How long did it take to get a job?

Rachel2004RN · Sep 30, 2004

Thanks everyone for the great tips! Rachel, perhaps you should be a social worker/therapist/clergy-member??--you are so calming :)

LOL....thank you! You wouldn't have said this about me today at work.....I had an absolutely horrendous day today and held on by my fingernails until the end of the shift. I'm positive that in the midst of the chaos my vibes were anything but calming!!!

nyforlove · Sep 30, 2004

LOL....thank you! You wouldn't have said this about me today at work.....I had an absolutely horrendous day today and held on by my fingernails until the end of the shift. I'm positive that in the midst of the chaos my vibes were anything but calming!!!

So, that means you already have found a job and are now working--good things come to good people! :)

Rachel2004RN · Oct 1, 2004

So, that means you already have found a job and are now working--good things come to good people! :)

What a sweet thing to say!

Yes, I started work a couple weeks ago---it happened fast. Talked to the nurse manager Thursday, interviewed Friday, started orientation Monday! A friend I graduated with had told me a day spot opened up and I went for it. It's on a busy pulmonary floor in a hospital. It's a mix of rehab and long term care, which I love because I enjoy learning new things with the more acute patients but I also love becoming comfortable and familiar with the more chronic patients. The majority of patients are on mechanical ventilation....some are weaning. We get a lot of ICU patients who are still too sick to go anywhere else. It's an excellent learning experience, there is sooooooo much to see on this floor and so many nursing skills to practice. I had a clinical rotation on this floor in school and I liked it but found the vents a bit intimidating. I'm OK with them now....including the suctioning end of things....and the respiratory therapists on this floor are amazingly knowledgable and helpful. THANK GOD everyone has been really supportive and helpful so far. I'm up to 4 patients now. (Goal by the end of orientation is 6 patients....typically I'll have 5 patients but they want you to be able to take 6 if needed). Yesterday was not a good one at all----started off bad and just got worse---and I came home and cried, telling my husband I refused to go back---he talked me into going back today and it was a better day. Time will tell if this is the right fit for me....but if it's not, I have been told by multiple people familiar with the floor that future employers will value the experience I'm gaining here.

I do hope I catch on. Wow---the real world is nothing like school, huh? Quite the reality slap.

VgsNrs · Oct 12, 2004

I just was curious, when you graduate, should you take a few weeks off to study for the NCLEX or have a job secured and study for the test during your massive orientation? What is the smarter thing to do? I feel like I can't decide and I dont wanna screw myself by not having a job until who knows when?!?!?

VgsNrs · Oct 12, 2004

I just was curious, when you graduate, should you take a few weeks off to study for the NCLEX or have a job secured and study for the test during your massive orientation? What is the smarter thing to do? I feel like I can't decide and I dont wanna screw myself by not having a job until who knows when?!?!?

Sheri257 · Oct 12, 2004

Thanks everyone. Sometimes I get a little ahead of myself and anxious to boot.:imbar I better calm down and just concentrate on school

Don't worry about these threads and, quite frankly, don't listen to these people who go on and on about a shortage that supposedly doesn't exist. It does, and they're wrong, for a variety of reasons.

The U.S. Health Department says there IS a nationwide shortage that will only get worse. However, the shortage does not reach every area of the country. There are certain areas of the country that do not yet have a shortage.

However, California is NOT one of them. Our new ratio law (which allows a maximum of six patients per RN, five next year) has and will continue to create even more of a shortage. If you live in California and graduate from a state accredited school, you will NOT have a problem finding a job (unless you live in an extremely rural area where there aren't any jobs, nursing or otherwise.)

Ask around at your school. Everybody at my school has two to three offers BEFORE they graduate. And my instructors (who are, obviously, RNs) are bombarded with job offers on a daily basis.

:clown:

Sheri257 · Oct 12, 2004

Thanks everyone. Sometimes I get a little ahead of myself and anxious to boot.:imbar I better calm down and just concentrate on school

Don't worry about these threads and, quite frankly, don't listen to these people who go on and on about a shortage that supposedly doesn't exist. It does, and they're wrong, for a variety of reasons.

The U.S. Health Department says there IS a nationwide shortage that will only get worse. However, the shortage does not reach every area of the country. There are certain areas of the country that do not yet have a shortage.

However, California is NOT one of them. Our new ratio law (which allows a maximum of six patients per RN, five next year) has and will continue to create even more of a shortage. If you live in California and graduate from a state accredited school, you will NOT have a problem finding a job (unless you live in an extremely rural area where there aren't any jobs, nursing or otherwise.)

Ask around at your school. Everybody at my school has two to three offers BEFORE they graduate. And my instructors (who are, obviously, RNs) are bombarded with job offers on a daily basis.

:clown:

RN123456789 · Oct 12, 2004

I just was curious, when you graduate, should you take a few weeks off to study for the NCLEX or have a job secured and study for the test during your massive orientation? What is the smarter thing to do? I feel like I can't decide and I dont wanna screw myself by not having a job until who knows when?!?!?

Absolutely take time off to study!!!!! I know someone who went on vacation instead of going to our NCLEX review. Well she did not pass the NCLEX first time around, had to take a review course and passed in Sept. She also had a job waiting for her, and the NM expected her to start much earlier. Take time to prepare well, take the test, and after passing focus on a job, there will be one for you some where. Good Luck :)

happylush · Nov 12, 2004

Well, I received my RN license in June and am still waiting for a job in MN. I am currently working at a hospital also, waiting working as an LPN but nothing............... I've had interviews for everyone to tell me " there are people that are already RN's that have senority over you, and to please hang in there and wait" etc.... I dont know how much more waiting I can do, this is getting ridiculous!!!!!!!!! Minnesota is very frustrating atm for new nurses!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely take time off to study!!!!! I know someone who went on vacation instead of going to our NCLEX review. Well she did not pass the NCLEX first time around, had to take a review course and passed in Sept. She also had a job waiting for her, and the NM expected her to start much earlier. Take time to prepare well, take the test, and after passing focus on a job, there will be one for you some where. Good Luck :)

Justmeandmycat · Nov 13, 2004

Ok, here's my input. I graduated as an LPN Jan. 2004, and took a month to study for the NCLEX-PN and sailed thru it. I interviewed with a cardiologist's office and a walk-in clinic and got two offers.The cardiologist offered good pay but no benefits and the other job, a clinic, was in so-so shape and it was obvious during the interview that there was dissension there amongst the staff. So I thought I'd keep looking. Went for my physical to find out why I was tired and to update my PPD and that led to a surprise discovery (for which I'm grateful, not related to the PPD by the way), a consult with another doctor and two surgeries one after the other. I didn't get my medical release until Sept. I was glad that I took care of my medical problems and was happy to be looking good and feeling good after recovering. So I started looking again. Went to the community hospital which I liked during clinical and was told there was only per diem in L&D, but they would keep my resume on hand. Found out later they had laid off their LPNS right when my class was graduating and have been hiring RN nursing student interns to take the spots as part of a "new and promising affiliation" between this community hospital and an area RN program. Continued on. The choices have been an abortion clinic, (I'm Catholic)a medical supply company that wants you to deliver and sell oxygen equipment to COPD pts, (I want to be a nurse not a sales person with a quota) and a night shift which was advertised thru a hospital which oversees the medical needs of the CT corrections system. (Hmm, maybe)The job turned out to be not at the hosptial itself but in a clinic administed by the hospital for an all male prison which, incidentally, houses death row. (Yikes!) Undaunted, I tried the VNA and area homecare agencies and was told I need a)one year med surg experience - supposedly this is a state regulation in order to work in home care, b) prior home care experience preferred (I've been a CNA in facilities but not home health and c) an RN. I checked two other local hospitals that are within driving distance, since the only place to get med-surg experience is in acute care, right? One told me they had a couple of LPNs that "had been there forever, and I mean forever, and the LPN position has been phased out anyway and we're not hiring." At least she was frank. The other nurse recruiter at the other hospital was, I guess, just an idiot. The phone conversation started with the simple inquiry "Do you hire LPN's in any capacity at your hospital?" and the response was, I kid you not "Oh, we only hire NURSES here." I took the phone away from my ear to look at it. Was this for real? I asked her "Do you know what an LPN is? A licensed practical NURSE?" the response? "Yes, but we only hire RNs." I was steamed but handled my end of the conversation professionally, unlike her. Now I'm starting to wonder if there is a nursing shortage. I'm trained, licensed and available. What is this baloney I've been running into? I'm back to actually considering nursing homes just so I can be employed in some capacity related to nursing but I just can't bring myself to fill out the applications. I never wanted to be in the nursing home environment. My least favorite rotatations during clinical were the homes and my classmates who have taken positions with them are miserable. They are overwhelmed, claiming the orientations have been a joke and the ratio of patients to nurses is 60 to one. They are afraid for their licenses and are stressed to the max. They are just putting their time in until there is someplace else to go. (I haven't told them there isn't any other place to go that I can see. )Only one classmate has said she likes it. The others say they feel trapped. I would consider doing it "for the experience" but not if there aren't any job opportunities to go to in the future, that are non-nursing home related. I would also consider it if I personally hadn't gone through my physical ordeal - I don't want to flip my body around right now working nights which seem to be the only shifts available. I've only been feeling okay since Sept. My choices? Moving is out of the question. An RN at this point is out of the question, too. I am way beyond the my financial resources due to the surgeries and the time I spent recovering when I should have been earning an income. The thought of taking out loans on top of the money I wasted going for the LPN is horrifying. The wait list and the prerequisites would put the possiblity of earning an income as a nurse off for at least four years from now. Simply not realistic. This post might be my swan song, I don't know. The prospect of fulfilling my dream to be a practicing nurse is dim even though I did everything I was supposed to do in school and achieved my license. Discrimination because of my health history? No, most of the conversations I have had during my Job Search haven't even gone into that area. The "No"s have been right off the bat as soon as I have said I am an LPN. There simply aren't jobs to apply to as a new LPN -(excluding the nursing homes - there are plenty of jobs there because nobody, even me in my state of need, wants to work in one because the working conditions at the homes are at the breaking point.) I'm beginning to think that becoming a nurse (even if I'm the only one to think that an LPN is a nurse) was the biggest mistake I have ever made. The only thing about my experience so far is that if I hadn't gotten my nursing knowledge behind me, I wouldn't have taken my physical fatigue seriously and gone to the doctor. For that I'm grateful and I'm a-OK now. But I didn't figure on financial ruin and a dismal professional future either. My husband is begging me to consider another profession and in fairness to him and the support he gave me while in school and after the surgeries, I'm looking into other fields. I need to pull my share of the load for our household. LPN was supposed to be a stepping stone to a rewarding career as a professional who finds satisfaction helping others. Nope. Just telling it like it is.

Jennerizer, ASN, RN · Nov 21, 2004

Here in Florida - you pretty much have the area hospitals courting you to work for them. They are coming to our school (sitting outside our classroom), giving us gifts, catering lunches - I feel like I'm dating...lol. With all that being said - graduation is just about 3 weeks away & I still have not decided where to work. So many choices! We are one of the few schools in Florida that have a class graduating in December - so it's not as competitive as the May/June graduating classes.