How long did it take for you to get your job after license?

Nurses New Nurse

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I have been applying for jobs in my city for about two months and I finally got a response from HR at a local hospital and she said she sent my application to a NICU floor. She basically told me that I should be expecting an interview soon. At that time, I was so happy and excited to finally get a response and also possibly working at my dream job! I was starting to feel so hopeless during the two months of applying and not hearing anything.

Well now it's been about 3 weeks since I last heard anything. I even followed up with HR on if I would be interviewing soon and she said she hasn't heard anything from the unit yet. I'm just wondering...is this normal for a hiring process? My application status says "pending review" and I don't even know what that means. I'm trying to be proactive and contacting the HR but she doesn't even know anything at this point so I don't know what to do. It's hard to stay positive. I'm also prepared for the worst and thinking they probably had a bunch of applicants sent to them and they already chose to interview a select few. This is so depressing and I feel like I'm never going to get a job.

I'm just curious, and I know this all depends on location but how long did it take for you guys to get a job after getting your license and how long was your hiring process? I'm from a big major city so it's very competitive and saturated with new grads from December :(

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2 months? That's really not that long in this abysmal job market. I have friends who were coming up on close to a year with no job. It took me a long time to land my first RN position (and I had nursing experience in the form of LPN) and that position wasn't acute care in the hospital. It was about a year before I got my acute care hospital position. Those that were hired quickly from my graduating class were either A). techs on the floor they were hired for or B). knew 'someone'. I understand how you feel. I really was getting depressed in those many, long months of no job...no interview..no hire.

some areas and States have a decent job market for new grads others, like my state, its bad.

My best advice...apply apply apply...everywhere. Don't turn your nose up to a applying to a non-hospital position. RN experience is RN experience. Many places require just that. Some do state acute care experience. Network if you can. Let everyone you know, know that you are looking. I got my first position that way. Try not to get too discouraged. I know its hard..but your job is out there.

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2 months? That's really not that long in this abysmal job market. I have friends who were coming up on close to a year with no job. It took me a long time to land my first RN position (and I had nursing experience in the form of LPN) and that position wasn't acute care in the hospital. It was about a year before I got my acute care hospital position. Those that were hired quickly from my graduating class were either A). techs on the floor they were hired for or B). knew 'someone'. I understand how you feel. I really was getting depressed in those many, long months of no job...no interview..no hire.

some areas and States have a decent job market for new grads others, like my state, its bad.

My best advice...apply apply apply...everywhere. Don't turn your nose up to a applying to a non-hospital position. RN experience is RN experience. Many places require just that. Some do state acute care experience. Network if you can. Let everyone you know, know that you are looking. I got my first position that way. Try not to get too discouraged. I know its hard..but your job is out there.

Thank you for the response and advice. I have been applying everywhere and even in positions I don't exact see myself in. I was actually a tech on two different floors while I was in nursing school. I transferred my first one to another one because of the hostile environment between techs and nurses. The second unit I transferred to had 4 other student techs there and two of them were hired before me because they graduated earlier so no positions were opened around the time I graduated. And after I graduated I was basically told that since it was a student tech position, legally, I can't work there anymore so I had to resign. Since then I have been asking if they were hiring to let me know but they haven't had an open position :(

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I had gotten my license in July of '14, and took August off since my old employer owed me a lot of vacation time. I had a friend in school that was ahead of me and she worked for the same pharmacy chain, and when she said she was looking for a new job (which they've known she was going to do for a while) they fired her and didn't give her the time she had saved up. So I didn't want to take any chances. I kept applying from the middle of August onward. I received a phone call, at night, from a hospital I had applied for and I was told to come in for an interview. I started this position on a neuro floor in December :)

I was getting so down about not getting a call sooner. All I wanted was the chance to interview. In the end, I think that, for new grads, it all comes down to luck of the draw, unfortunately. But just keep with it!

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Licensed June 20, Job offer in my dream job Aug 15. First month and a half I followed the rules, did the online applications, didn't walk in anywhere, didn't call HR, and heard nothing. Almost all of my online applications went into "not under consideration" status the second I hit submit.

Then I tool the advise of some classmates who walked in to see an NM. I took my resume to the NM on a floor I wanted to work that I had just been rejected online and I was offered an interview 2 weeks later and got the job offer the next day!

When it comes to jobs, rules you learned in nursing school are meant to be broken! Also, use your connections! I knew some nurses on the floor from clinicals I had done there, and that really does help, but its not imperative. Many of my classmates got hired where they had no connections and walked in bypassing the online apps and HR.

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Yeah honestly I just want a chance to interview :(

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this was pretty much me as well. but me and a friend were actually told by a nursing recruiter at a fair to not walk into to HR and make your presence known. And I listened to it until I got my first call for an interview

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this was pretty much me as well. but me and a friend were actually told by a nursing recruiter at a fair to not walk into to HR and make your presence known. And I listened to it until I got my first call for an interview

Why would she say not to make your presence known? I was thinking maybe too many people do that so it just got a bit overwhelming for them or something

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It's normal to not hear for 3 weeks. The hiring process is very slow. For the position I have now, I applied in July, interviewed in September, and started in November. And I was an internal applicant.

For the non-nursing hospital job I had before starting the nursing one, we would have the position posted for months before interviewing. They seemed to wait until there were a bunch of applicants and then would interview them all the same week. So I don't think you're out of the running.

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It's normal to not hear for 3 weeks. The hiring process is very slow. For the position I have now, I applied in July, interviewed in September, and started in November. And I was an internal applicant.

For the non-nursing hospital job I had before starting the nursing one, we would have the position posted for months before interviewing. They seemed to wait until there were a bunch of applicants and then would interview them all the same week. So I don't think you're out of the running.

Thank you so much for your response! It does make me feel better. Hopefully I will hear back from them soon. Why does the hiring process take so long? I assume they want to fill the position quick. The position I applied for was on the job board for only a week before it disappeared and I assumed it's because there were too many applicants.

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Specializes in ICU.

Is relocation an option for you? If so, if you are in a compact state, you can work in other compact states.

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Thank you so much for your response! It does make me feel better. Hopefully I will hear back from them soon. Why does the hiring process take so long? I assume they want to fill the position quick. The position I applied for was on the job board for only a week before it disappeared and I assumed it's because there were too many applicants.

Honestly, it's a great mystery what happens in HR. Yes, the unit wants to fill the position ASAP, but they can't because everything goes through HR. We had a position vacant for months before HR gave us the "permission" to start interviewing, and we were working short staffed the whole time. In fact, we weren't even allowed to post the position until the previous person physically left, not when they gave notice.

This waiting thing is not just in healthcare either. My husband has a good job with the city but it took him maybe 6 months from application to hire. My brother applied for a great job 4 months ago and was only just told it's down to him and 2 others. They haven't even interviewed him yet.

Good things come to those who wait. The bigger and better the organization, and the more desirable the job, the longer the hiring process. It's frustrating but it's worth it when you start that great job.

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