To ask any MN nurses their advice on working in NHS or private, and which is better?

[QueenOfTheKippax]

DD2 has just finished her nursing degree.

She's applying for loads of jobs and has applied to NHS and lots of private care homes.

What should my advice be about which one to take? Which area is it better to work in and what are the pros and cons of each?

Surely she's giving back plenty by getting a job and paying some bloody tax, she doesn't have to work in the NHS for that to happen. I'm assuming crusts went into the public sector equivalent of whatever further or higher educational qualification. Y'know, to give something back Why is it only HCPs that this stupid idea is trotted out for, not the students who do a degree in ancient Irish literature and never even pay back their student loan let alone become net tax contributors.

Hope something comes along soon OP!

What lougle said about the application form. It has to match the person spec else you won't get an interview and everything based on point scoring. The applications are anonymous.

AboutTime she's really not sitting back and waiting. She's applied for job vacancies that came up in one of the hospitals, didn't get an interview. Another former placement hospital she got an interview but no job offer after, another her mentor said to send her her CV and she'd put it in along with a good word, then nothing, not even an interview.

She having more joy with private care homes, which is making me concerned that is because they want to hire inexperienced nurses because they're cheap and don't know better.

We didn't expect it to be this tough a job market, but I think I'll have a chat with her to keep looking for NHS.

I I've been RMN for 10 yrs when I think prior to this most people used to be able to easily get jobs in nhs after training, I think about the time when I started work this began to change they were fewer jobs and a lot of my friends had to look out of area for jobs but most remained in nhs, also contracts seemed to change from permanent to temporary in the few yrs that followed, don't know if this was just our trust or the nhs as a whole? I think there seems to have been a bit of a shift on this now and they love to employ newly qualifieds (cheaper for them!)
I think that working in nhs is a better place to start, good to build up your experience and will complete a preceptorship. Also got to weigh up pensions, maternity etc - imo better in nhs. Also the the ongoing training provided by employers esp with the NMC's new 'revalidation' process - she needs to find out how a private employer would support her with that - and how the NHS will.

My advise would be to apply for literally every single job she can physically get to unless she is utterly against that area. I wanted forensics so much bit knew that I couldn't be picky so applied for every single nhs job in my area (except in camhs which I hated with a passion). I ended up working in elderly which was less than ideal but 20 months later I interviewed for a forensics job and since I'd had post qualifying experience I was much more employable and got the job.

10 months not 20. (Not that it matters)

Yep agree with frikadela too

In that case she needs to look at her application form. Competition is tough.

She needs to go through the person spec and apply each section to your application form. If it says you need IT skills, you write you have IT skills. If it says you need your mentoring course for example, you need to write you have your mentoring course and then go into more detail.

Interview wise, has she got feedback? Why isn't she successful? Is she up to date with current nursing issues? Revalidation? What has been said in terms of why she didn't get the jobs?

The nhs by far!! Dh works for them and I was private. Some Private pay nmc but treat you horribly!! Nhs are much better you also get better sick pay if needed. Also nurses tend to fall behind in training private. Tbh most nurses I no in private as lovely as they are would ( and have) failed going back to the nhs as they just have become outdated with everything. Sushi g her luck in whatever she chooses though

of you start your career in the private sector then you quickly price yourself out of the NHS.
For example, my cousin qualified with a first in adult nursing in 2011. she now manages a nursing home for a large corporate company on circa 45K.

If she wanted to enter the NHS she'd have to start at the bottom of band 5. (22K)

she has three DC so unfortunately she'll never enter the NHS which is a great shame as she's sorely wasted in her present role.

I'm an RMN and have worked for the NHS since qualifying 5 years ago. I would strongly recommend that she tries to find an NHS job. The pay is better generally, you often will not get unsocial hours privately. Obviously over the coming years the positives may diminish (increments etc) but currently conditions are very good. Sickness and maternity pay are good. She will get a clear preceptorship package which she may not get privately, and ultimately she will be more employable with good NHS experience. When we recruit private sector experience does not count for as much to be honest.

I'm an RMN. My advice would be NHS and if possible an acute ward. It gives you great base and experience for branching out into other areas of MH. It's the sharp end of MH but great for getting tons of skills quickly. Both adult and older people have acute units. I did a lot of bank shifts during my training for extra dosh which meant the wards got to know my face. I think it helps! Good luck to her anyway

Sorry what is a preceptorship?

Preceptorship is a framework for newly qualified nurses to enable the transition from student to staff nurse. It's to help them ease into their new role. Each nurse should have a preceptor.

She loved the acute ward Constance and really wanted to work there. She applied but nothing.

The more I'm hearing here the more I'm thinking this care home is not the right thing for her to do.Vladimir

She loved the acute ward Constance and really wanted to work there. She applied but nothing.

The more I'm hearing here the more I'm thinking this care home is not the right thing for her to do.Vladimir

Vladimir???

If she applied and heard nothing her application wasn't good enough. Done forget it's anonymous.

Don't, I mean.

She will have a far better chance of getting a job with the NHS if she has experience. Even if she works for the care home for a few months and keeps applying for other things.

I think its relatively common to start out in the private sector initially and then use that as a base to try and get back into the NHS from. Initial pay in the private sector does seem a little better, but the issues around support and working conditions tend to make people keen to move away from it. If there is a nurse bank it would be worth trying to get on that too.

More and more, there is a shift to values based selection. So she needs to be able to link nursing practice with major trends in nursing (Francis report, 6Cs, clinical governance, shift to primary care, public health - prevention before cure, high-volume-low-intensity treatments, talking therapies and self-help).

Also, she needs to be more aware of what is happening in the Trusts she's applying to work in. It's all on their websites, easy to find. Each hospital will have a set of standards they aim to work by and expect their employees to do the same. In an interview you can link to this to show how you would fit in there and to show you are aware of their aims.

Plus it's good to have an awareness of what they hope to achieve and any projects they are doing. Even as simple as expanding certain parts of the hospital or targets they're working on, or health records going paperless. It's good to show you know what's going on.

Thanks again everyone. Yes we are very proud of her.

I must say, it's great to see so many positive comments about nursing in the NHS, especially with what is always in the papers about the pay and conditions these days. Thank you for that. I will try and make sure she appreciates that.