Would you drive 1 1/2 to 2 hours for a job?

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Oct 2, 2011

Are you currently employed? If the answer is no, I would accept the faraway job.

I've personally commuted 120 miles one-way to a place of employment, which would be 240 miles round-trip. I did this for approximately one year. Combined with my crazy commutes to and from school, it is rather obvious why I selected the user name that I have!

xtxrn, ASN, RN · Oct 2, 2011

If they reimburse for a hotel, maybe. If not, no. If I'm starving- I'd move there.

Aurora77 · Oct 2, 2011

No, I wouldn't commute there. If the pay was good enough to justify a hotel, then I would if I could group my days together. Otherwise, no way.

FlyingScot, RN · Oct 2, 2011

No, no, no! Did it for 18 months. Nearly killed me. Do a search here for the many threads that list all of the reasons why.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Oct 2, 2011

Are you currently employed? If the answer is no, I would accept the faraway job.

I have a few more points to add.

1. If the OP is unemployed with student loans, she will be up the creek without a paddle if she defaults on them. Student loan debt cannot be discharged in bankruptcy and will follow her for the remainder of her life.

2. The OP will soon be an 'old new grad' if she does not start acquiring nursing experience very soon. She will begin to look even less attractive than the next crop of new graduates that will be turned out in 2012.

3. Although the potential job is located 1.5 hours away, this shall be temporary. She'll be earning income, accruing experience, building networks, and look increasingly more desirable to local recruiters.

FlyingScot, RN · Oct 2, 2011

I totally get what you're saying TC and agree with it but...it looks like she's currently employed and there's no guarantee the shifts will be scheduled together and it's night shift. Also, we all know those 12 hour shifts are more like 13-14 and that long commute back in the morning has a great deal of danger lurking. Maybe for a very short time yes but for the long term it's not a good idea.

SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN · Oct 2, 2011

yes, because i have done it!!! i drove 1.5 hours to work and back (total of 3 hours and 120 miles round trip, 3-4 12s nights per week) for 18 months. i did it because where i lived at the time nursing jobs are hard to come by for anyone especially new grads. after i gained enough experience (and my bsn) i quit the job, moved out of state, and never looked back. if you have other options don’t do it... otherwise, consider living closer to your new employer a few days per week and commuting home on your days off. gl!

carrie_c · Oct 2, 2011

If you could get the weekend option and it would only be 2 days a week, I might consider it, but I would rent a hotel for the weekend. No way would I drive that far after working 13-14 hours and then have to be back the next night. It's hard enough doing it with a 30 minute drive. You would get no sleep. And only if the pay/benefits was much better than the job you have now. Otherwise, if I really wanted to work there and got the job, I think I might consider moving, if that were an option for you.

Zookeeper44, RN · Oct 2, 2011

No I would not make that drive back and forth, I would only do it if I could stay there between shifts.

One of my concerns about needing to find another job is that I am being told by SOME recruiters that my current experience (home infusion company) isn't going to count for CRAP towards getting a hospital job. I wouldn't mind trying to continue to put up with a job I'm unhappy with for a few more months if I knew I'd be in better shape to move on after putting my time in.

So...while I am not going to be an "old new grad" because I am employed, I worry I won't be competitive when trying to leave here.

I have just been feeling desperate and feel there are few options where I live now, so I've been considering crazier options. No, moving is not something we'd consider at this point. We'll continue to work around that, my DH has always been able to get us by even through this recession. I just find it amazing and SO disappointing that he would have to be the one to keep things going while his wife, the RN, can't.

I am not in any danger of defaulting on loans or anything like that. I guess more than anything else, I hate the environment I'm in, most negative place I've EVERRRRRRR been, it's unbelievable. Maybe all nursing jobs are like this but I hope not.

Thanks guys for all the input, I have a lot to consider

psysn · Oct 2, 2011

I took a job 2 1/2 hours from home. Got a cheap apartment midway, went home on my days off. Did that for eight months and now am transferring to a site 30 minutes from home. For me, it was worth it, I was nine months past graduation with no job, digging a hole in my savings to avoid defaulting on student loans. My spouse was super supportive the entire time (even though he only saw me maybe two days a week) and as soon as an opportunity presented closer to home, I jumped on it.

What is there to stop you from applying? Remember that even if they offer you a job that doesn't mean you have to accept it. You can keep looking for something closer in the meantime. Have you considered looking at psych units of local hospitals to see if any of them have full time positions available? Good luck!

Zookeeper44, RN · Oct 2, 2011

I took a job 2 1/2 hours from home. Got a cheap apartment midway, went home on my days off. Did that for eight months and now am transferring to a site 30 minutes from home. For me, it was worth it, I was nine months past graduation with no job, digging a hole in my savings to avoid defaulting on student loans. My spouse was super supportive the entire time (even though he only saw me maybe two days a week) and as soon as an opportunity presented closer to home, I jumped on it.
What is there to stop you from applying? Remember that even if they offer you a job that doesn't mean you have to accept it. You can keep looking for something closer in the meantime. Have you considered looking at psych units of local hospitals to see if any of them have full time positions available? Good luck!

I'm in GA, and hospitals here don't have psych units. There is one psych hosp about an hour away, another 2 hrs. away, and the state hosp across the state. Most psych patients are treated in outpatient clinics, if at all. I just thought it was like this everywhere now.

My reservations about applying are that I would have to take time off from my current job (an entire day), which would be very severely frowned upon (to put it mildly), unless someone would interview me on a weekend. Also I am afraid that the things I don't like about my current job, are going to be a fact of life at any nursing job I would get, and that I am the problem and not the job, if you KWIM. I would hate to end up commuting a long distance for a situation that is no better than what I have right now. Also if I applied at this particular hospital, I would be going through a friend from nursing school who already works there and I don't want to flake out on them only to say in the end, naaahhh I've decided I don't want to commute after putting everyone through the process. I would just like to decide for sure from the beginning that is something I'd be willing to do.

I will probably just go ahead and apply and like you said, see what happens...I have nothing to lose...