I NEED A JOB

You're NOT the only one! If you start spending much time in this forum you'll soon find there are hundreds of us in the same boat. I graduated with a BSN in December and I haven't even had an real interview yet despite sending out dozens of applications. I know exactly how you feel and it's depressing. Many of the people that graduated in my class are still looking and a lot of the people who did get jobs right away were already working in the hospital where they were hired. It's so competitive in the Bay Area right now- there are too many new grads and not enough hospitals willing to train us. Many hospitals like Kaiser, Good Sam and Santa Clara Valley Med Center have completely cut their new grad programs this year. My best advice to you is to relocate if you can. There seem to be a lot more opportunities in the Central Valley and Southern Cal but the pay isn't as good as around here. What about out of state- I keep reading about people having no trouble finding work in Texas. I recently resorted to applying to the State Hospitals, apparently Coalinga is always hiring and pay is good (downside of course is that you're working with the criminally insane I think the key to finding a job in this market is to get creative and think outside the box. It may mean having to take a less desirable job a lot further from home just to get the experience. Just keep looking and keep applying to as many positions as you can- there are a lot of new grad programs in Southern California that are accepting applications for the summer now. The waiting game is awful and I totally sympathize with you but we can't loose faith. We have worked so hard for those 2 letters after our name, someday the door will open. Good luck to everyone still looking.

I'm from San Jose and i graduated in Dec 08. Sure it sucks. Guess what, i giving up the Bay Area and going down south. If needed, I'll go to another state.

I wonder how the market is in Seattle, WA. I would love to liver there. I have a funny feeling its gonna be tight up there as well.

50cal, a few weeks ago San Francisco General Hospital (via the SF Department of Public Health website) reissued their job openings for about eight different nursing specialties. I got confirmation last week that they are ready to start setting selecting candidates for interviews. Click on the link below, then scroll down the page to the section for "Professionals - Clinicians" and you'll see various "Training Programs" (Critical Care, Emergency Department Training Program, etc.). Some of which are open to new grads with limited (or no) experience.

http://204.68.210.4/emplymnt/GenlJobs.htm#200Class

Also, PM me and I'll send you something else.

The key words are "relocation" and "experience." Without any experience, you must be willing to relocate to get your 1st job. In this type of economy, you have to be active, instead of waiting for the jobs falling right into you, you must learn to relocate to an area where it will offer jobs to new grads. Be flexible...
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