payscales are secrets huh?

2 So I am wanting to relocate to a new state and am curious about the payscales at the hospitals I am looking at. The hospitals in my current area post their payscales plain as day when they post jobs online, which I very much appreciate. I have noticed in this new state, payscales are never listed with jobs, so I contacted HR. I asked them if they could give me their payscale for an ADN prepared nurse, meaning I want the lowest and the highest wage a nurse with an associates can earn at their organization, so I can figure out where I am likely to start and how much I can "move up" over the years. I have received what I consider to be somewhat rude and secretive responses:

One hospital said "Payscales are priveledged information at our institution and are only discussed with employees at time of hire. There are many variables that factor into a nurse's pay, such as education level and years of experience (I know this, which is why I didn't ask for exact numbers!), so we therefore cannot disclose numbers to you at this time. If you are hired after the application process, please contact me if you have any further questions about your compensation." Great. So helpful.

Another hospital curtly referred me to their online career's page and told me to apply for jobs, and stated once I am in the interview process, compensation will be discussed.

I am a little frustrated and put off by this. Shouldn't organizations be transparent stuff like this? Maybe I am just spoiled at my current hospital...
You should also know that when I was recently hired, my pay rate is a piece of information that I am not allowed to disclose. Just FYI

I think this is bull. Lets say I desire a new position in another hospital because I want to increase my pay. I really DO NOT want to waste my time (or theirs) if their compensation is lower. I mean that is ridiculous!

Quote from gettingbsn2msnI think this is bull. Lets say I desire a new position in another hospital because I want to increase my pay. I really DO NOT want to waste my time (or theirs) if their compensation is lower. I mean that is ridiculous!

A lot of hospitals won't discuss pay until the interview and some until you actually have a job offer. I have never seen pay discussed in a job posting, I think you are spoiled in that aspect. If you do a search on AN you may be able to find out what people are making in certain areas, even specific hospitals.

I find the lack of transparency annoying. Just makes doing your due diligence/background research that much more difficult. I had the issue of pay brought up in an HR screening interview - the first of 4 interviews - for a job I just landed. They wanted to know my "salary requirements" in order, I suppose, to weed out folks who expected a higher salary. They loved the way I answered the question, though. I remarked that salary wasn't the top deciding factor for deciding to take/not take a position - that the workplace environment, coworkers, etc mattered a great deal more. I had also looked at salaries for similar positions advertised in the area. I gave the HR person a range, and they gave me the upper end of the range in my contract.

unions hospitals always post their rates, look up the hospital go to the hospitals union webpage and download uninon manual , usually on the back of the booklet. it will give you the exact rate down to the month of experience reference to the position....what area is it that your having this trouble in? when i was looking for work here in south florida. i even got hung up on when asking pay rates before accepting an interview..... didnt stop me! UNION BABY!!!

I was going to tell you what Booyarn just said. Find out if they are union, and look on the websites. It is frustrating to now know and they don't have to tell you. We have 5 hospitals in our 'sisterhood'. When we were doing negotiations, we knew the rate of 3 of them. The other two are non union so therefore management didn't have to disclose what those nurses made. We negotiated for a year and we never did find out! I did notice when I was looking for a job, I called three hospitals and all three did disclose their rates. I was actually surprised. Good luck with your hunt.

I did not learn until I was given a job offer. Later, I found that our pay scale was lower, but in return, so was our nurse/pt ratio. I consider myself lucky, to the extent that the buck less and hour is immaterial.