Bay Area hospitals saturated with RN wanting critical care experience?

U.S.A. California

Published

Specializes in ICU, Triage, Home Health, primary care FNP.

I have 2 years experience in nursing and working in a cardiac step down/tele floor. I have applied at UCSF and SF General's critical care training program and no response :(

I really really really want to work in ICU, but so far, these hospitals do not seem to welcome my willingness and my little ole 2 year experience. I'm starting think about applying for positions farther away just to get this experience. What is your take on this? Should I wait a little longer and keep applying? Or should I just pursue other hospitals that are farther away? I'd appreciate your advice.

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If you haven't heard and it's been at least 2 weeks, I'd also start looking elsewhere. AND there is nothing wrong with calling both of those facilities and asking if they'd had a chance to review your resume/application because you would be interested in becoming a part of their team.

How far away are you willing to look? There are some good ICUs in the SJ area and even farther south, if you're willing to move.

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I'm starting to wonder if there's a surplus of nurses in the Bay Area because recently ...

There's been a lot of posts from nurses moving to the Bay Area from out of state and ...

And fair number of posts talking about not being able to find a job (at least not right away).

:typing

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Specializes in SRNA.

I recently took a tour of UCSF and they get an amazing amount of applications for their open nursing positions from around the country and internationally.

The recruiter mentioned they are not impacted by a nursing shortage since they're in an area where many people wish to move to. UCSF's training programs are very appealing and I was told they had over 800 applicants for 37 positions for the group starting in July.

It sounds like the earlier you apply the better. For the training programs starting in October, the deadline is August 15th to apply, but he mentioned they had already hired people when I took my tour in May.

They anticipate that they're going to start posting the 2008 positions for their training programs in September. For those critical care training positions they are looking for around 2 years of experience. My advice would be to go take a tour - you'll establish a relationship with the healthcare recruiter. Apply as soon as the positions are posted, and follow up with the recruiter. With the tremendous amount of applicants, it may be a huge advantage for you if you've met with someone in HR to have a tour - they'd remember you and can maybe advocate for you to get an interview. The recruiter I met seemed to have an awesome relationship with all of the nurse managers of the floors I toured.

Good luck!

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Specializes in My first yr. as a LVN!.

yes, unfortunately here in CA, you have to have oodles of experience it seems... but dont give up hope. Also if its only been 2 weeks... trust me, I was out of work for a bit it some places take up to a month a a half to get back to you. dont give up hope ... and I would list on your resume the skills that are highest ... employers seem to like that and sometimes attaching your references, they like that as well. we all know how swamped we all get and if there is someone who has all of their infomation there and is qualified, they call us in and see we are indeed someone they want. .. bam, you have your job because you were one step ahead ...

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Specializes in Family Practice, Mental Health.

My suggestion is to take a critical care training program on your own.

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