[azabache21]

I'll be brief: I just want to know how soon did it took you to find a job in a hospital as a nurse. Please comment! Thanks

[hikernurse]

About 2.5 months before I graduated . And this was in an area I very much wanted.

[Montessori Mommy]

I just graduated this May. I prepared my resume over Christmas vacation, and began interviewing in January, and had offers in February. I start next week! Here, we usually graduate with jobs - but it must not be like that everywhere.

[jessi1106]

I accepted a job offer 2 weeks before graduation, but began looking about 3 months before graduating...I ended up getting exactly the one I wanted, and start on Monday June 11.
Good luck to you and if you are interviewing I think it is well worth it to prepare by researching the hospital and unit. Also I found the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing had an excellent guide to interviewing you can download for free.

[anonymurse]

2 1/2 months before graduation. Remember, you're competing with everyone else who's graduating all the nursing schools in your area during your graduation month. If you don't get an early start, as soon as you know you passed your second-to-last term, you may be searching for a job for a long time. It may even feel like an eternity depending on your circumstances. The biggest two reasons given for not getting an early start are (1) you don't know what you want to do or (2) you know what you want to do and you won't settle for working anywhere else. However, your first year out of school is purely a learning experience, you might even want to think of it as a year-long clinical. I would say that if you look back at all your clinicals, you'll find that certain units felt good, they were nurturing environments where you didn't hear much if any negative talk, and you noticed how helpful everyone was. Out of those, some might lead more naturally into other areas. I'm not saying dialysis is a dead end gig, but you might have more problems going elsewhere from there than you would from telemetry, which is at the other end of the spectrum of new grad jobs, having elements of both critical care and med/surg. So you probably have 2 or 3 places that would offer you a fantastic learning experience. Then you might have 1 or 2 that are not usually open to new grads, say you always wanted to work NICU and they usually don't hire new grads. So now you have 3 to 5 managers to interview with on units that are either your dream job or a perfect launching pad to your dream job. Set up your references. Then as soon as you're in your last term, or on break after you know you've passed, interview with every one you can. Or you can do like me and take the first offer that comes along that fills all your needs. Best wishes!

[mom2michael]

Everyone I graduated with - graduated with a job. Most of us started receiving offers 3-4 months before graduation. We had a couple that accepted offers the week of graduation but all 48 of us had jobs by pinning.

I received my 1st offer 5 months before I graduated. The offer I accepted was about 3 months prior to graduation.

[cardiacRN2006]

3 months before graduation-and it was the last day shift position. I'm glad I asked. BTW, I didn't apply, I just left a rambling message on the managers voice mail before heading to class. I found out I had the job when I got back home~on my voice mail!

[janfrn]

Fifty-one weeks... Graduated June 24, 1994 and started in the hospital June 18, 1995. Things were very different then!

[kimmymom]

I had 2 job offers about 2 1/2 months before graduation. I've now been a nurse for 6 months and am extremely happy with my choice! Good Luck!

[Italia13 RN]

I got a Job Junior Year that starts a month after I graduate May 2008.. Just as Long as I pass my SENIOR YEAR of Nursing School!