Would it look bad to take a new job for 3-4 months?

[Nurse4lifewithparrots]

I'm moving out of state around September and currently work FT in a hospital in adult Med surg. I wanted to try a mon-fri job to see if I liked it also it's in children's mental health. Would that look bad on my resume though? I'm looking for anything short term but don't see it as of yet. Thanks for any input.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

You need to focus, You are talking about three different things, Children, mental health and short term. If you want short term... do travel nursing,

[Nurse4lifewithparrots]

Yeah it's a nursing position in a peds psych facility. I don't want to join one of those travel nursing agencies, heard horror stories from my friend who did it, and I don't want to try it out for myself yet. Before I moved though, I thought I'd try a different area other than med surg. I figure orientation for about 4 weeks, then I could stay on 3-4 months until I moved.

[Wuzzie]

Yeah, I don't think the employer is going to go for that. 

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

disneygrl said:

Yeah it's a nursing position in a peds psych facility. I don't want to join one of those travel nursing agencies, heard horror stories from my friend who did it, and I don't want to try it out for myself yet. Before I moved though, I thought I'd try a different area other than med surg. I figure orientation for about 4 weeks, then I could stay on 3-4 months until I moved.

My agency treated me very well. I lived in very nice apartments. They set me up with nice rented furniture. The mattress was too hard, I complained and had a new mattress the next day. Check out the travel nurse forum here and speak with an Aureus recruiter.

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

disneygrl said:

Yeah it's a nursing position in a peds psych facility. I don't want to join one of those travel nursing agencies, heard horror stories from my friend who did it, and I don't want to try it out for myself yet. Before I moved though, I thought I'd try a different area other than med surg. I figure orientation for about 4 weeks, then I could stay on 3-4 months until I moved.

You have to remember that it takes a lot of time and money to on-board a new nurse and You would have to be clear that you are looking to move out of the area in about 6 months. I can't think of any facility That would be OK with that. Job hopping makes you makes you look unreliable. 

[JKL33]

disneygrl said:

I figure orientation for about 4 weeks, then I could stay on 3-4 months until I moved.

Personal opinion here - if there are other viable options, I wouldn't be in favor of taking a job where one has a personal plan at the outset that will likely involve training for a whole third or quarter of the time that they are willing to stick with the employer.

Think of this from the reverse - if an employer had a secret plan to bring on an employee (who incurs expenses to take the job such as transportation or moving, required wardrobe or equipment, etc) then terminate that employee a few months later just because that's how they roll, I think a fair number of people would call that more than a little crappy.

But if you want to know how the employer feels about it, just let them know your intentions during the application/interview process.

[Nurse4lifewithparrots]

Thanks for the replies. Tbh I wouldn't tell the employer my intentions to leave so soon but I definitely know it's frowned on and can understand more why. When I was a new nurse another new nurse had quit after about 4 months saying she couldn't take it and took an outpatient job instead and she was certainly frowned on by the other nurses and management. However she still did it and probably had no regrets but she didn't plan on that outcome, she just realized she didn't want a hospital environment. 
 

I'll try to find some other options first. I could always stay at my current position but it's getting so hard (8 patients, tele, now possibly team nursing) I am dreading going in. I used to pick up OT every week and work 4 days in a row (12 hrs) no problem but the patient acuity is higher now and I'm getting burned out with 8 patients. So I am moving soon, but not soon enough!

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

Since you already know you are leaving and have a plan in place to do so just stick it out where you are until you move. Honestly it's a crap move to start with a new employer just because you want to try something different knowing you'll be there at most only a few months after you finish orientation.