Working for American Red Cross

[opto-nurse]

Hello everyone!

I'm a recent graduate with an Associates degree, eagerly looking for employment. Since getting my license 4 days ago, I have been applying to as many positions as I can.

Today, I received a phone call from HR, regarding a job opportunity with American Red Cross (ARC). The position is for RN blood services. I believe, I would be supervising the mobile blood bank. The job requires flexibility as the job is full time with variable hours.

Now, I'm scheduled for a second interview tomorrow. At first I was excited to receive a response from a possible future employer but now.....Not so much. The person over the phone told me how much I would get paid hourly and to be honest, it's not much.

Regardless, I am truly grateful for this opportunity that was presented to me. But now I would like some advice for those familiar with the Red Cross. I've tried researching peoples experience here and other websites but there isn't any to be found. Is it worth working for ARC? Is there opportunities to develop? Is there anything anything I should be cautious of?

Any information or advice would be helpful!

Thanks

[Rntr]

I can tell you about my experience working for the ARC.... this was a few years back in a "Southern" state.. The ARC hired many RN"s back then to beef up the quality. (We were hired as Nurse Managers too).

We came on board, went all over from Central to North, state line, West to East. In this state they were unionized then.. don't know about the other states or now. All our assignments were for 6 hrs only and this didn't include the travel time to get from location and back.

The tech's that worked for them then were hired off the street to do sticks. We had people that didn't know how to read and each year someone was supposed to sit with them and read the legal garbage as this was required yearly.

I worked for them for 2 1/2 yrs...then one day they had a meeting with the RN's that were working and told them they were over budget by a certain amount and this was the amount of our salaries multiplied by the number of RN's working there. They were going to keep one RN on staff and anyone who was interested in staying would have to apply for this one position.

I enjoyed my time there most of the time. Would I go back to work for them again, no.

A lot of problems with the tech's not liking the RN's coming on board and lots of problems with issues related to quality... can you imagine why?

Hope this gives you a little insight...

[HopefulRN4]

A SNF will provide you better experience than a blood bank.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

I volunteer with the American Red Cross. We have a lot of fires every summer it seems and I help with the Red Cross shelters. I like the organization.

Not sure about working for them . . . . glad there are some nurses who have worked for them to post about their experiences.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

if you think of it as a temp situation, well, ok. But you will not be able to practice skills or grow in your profession.

[opto-nurse]

Thanks for the reply, guys!

I've had my interview already and decided it wasn't for me. I haven't yet received an offer but in the event that I do, I won't be accepting it.

Cheers!

[R8T3D_RN]

Just curious how much does it pay. Thinking of getting away from bedside.