Vent - Business sense and the nurse.

57 Never the twain shall meet.....

There are loads of discussions on this BB about the fluff in curriculums for Nursing school.

Yet, I repeatedly see posts displaying total ignorance of most basic economic issues and how it affects them. I have friends who are recruiters who get resumes that are a disgrace from people that have a BSN. I have coworkers that have no clue of how financial issues work.

I see repeated posts from new grads and experienced nurses about ignorance of local pay rates - do you not research your job field BEFORE you spent 2-4 years getting a degree or deciding to move across country?

You don't think that your credit rating, or your DUI or your conviction from check is going to follow you? Or that it should affect you.

You think that you can bring your kids to work or to an interview, that since you have kids, that means you get the "preferred" schedule...right out of nursing school

You think that employers can be "guilted" into hiring you, that all it takes is a good storyabout how hard it is to get a job, will trump finances and have the employer pony up the 40-80 grand a year plus training and benies.

Or that a hospital that had the kind consideration to PERMIT you to learn on their campus, despite the strain on their resources (ie. nurses that did not get pay for taking the stress of precepting, and dealt with the liability), should be forced to hire you and perhaps fire/cut hours for those very nurses that sacrificed to help you learn.

Or that the large number of unemployed/uninsured/underinsured are not going to affect our bottom line.

I would like to see Nursing schools incorporate some form of business/basic economics class in Nursing school. Included should be current economic conditions, world economy issues, researching (accurately) salaries, COL of where on intends to practice, filing taxes, getting licensed, WRITING A RESUME AND INTERVIEWING, proper behavior in the workplace. And a week or so of workplace poliics and how to deal with them.

Anyone with me?
We were forced to learn how to write resumes in one of our classes. I thought that was useful, but I learned later that there were a lot of things they never went near that could have and probably should have been covered. ITA with your post.

Here's one more: in this era where pensions have largely disappeared and saving for your own retirement has become all-too-necessary, most nurses have not a clue about what is involved in the simplest forms of investing and saving. Nor any concept of living within their means, even when making very good salaries.

Here is an example: Several nurses worked full time seven days a week at two jobs where I used to live. Husband on butt at home, no job. I had a hard time seeing the point in that setup.

I think this type of curriculum should be covered at the university level regardless of what your major is. You can find this attitude among new graduates in any field...it is not specific to nursing.

Quote from Chico David RNHere's one more: in this era where pensions have largely disappeared and saving for your own retirement has become all-too-necessary, most nurses have not a clue about what is involved in the simplest forms of investing and saving. Nor any concept of living within their means, even when making very good salaries.

In Ohio we are required by state law to have a resume writing course in High School. Ours was actually excellent, I think. ... I still have the leather binder that they gave us, I graduated in '02, and I took the class prior to senior year (so its from '00 or '01)

I agree with you but haven't seen most of what you're saying. I mean bring kids to an interview??? To work??? That's a little outlandish. Most of the people I know knew what to expect in terms of salary. One of my classmates had a DUI from 10 years prior and was sick about how it would follow her but wasn't in denial about that fact that it would. We had a job search class that went over resume/cover letter writing, professionalism, and the interview process.That being said, I do feel nurses have been sheltered from many aspects of the economy changes. New grads, however, are not.I'm just confused as to who really brings their kids to an interview? Did he/she at least bring a sandwich and juice to keep the kids quiet?

would like to see Nursing schools incorporate some form of business/basic economics class in Nursing school. Included should be current economic conditions, world economy issues, researching (accurately) salaries, COL of where on intends to practice, filing taxes, getting licensed, WRITING A RESUME AND INTERVIEWING, proper behavior in the workplace. And a week or so of workplace poliics and how to deal with them

a lot of this SHOULD have been covered in HS or at home.....seeing financial ignorance in an adult is frustrating.

Why single out nurses? Are you saying that only nurses write poor resumes, don't understand the basics of economics or make interview mistakes? Quite the sweeping generalization. Nursing is a second career for me. In my previous life, I was in, shall we say, the rarified air of a company known by pretty much everyone on the planet. There were plenty of folks with very high salaries and extensive educations who didn't understand the personal dollar and lived essentially paycheck to paycheck. I also saw resumes from MBA's that made me laugh out loud. One time had to deal with a state comptroller who didn't understand how a structured payment plan worked at the corporate level. Ignorance is universal and you can't fix stupid, although you might be able to guide it in the right direction. jmho

All of y'all are right on the mark! We are actually seeing new grads coming to job interviews with their MOM! Srsly. I also wish that nurses had a better understanding of position control. It's very annoying to read all the rants about 'mean' managers and recruiters refusing to hire people. The number of jobs is not determined by the hiring manager, it is established through the budgeting process. Nurses can only be hired into approved vacant positions - and those positions are directly tied to the average patient census. When the census decreases, positions have to be eliminated so the organization does not go belly-up.I don't think that the lack of financial common sense is limited to nursing, but I'm amazed by the number of nurses who do not even participate in 'matched' retirement contributions - whereby your employer gives you money with no strings attached. Hard to believe that so many people are leaving money on the table. And I'm old, so don't even get me started on everyone that paints themselves into a corner with enormous student loan debt. They must not realize that (for everyone except medical students) the loan balance is factored in to their debt-to-income ratio on credit scores - and low credit scores affect all financial transactions.

Kids or mothers to interviews? Well at least it make a decision easy for the person hiring...