A person beginning a career in business can negotiate for a salary that reflects the value they will contribute to the company. A familiar back and forth will still ensue. The employer wanting to make conservative offers, the employment candidate leveraging potential opportunities with other companies as a way to strengthen their case.
This system, stressful though it may be for many people, keeps salaries competitive in many segments of employment. Businesses may not want to take on huge payroll expenses, but, due to a competitive marketplace, they are forced to compensate people based on the value they bring.
This system does not exist in healthcare. Nurses can receive raises, but they are almost always delivered on a schedule. Rarely can a nurse say, “They’re offering me BLANK at the hospital just down the street.”
The most consistent way to increase your salary in the world of nursing is to acquire new certifications, and possibly consider a different location. In this article, we will take a look at how you can maximize your nursing salary.
Location, Location, Location
While nursing salary expectations are generally fixed, the pay schedule looks different depending on where you live. Unfortunately, increasing your salary by relocating is a little tricky. Areas with higher-than-average salaries usually also have higher-than-average living expenses.
California is a good example. Currently one of the highest paying states in the country for nurses, it also has one of the highest costs of living in the United States.
Not every state with high base nursing salaries is overwhelmingly expensive. Arkansas, for example, consistently factors into top-ten lists. Arkansas’ cost of living is—at the time of writing—8% lower than the national average.
If you are considering moving to get a better salary, factor:
- Living expenses. A high cost of living will more than eat up a higher salary.
- Suitability. Do you want to live in Arkansas? If you don’t, you probably shouldn’t.
Which isn’t to say that there is anything wrong with Arkansas. It’s simply a fact that nursing is a hard enough job without adding anything extra to the table. Removing yourself from your support system may not be the move if you want to stay in this career path long-term.
Everyone is a little different in that way. An alternative to looking for the best-paying state? Consider a career in travel nursing.
Travel nurses have a higher-than-average base salary—often in the six-figure range. They do travel often—usually to high-need locations. However, these placements might only last a few months.
This is a good, less permanent way to see if nursing out of state is a good fit for you and your lifestyle priorities.
Travel nurses, by the way, do need a specialized certification, which we will explain in our next heading.
Compact Nursing License
A compact nursing license is possibly the easiest certification for a nurse to get. That’s a qualified statement, understand. Most nursing certifications will require you to gain hundreds of hours of experience working in a specific set of circumstances. They may also require you to enroll in special classes and take standardized tests.
Compact nursing licenses, on the other hand, usually only require a high enough score on the NCLEX. The NCLEX is a standardized test that all nursing candidates have to take in order to get their license. You’ll be studying for it anyway. If you do well enough, you might qualify for this certification without even trying to.
A compact nursing license allows you to work in (almost) any state in the country without having to jump through a bunch of legal hoops.
It’s good for travel nurses. It’s also just good for people who want to keep their options open. Not every state recognizes compact nursing licenses—including California—but it is a reliable general certification for people who want the option to go where they please.
Other Certifications
We literally could list every single certification that nurses can try for. There are simply too many. Instead, let’s tackle this practically. What aspects of medicine interest you the most? Almost certainly, there is a corresponding certification that will allow you to focus only on that.
That job will usually also come with either:
- A salary increase, or
- A lifestyle upgrade.
To that latter point, consider school nurses. While you might not have viewed yours with envy as a child, they actually have a pretty good gig where healthcare careers are concerned. They have good base pay. They are off on weekends and home before dinner every day. Their patients are dealing not with life-threatening illnesses but mostly scraped knees and stomach aches.
Oh, and they only work nine months out of the year.
School nursing careers lie on the other side of a specialized certification. The job might not result in a salary increase, but you’ll get a lot more time on your hands. Plus, with all of those days off, you might be able to pick up more money pinch-hitting at hospitals during the summer. If you want to. Isn’t freedom a beautiful thing?
There is also forensic nursing. Nurses who collect forensic information and treat victims of crime. Psychiatric nursing. Nurses who work primarily in settings that are focused on mental health. Gerontology nursing. Nurses who work with patients who are of an advanced age, and no longer suitable candidates for preventative care.
These jobs all require certifications that will mandate some experience and some additional classwork. The continuing education requirements generally won’t require full enrollment in a university—though that may be where the classes take place—but rather the occasional weekend or evening lecture you will need to sit through.
You will also need to gain experience in the field—something you can often do while hired on a provisional basis—and, most probably, complete a standardized test.
Conclusion
Hopefully, at this point, you feel pretty excited. There are so many awesome opportunities in the world of nursing. Which one will you pursue?
As you look into certification programs, just make sure that the classes you consider are fully accredited. Online learning opportunities make it easier to continue your education as a nurse, but they also make it easier for scammers to do their bad deeds.
Start by looking to see if the program you are interested in has achieved a CCNE accreditation. The CCNE is one of the most established accreditation review boards for nursing programs in the country.
Also, check to make sure that the program you are interested in is recognized in your state.
With some work, you can find a nursing career that not only pays well but also makes you excited to go to work every day.
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