State: Florida (United States)

I feel that certified nursing assistants should get paid at least $12.00 an hour for the simple fact that we work the hardest and are exposed to all of the diseases that the patients have, yeah

I understand nurses pass medicine but we have to help them when patients are out of hand. We have reposition them every 2 hours give all patients bed baths and dress them if they are on the get up list etc.

Going back to school seems like a logical solution in tough employment times. It makes a person feel better, feel productive. (like going to confession or something) And companies hire graduates. But, if a person doesn't have a part time job, parents, internships or some way to subsidize the education cost through grants or scholarships, then going back to school is a financial risk. Experience is what many businesses desire in a job candidate, with the schooling as a traditional formality. Some may agree with my personal opinion that school is a business, and an expensive one. The customers are the students. Even now, I still have student loans to pay and it took a lot longer than expected to finish my program. (Not just for me but almost 90% of my peers.) And those same peers are not seeing quite the advertised return on their investment for a long, long time. Ultimately it is a personal choice. People attend school for different reasons (socially, etc) building connections to the community in which they graduate. It really depends on what the market dictates per degree classification and companies are paying to hire.

Do not fear my tech writing friend. This article is not to warn you about the job outlook for our kind.

It's to give a simple piece of advice:

Take any tech writing (or related) job that comes your way, at first. I started my first tech writing position when I was 22 and with a year and a half before I graduated.

Work hard on your resume. For tech writers, it is a portrayal of our attention to detail and editing abilities. Take it, and cover letters, very seriously.

5 years ago I was 4 years deep in a B.A. that took me nearly 6 years to complete (I worked full-time). I was working at Circuit City and subsidizing my poverty with student loans. I had the confidence to put my resume on Monster.com, and sure enough I had legitimate interest almost immediately.

I got my start as a contractor with Siemens, the best move of my entire professional career. And I jumped from contract to contract until the year I graduated. I ended up working for (in addition to Siemens) EA Sports, Lockheed Martin, and two other smaller defense companies.

It all started with the first contractor position. I knew I could turn it into valuable experience, I just didn't know that I would be reaping the benefits for the foreseeable future.

I got lucky; Siemens was my first professional interview and I got the job. But I was an average student, went to a public state university, and I hadn't earned any awards or recognition. I was just prepared to jump at the first company that showed interest.

It all started with my confidence to put my resume online and tell employers that I felt I could do the work (in retrospect, that was probably a lie).

Summary:

1) Be confident in your abilities. Sell your skills.

2) Get out there and test the market, you'll never know unless you try.

3) In the beginning, be flexible about what industry or position you start at, you never know where it might lead.

The best way to describe Social Services is to teaching; meaning, if you're entering this field thinking you're going to make 'mega' money, your entering the wrong field. Social services is a gratifying career if you like helping people help themselves. It involves long hours and 'on call' weekends for a week which one has to be available for 24/7 with no extra pay. There's 70% of court work and court appearances involvement; you have to see the children and families assigned to your case load every month sometimes every week depending on their safety risks; you have to assure clients will follow through with provider recommendations which is sometimes very hard for the clients to do. It's not a 9 to 5 job like most. Even if you're not on call, clients may have a 'crisis' and you have to be on top of it especially if the child is with that parent. For me, the greatest gratification is to be able to successfully reunify the family.

Some factors involved in keeping you competitive in your job may be to train / shadow others in your spare time. Take notes & learn as much about your job as well as others around you. Make yourself adaptable in the event someone is absent. Being more valuable to a company is great, but you also do not want them to take advantage of you. Suggest further training to move up in the field you have interest in.

Always first listen to whom you will be helping then give your best advice as if it was you on the other side. You will earn the respect of others which will be more helpfull to do your job to the best of your abilty.

County government pays better than state govt.

I have been in nursing for 16yrs and my daughter

has been in for 3yrs. She went right through college and graduated with BSN, no experience and I went from CNA, LPN to RN, paying my own way one class at a time gathering experience on the job, as well as time in class. However, she obtained a

job in a highly skilled, critical care area with no experience earning what my base salary was at same hospital. Where as my base wages stayed the same. I don't want put my daughter in a bad light, however youth and a degree are paid well, yet she is not satisfied and is looking always for a position paying more. She has watched me struggle with patient load, called in to work during times of hurricanes and disasters working to extremes and no bonus, thanks or whatever....

In Florida there is no union to represent the worker (nurses), no real benefits to say, we pay for everything we get, so to say they allow us to purchase our healthcare plan, insurance etc. as for tuition repayment, you must sign a contract to work exclusivly for the employer for less than acceptable wages paid elsewhere for however many years they think is neccessary. I believe that with my experience I should be making 35.00 hr with paid benefits as I find most of my shifts are

difficult due to the new inexperienced nurses not sure of what to do next syndrome. I lead most of the shift, iv starts and proper drugs, most nurses know that their patients are having problems, its making interventions that are crucial to patients positive outcomes that is important, these new nurses are nieve of how bad

and how fast a bad outcome will occur if they sit and ignore their patients. I love to care for patients and I always will, that is why I chose this career, however I never thought I would be battling and struggling my employer for a decent wage. A safe patient load, and a healthier environment to work in. Its a battle everyday, we as nurses should unite and have a national union to represent us so that patients are guaranteed safe care. How many patients could you handle safely? After all, this patients life is in your hands for 12 hours, not so bad when one starts going bad, how about 4-5? Charge nurse is off the floor having a smoke, doctor isn't returning your call, house supervisor is in a code...not an easy 12hrs, how much do you think your worth at this point?

My only advice is to look into another career! The pay is low, low, low. The hours are not 9-5. A cashier at COSTCO starts out making at least $15.00 an hour. It will take you at least 3 years to get up to that wage. Not worth it!

When I see negative advice from others I can't help but think about my career in previous years and see myself in that mind set. Disgruntled, frustrated and cynical.

The truth of the matter is that these days you have to expect to get laid off no matter how good you think you are. Your experience has not reached its pinnacle until you have gone through this process. What keeps you going is knowing that you are competent and that these things are going to happen.

When things get slow, try to pickup a new skill on the job. In my case, I got good a UNIX and scripting, which landed me a better position. In my last job, I picked up DOTNET before I got the axe and landed a Linux/C++ gig.

So, learn how to read the writing on the wall and if you don't like it get busy picking up a marketable skill to take you to the next job. There is no security in the work place anymore, so make sure you stay ahead of the pack and pick up skills. Volunteer for assignments which will stretch you so you can gain and stay valuable.