I finished nursing school in May 2012, I had a temporary postion at a local hospital helping them launch there Electronic Medical record system for 3 months. They were not able to hire me because of budget issues. I have applied everywhere I can possible think of and contacted every single person I know in the medical field and still I have not had very much luck finding a job in any area. (I am in CA) I want to go into travel nursing is there any company that will hire a new grad and train them? I am more than willing to relocate or do travel assignment, but most companies want you to have at least 1-2 years of experience. Does anyone know of a company that will hire new grad's for travel nursing?

Travel nursing by nature is when an agency works with you to secure and assignment and sends you to a facility you have greed to with no more than a day of training.

Essentially you hit the ground running because you are there such a short time. They expect you to know how to be a nurse before you can travel from facility to facility or state to state.

Check the travel nursing forums too. (Under specialties)

Thanks! I will look into those.

You're not likely to find a travel position as a new grad. Like the previous poster said, you get at MOST a day or two of orientation and then are expected to be able to function as an experienced nurse.

If you are more than willing to relocate, then apply for staff nurse positions in other areas/states. Travel nurses need to have experience. When I worked in the hospital, travelers got 2 days of orientation max. New grads, on the other hand, got 12-20 weeks. It is not a safe position for a new grad to be in and I would be leery of any travel company that would hire a new grad.

If you are more than willing to relocate, then apply for staff nurse positions in other areas/states. Travel nurses need to have experience. When I worked in the hospital, travelers got 2 days of orientation max. New grads, on the other hand, got 12-20 weeks. It is not a safe position for a new grad to be in and I would be leery of any travel company that would hire a new grad.

Great advice

I work for an agency. My orientation was all about the facility I worked at, NOT about Nursing 101...because they expected me to already know that. They do not have the time, motivation or money to teach a new grad how to survive the first year of nursing.

That being said, you could look around and see what you find--some home health agencies will work with new grads--but I wouldn't be surprised if you don't find a travel agency willing to take on a new grad for acute care.

KelRN215 has great advice: if you really want to travel, apply out of state and rack up your year or two of experience that way.

I think that will be my next step, to apply out of state. Thanks for all the great advice!

I don't know where you live now, but try small more rural towns. I'm a new grad and have been applying EVERYWHERE in San Antonio and the surrounding area. On a whim I decided to try applying for a couple of hospitals in MUCH smaller cities about two hours away. THAT is what finally got me a job here in Laredo.

I did contact a few home health agencies along with travel agencies, and was told to call them once I had a MINIMUM of one year experience. Hospice agencies may take you with only 6 months, but they're far and few in between.

Good luck!