[Jelli_Belli]

Okay guys, let's see if ya'll can help me out. I will be graduating in Dec and I've heard from several sources I should start looking for a graduate nurse position sooner than later. My problem is that I can't find any Indianapolis hospitals that are advertising for nurse graduate positions.
I've looked at the websites and can't find much of anything referring to new grad programs. I guess it is made even trickier because I want to go straight into psych. I have found lots of positions available for behavioral health nurses but none posted for new grads. I have 5 years experience working as a tech\case manager on an inpatient psychiatric unit, so hopefully this will get me in the door.

Should I apply to regular job posting and specify that I will be a new grad in December? Will they want to wait that long to fill that spot?

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone can tell me of a hospital with a good new grad program that has positions on their psych unit and how I would go about obtaining a position there.

Thanks for reading, sorry if I am rambling. I'm just to excited to be gearing up for graduation and finally becoming an RN.

[Daytonite]

Part of the reason for this is because nursing is a very specialized and highly trained profession. There is only a small block of nursing professionals in any area looking for employment and for most facilities it would be a huge cost to advertise open positions in publicly read newspapers and magazines. As professionals we're supposed to know how to find places of potential employment. Facilities are not going to come to you; you are going to have to go to them looking for employment. The question then becomes: how do you find these places?

On your state Department of Health website (http://www.in.gov/isdh/) is a link on the left side of the page "Health Care Regulatory Services" which has a drop down menu of the facilities they regulate. There are lists of hospitals, outpatient treatment faciliticies and mental retardation facilities listed within these links. I would explore the links on this website. I found a list of all acute hospitals in the state very easily on the site. http://www.in.gov/fssa/mental/dmha.htm - Indiana Family and Social Services Administration Division of Mental Health and Addiction/State Psychiatric Hospitals has a link to Logansport State Hospital Newsletters which you can download.

Most large facilities have nurse recruiters. You merely have to call the facility and ask for the human resources department or the nurse recruiter. Coming from Ohio, I know that Indianapolis is a fairly large city and has a few large hospitals. In the case of the classifieds in the newspaper, watch for news of nursing job fairs. VA hospitals most always have psych units. Many traditional inpatient psych units have been taken over by state public health departments. Other type of psych units will be juvenile treatment programs and drug and alcohol abuse programs. You also want to check into the job advertisements in any specialty journals of psych nursing organizations (check out this weblink: http://www.discovernursing.com/jnj-s...ty_detail.aspx). You want to check online job websites that specialize in nursing such as http://nursingspectrum.com/ which also publishes a hard copy paper that you can subscribe to for free and have sent to your home. They publish nursing jobs for various regions of the country. RN, Nursing 2007 and AJN magazines each publish a yearly career/job issue that has nothing but advertisements in them for nursing jobs. Many of the facilities who advertise are the big tertiary care centers in large cities. Another place to find potential jobs is to look on your state board of nursing website. Sometimes the state boards will have a way for you to get on mailing lists for facilities sending out advertisements for job fairs and job openings. Sometimes just making calls to various nurse recruiters and asking about job fairs that might be coming up (they'll know about them) or asking what facilities have psych units will get you the information you are looking for. Your state student nurses association and state nurses association may also have job offerings it publishes in their newsletters. One last thing I can think of is to get a listing of all the inpatient facilities in the state of Indiana. I couldn't tell you what agency would have this list, but I would do some searching on the Internet. In some states, inpatient facilities have to be licensed by the state department of health, so that government agency has a complete list that you can usually download (that is the case in California, but not Ohio). Get your hands on one of these lists and start highlighting the facilities that are close to you and making calls about job openings.

Often finding a job depends on your ability to network. Have a resume and cover letter ready. You should start applying 2-3 months before graduation or all the good jobs will be taken by the time you graduate.

Resume information

• http://content.monster.com/articles/3475/17719/1/home.aspx - Create a Winning Nursing Resume
• http://content.monster.com/articles/3475/18394/1/home.aspx - Resume Advice for New Healthcare Graduates
• http://content.monster.com/articles/3476/18765/1/home.aspx - Sample Resume for an Entry-Level RN
• http://content.monster.com/articles/3475/19057/1/home.aspx - Resume Presentation
• Monster Members Share What Works for Them
• http://content.monster.com/articles/3475/16909/1/home.aspx - Accessorize Your Healthcare Resume
• by Jennifer LeClaire
• http://content.monster.com/articles/3475/16548/1/home.aspx - Healthcare Resume Q&As
• http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/high-school/36957.html - "Resume-Writing 101". Includes a set of links at the bottom of the article to the resume information at the major job seeker sites.
• http://www.nurseweek.com/features/99-8/resume.html - "Looking Good on Paper: Professional advice for building powerful resumes" from Nurseweek. A short article on the critical basics to incorporate into your resume.

Cover Letter Information

• http://content.monster.com/articles/3475/16536/1/home.aspx - Healthcare Cover Letter Dos and Don'ts
• http://content.monster.com/articles/3475/17043/1/home.aspx - Cover Letter Etiquette
• http://content.monster.com/articles/3475/17164/1/home.aspx - Ten Cover Letter Don'ts
• http://content.monster.com/articles/3475/17414/1/home.aspx - Avoid These 7 Killer Cover Letter Mistakes
• http://www.vault.com/nr/ht_list.jsp?ht_type=9 - sample cover letters
• http://www.vault.com/nr/main_article_detail.jsp?article_id=20934&cat_id=0& ht_type=9 - a step-by-step guide of what goes on a cover letter done in the format of how the letter should appear.
• http://www.worktree.com/tb/CL_cover.cfm - "Covering Cover Letters". Includes a summary of what a cover letter should contain.

Best of luck to you in your searching!

[ERRNJunkie]

I think daytonight has a lot of great info there. I will say that I had my job 3-4 months before graduating, but also I live in a smaller town where they recruited you while in school. It was easy for the most part. They asked you what positions you wanted, and you interviewed for more than one unit. I wanted ER, but I also had to interview for a cardiac step down unit. I got the choice as both floors wanted to hire me. I was lucky I interviewed well.
Its best to start talking to hospitals now, and atleast apply online or call a recruiter and go in and interview. Why wait until you grad and take the NCLEX, you will want to get started and start getting paid, ASAP Im sure.
Good luck!

[incublissRN]

I think that some hospitals in Indy post their new grad openings at a certain time. Definitely call the recruiters and talk to them about specific new grad programs or what staff positions you could apply for as a new grad.