Jane Wray writes:
I recently posted a comment on Twitter about the fact that several of my former students had contacted me for a reference for a new job all within the space of three weeks. All had qualified about a year ago (Oct 2018) and it prompted me to ask on Twitter “is this usual? 12 months and then move?”.
There were a few responses to my poll (28 in fact) with 25% indicating that they would move to a new role, 36% were staying where they were and the biggest group – 39% were ‘still deciding’. However, what was interesting was the number of people who commented on the poll and this very issue of whether they should stay or move on. Most of the comments indicated that NQNs did leave within 12 months or so of qualifying or they were about to leave sometime soon. This was because they got promoted or a better job offer from another organisation. Some left because they were seeking a new challenge and a few (the minority) said that they had not settled in their first post or did not feel it was a supportive environment.
So yes – NQNs are leaving within the first 12 months but this appeared to be for mainly positive reasons. If you have the offer of promotion (more money!), or a job that suits you better or a different role that provides you a new challenge then why would you not move? Alongside these comments were also some from nurses who had been qualified for over 20 or even 30 years who indicated that they too had moved on within or around 12 months of qualifying. This ‘moving on’ within the first 12 months is not a new phenomenon and is something that perhaps many NQN do. Nor does it appear to be a consequence of negative circumstances and situations.
I am mindful that NQNs moving on within 12 months impacts on workforce retention and that this is currently a huge challenge for most healthcare organisations particularly in the NHS. However, some of these reasons for moving on (promotion, different job or a new challenge) might easily be provided by the organisation that the NQN is currently with – and if this was offered, would they stay or still go?
The STaR Project 