangers than go "backwards" there's not convincing you to do otherwise. If you choose to go forwards with this dumb idea, protect yourself. And I don't just mean condoms.

jnemartin, BSN, RN · Dec 7, 2018

OP, I understand your stress. Right after I graduated I thought I found my dream job but it ended up not working out almost immediately. I was worried that working somewhere 2 weeks would "ruin" my chances elsewhere, and that all the good jobs were snapped up by other new grad nurses while I was wasting my time with what was essentially a scam job (There are lots of jobs out there that just want your license on file, trust your gut!).

In any case, a friend of mine was working at a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF), used to be called a "nursing home" in the old days. She told me they were hiring for on-call nurses, so I stopped by. They hired me on the spot. Many SNFs have high turnover because the work is very hard, the patient ratio is high, and the patients can be really demanding. So it is not uncommon for you to walk in with your resume and walk out with a job. IT WILL NOT BE YOUR DREAM JOB (probably), but it will get you through. SNFs also tend to pay more than hospitals because the work is less desirable. On top of that, on-call nurses often make more, because their work is considered to be at a premium (i.e. you are coming in when no one else will). For example, my first hospital job paid about $27/hour, with no differentials. My on-call SNF job started at $35/hr and pays more for nights, weekends, etc.

If you can find an on-call job at a SNF, this could solve all your problems. SNFs pay well, and especially over the holidays you will be needed for lots of shifts. And you can even keep the on-call job (sometimes called PRN jobs) after you start your new grad program, just for extra $$. That's what I did, and it's worked out great!

jnemartin, BSN, RN · Dec 7, 2018

as an addendum to my previous post, ASK your nursing school friends for job leads! You don't have to tell them the whole story if you think that will hurt your chances of getting the job for a short period of time... but SOMEONE has a way to get your foot in the door. (MOST Nursing Jobs are obtained through networking and personal connections, at least in my experience and observations)

anewsns · Dec 7, 2018

I remember once I was so poor I had to eat a butterfinger for lunch because it was the highest calories for the cheapest price. I scrounged up nickles and pennies from my car to get it and waited a half hour in line. Someone yelled, "look! this girl waited half hour in line for a butterfinger!" then I was late for class. After work I got my student aid check but also some parking ticket or something in the mail. I had no gas and about 2 dollars and my rent was overdue by 2 weeks. So I started driving to the only open bank but the bridge was closed and the other bridges were too far, I would run out of gas. So I backtracked and went to a gas station and paid 2 dollars for gas. But it was too late, the bank was closed. I had a full day the next day- I was working as a CNA on a heavy assisted living floor part time for 11 dollars an hour- no benefits. (Nursing home acuity, assisted living staff level!!!) and full time school, no financial supports besides myself. I practically sold my soul for those nasty expensive Sallie Mae loans so I could get extra leftover from that. Rent was a couple weeks overdue and bills were months overdue. I went home and cried myself to sleep, I had like 8 or 9 months of school left, and I was like 24. I got hired at the nursing home (a facility that was part of the same company) for 26 dollars an hour and almost fainted in relief when he told me my salary. that sucked. it really sucked. I wouldn't have posted something like this at the time but I sorta understand the dramatic mentality where you feel like you just want to vent and everything is earth shatteringly hard all the time. -Survival mode!!! TraumaRN is right though, we all posted stuff we hoped we didn't- they should have an option to easily delete stuff.

jnemartin, BSN, RN · Dec 7, 2018

I remember once I was so poor I had to eat a butterfinger for lunch because it was the highest calories for the cheapest price. I scrounged up nickles and pennies from my car to get it and waited a half hour in line. Someone yelled, "look! this girl waited half hour in line for a butterfinger!" then I was late for class. After work I got my student aid check but also some parking ticket or something in the mail. I had no gas and about 2 dollars and my rent was overdue by 2 weeks. So I started driving to the only open bank but the bridge was closed and the other bridges were too far, I would run out of gas. So I backtracked and went to a gas station and paid 2 dollars for gas. But it was too late, the bank was closed. I had a full day the next day- I was working as a CNA on a heavy assisted living floor part time for 11 dollars an hour- no benefits. (Nursing home acuity, assisted living staff level!!!) and full time school, no financial supports besides myself. I practically sold my soul for those nasty expensive Sallie Mae loans so I could get extra leftover from that. Rent was a couple weeks overdue and bills were months overdue. I went home and cried myself to sleep, I had like 8 or 9 months of school left, and I was like 24. I got hired at the nursing home (a facility that was part of the same company) for 26 dollars an hour and almost fainted in relief when he told me my salary. that sucked. it really sucked. I wouldn't have posted something like this at the time but I sorta understand the dramatic mentality where you feel like you just want to vent and everything is earth shatteringly hard all the time. -Survival mode!!! TraumaRN is right though, we all posted stuff we hoped we didn't- they should have an option to easily delete stuff.

I remember when I was in college (before nursing I had a previous career and degree), I had a similar experience with buying fish sticks from a gas station. It was the cheapest thing that was the closest to "food." I had eaten fish sticks like twice in my childhood, it's not like I found them appealing. It was literally a math equation of how many calories I could get for the least amt of money.

Then, when I was older, in my 20s, I was working as a social worker and was making SO LITTLE money that I would literally go stand in the same food bank lines that I would direct my clients to. It was after a year of living in real poverty (as in, no electricity in the house, biking to work to save on gas money, and cannot afford groceries) that I decided to make a career change to nursing.

While I was in nursing school, I got a job as a waitress and the first time I went grocery shopping after getting that job, I cried. I was crying in the car about being able to afford groceries.

I get it. It's so rough out there, even for many working people.

But to the OP, it will GET BETTER! You are almost there. (And there is no shame in going to a food bank and getting a random part-time temp job to get you over the hump).

TriciaJ, RN · Dec 7, 2018

I would not work as an escort. I couldn't make myself do it - and I would be too afraid I'd be the person who gets caught. That won't look good at all, and you would have a lot of issues even with the arrest but no conviction (even if they never prosecuted) as someone applying for a healthcare job.

I'd be too afraid I'd be the person who gets killed.

Persephone Paige, ADN · Dec 8, 2018

Why not go for broke and rob a bank? Sit down, write out a good plan and execute it. If it works out you'll only have to do it once, thus lessening your odds of coming in contact with a cop. And you'll get more buck for your bang... :blackeye:

beckysue920 · Dec 8, 2018

What would happen if one of the men you "escorted" ended up being your patient? I can't imagine the humiliation and wagging tongues.

My heart goes out to you and I wish you the best. I know you will be able to get through this rough time in your life and be the best you can be.

brandy1017, ASN, RN · Dec 9, 2018

I'd be too afraid I'd be the person who gets killed.

That is a very real danger, you don't know if the man you're with will be the sadistic maniac wannabe Ted Bundy or another evil serial killer. There are too many crazies out there it would not be worth the risk aside from the ever present risks of STD's like HIV, hep C or herpes. Serial killers are known to use prostitutes as their hunting grounds when they are looking for their next victim.

Leader25, ASN, BSN, RN · Dec 13, 2018

Let your escort friend give you a temp loan for 2 months until your 3rd paycheck.Ask your school for help and guidance temp jobs.

NICUmiiki, DNP, NP · Dec 14, 2018

Why will they shut it down its a serious question. You mean noone here has every struggled? Well okay but I am struggling now I have to pay a bunch of bills and cannot start a job until the hopsital opens up their graduate program. I am simply lost... I have never had an actual career before.

Well yes, but my thoughts were going towards Starbuck or Burger King or something.

But also, you are a registered nurse, not a graduate nurse. Graduate nurse implies that you haven't taken the NCLEX yet but have been granted a temporary permit.

You can work anywhere that will hire you as a nurse including nursing homes.