Avoid These Red Flags During Your Job Hunt

I had endured lots of rejections from hospitals when I was on the hunt for a new grad job. This helped me learn about myself and navigate my way into becoming more confident during interviews. I’ve explored different branches of nursing other than being in an acute hospital. I’ve been an RN supervisor at a skilled nursing facility, a home health nurse for a short period of time, and recently completed my first travel assignment. I don’t know everything, but I’m here to share the red flags to look out for when you’re out there looking for jobs.

Remember that life can take you into places you never thought you would be in.

For example, I disliked cardiac nursing when I was in school. I told myself that I would not be a cardiac nurse because it was just not my thing, and mostly I didn’t understand it. Not understanding it made me scared of it. Fast forward to graduation. I wanted to be a pediatric nurse and precepted in the PICU. But look at me now: I’m a cardiac nurse in the adult population. It’s funny where life can take us sometimes. As much as I disliked cardiac and adult nursing, I decided to apply to the telemetry unit. Why? I had a temporary assignment there as a float nurse and I fell in love with the culture of the unit. 

So a couple things to look at.

Look at the environment/culture of the unit or facility you’re working with. 

My unit has an amazing team. Whenever one of us is in need, we are willing to help one another. Everyone is approachable and I can go to anyone if I have a question. Even when I was a new grad, they made me feel comfortable and welcomed. We get along well, have parties, and enjoy each other’s company. The culture of the unit is incredibly open and helpful. 

I fully believe that to find a good unit, you have to analyze the culture. If the culture is great, I’d take it in a heartbeat. This makes the job so much easier because you get the help from your team, which is useful when you’re learning and have lots of questions. I’ve heard lots of stories of nurses staying at a facility even though the pay rate is lower because you just can’t beat the culture. Sometimes it’s not always about the pay. I have also heard of nurses leaving amazing paying positions at well known hospitals because the unit was full of rude, toxic colleagues.

Be conscious of what a toxic environment can feel like.

How do you feel about the team you’re working with? Not just other nurses but the physicians, RTs, case manager, PTs, etc. What are the interactions like? Do you feel like you can ask questions? Are you given fair assignments? Are you challenged fairly? Do you trust your colleagues to help you when you need it? Do you feel alone where you work? Do you feel that you are appreciated? Do you feel belittled or invaluable? Are you unreasonably reprimanded without any explanation on how to improve? Are you manipulated or forced to say yes or no to certain tasks in the fear of being reprimanded?

What’s the turnover rate? High or low? Why? 

Knowing the turnover rate of a facility or unit can be a big tell-tale sign of how the work environment can be. My SNF had a high turnover rate with the RNs because of the toxicity of the director of nursing and how she would not advocate for or be appreciative of the staff and the belittling they had to face from some LVNs.

It’s okay to ask why people are leaving. There can be various reasons from wanting to start a family, needing to relocate for personal reasons, wanting to go to a higher acuity unit, or the culture of the unit is very unhealthy.

What kind of nurses are leaving? Younger or older? What does that mean to you? For some people it can indicate that it’s a long term type of job or not. Do people retire from this unit? Are they constantly hiring people because people are always leaving? Facilities and/or units can have great retention rates and it’s important to know why.

Some things can be out of your control. But you control you. You can choose to leave a toxic environment to protect your license and mental health. 

Incentive and bonuses.

Extra money when signing onto a job can be an amazing deal for a new grad. But I would be very cautious around those. From my experience, incentive pays are offered to attract nurses for a number of reasons: the facility is severely understaffed, the position is not attractive to most nurses, it may be a high risk position, or the facilities can’t keep staff nurses and the reason can be unknown. The majority of the time the extra pay is not given out in lump sum payments. Extra payments can be spread out into your paychecks until the amount said is collected. Lastly, you may be contracted to work with the facility for a certain period of time ranging from 1-5 years depending on the job. If you decide to leave the facility before the contract ends, you may be required to repay the bonus. Very important to read the fine print. 

Look at your manager/supervisor.

I think feeling out the vibe of your managing team is important because they are the people you look up to, your resources, and the people you go to in a time of personal need. Are they approachable? Reasonable? Helpful? Push you for growth? Do they want the best out of you as a nurse and as a person? Are they a good leader? Are they willing to advocate and jump in to protect their staff? Your managing team should be approachable, professional, understanding, and empathetic. They need to be able to provide great constructive criticism; help you find ways to improve your weakness, not just tell you what they are. They shouldn’t be possessive to keep their staff, instead they want you to be better and advance your education and career or be supportive in the changes you need to make or want. 

Any room for growth and advancement in the career?

Everyone is different. Some want to pursue a higher education, go into management, become clinical leaders, or go into research, and that’s great. Go for it. Others may be content where they are with being a bedside nurse or wherever they may be and that is absolutely okay too! But if you are looking to grow, make sure your facility can provide this. Can you level up as a RN? Yes, there is such a thing as RN II, III, IV. Do they offer classes to help with certifications? Do they offer the ability to take classes to precept students and new grads? Are there any management or clinical leadership programs offered? Are there classes in specialties that will allow you to transition into them?

Know your worth.

It’s important to know if your hard work is recognized and appreciated. Leveling up as an RN, getting certifications, being a preceptor, etc. should help increase your pay. You are attaining more skills as an RN, hence making yourself more valuable. On the other hand, you don’t need all those things to know you are a great nurse. It’s all up to you. 

Don’t be afraid to leave if you feel that you are not getting what you deserve. Even if the management and staff is nice, the pay is great, or they have great opportunities. Don’t feel like you have to settle. You are in control of you and your future.

Being a nurse is the best thing you can do because you can choose to stop and go with the flow or continue running at 120mph. There are so many specialties and branches you can explore with just one RN license. You are valuable. You are worth it. You are amazing. You just need to recognize the potential you have and tap into it. Lean into what you love. Run with it. Go crazy with it because I guarantee you, it’ll be great.  

<3 Mags

Emily! thanks thanks!