Re: Is my inexperience going to make it hard to find a job?
I can't address every job market across the country and tell you how good/bad things are. Having said that, I became a CNA at age 53 after having nothing but white collar jobs since college. Yes, I had a good job history, but a lot of people thought I couldn't possibly succeed in this field, or even get a job in the first place having been an IT person (as some others on this forum were).
Of course, I did get a job. As others have pointed out, this is a bad time of year to be hired --- good time to get your resumes out there, but even if there are job openings, employers just don't do a lot of hiring around the holidays. Too many days off, people unavailable to interview or even look at resumes in the first place. Too many parties and not enough time to do HR stuff. Keep in mind that a small nursing home will have a single HR person - if he/she is off, nothing much happens. Not like a major corporation where someone else can cover.
There is some anecdotal evidence that going to a place, in person, and filling out an application along with leaving your resume yields better results --- shows some initiative rather than just sitting at home on the PC. I would try targeting 2-3 places in a day --- walk in and ask if they'll take an application (or call first) and if so, complete it (do it neatly, with excellent spelling and punctuation unlike most of my postings
).
As we're always discussing on this forum, be patient (we all know, harder to do than say). Apply to everyplace --- accept a position even if it means a bit longer commute, or less money, or whatever, to get your foot in the door. A year of experience will change your employment world. Again, as stated, nursing homes provide more employment opportunities but apply everywhere. I assume you're using job boards, ads in the local newspaper, phone book (online or 'real one') to find every possible place. Often, many people just don't know all the resources for finding potential employers.
Be aware that I know, first hand, that it often takes weeks to hire even with an immediate opening. HR/hiring person will often gather resumes for several weeks. They want to get the best qualified people (or may very well want a newbie) and they'll simply sit on a pile of resumes until some cutoff date. Then, they start contacting people. No news is not necessarily bad news.
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. SO don't get too discouraged about being out of the rat race to raise your children. In this field, you have what they're looking for and that's the desire to help others before yourself.
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