easiest specialties to get into after graduation?

[adireen]

Wondering where all of you were able to get your start? Is one specialty easier to get hired into as a new grad more than another? And at what type of facility (i.e. hospital, nursing home, clinic, physician's office, etc.)

Thanks!

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Irene

[mn nurse]

I think it goes in cycles: when I graduated, I had 4 job offers from hospitals I had done clinical rotations in, before I had even finished the program and without ever interviewing. Several of my friends went straight into E.R. or I.C.U. A few years later, I started a job in a new hospital, and there were several nurses in the orientation group who had to work 2 years in a nursing home to have enough experience to be offered a job in acute care. These days, I see most hospitals wanting experience for specialty units (cardiology, oncology, etc.) but they are sometimes willing to consider new grads for general med-surg positions, and sometimes ortho/neuro. Home care generally requires 1-2 years experience, because you're pretty much all alone. Clinics here in MN rarely hire RNs, and the ones they do have are supervisors, which means experience required. Long term care facilities are very open to new grads - in this area, many new grads work subacute, so they get lots of experience with trachs, tube feedings, wound care, IVs, etc, then move on to acute care.

After all that, there are some managers in almost every area who like new grads because "you can train them the way you want, they haven't learned any bad habits".

I hope this helps... Good luck!

[ratchit]

Adireen-

I can't suggest strongly enough that you get a year or so of general med-surg experience before entering a specialty. Get your organizational skills down, learn how to interact with families, doctors and other nurses, and more importantly learn what *you* like. With the shortage these days, lots of new grads are getting hired into specialty positions that they either aren't ready for or or won't like. "Getting in to" the OB specialty because you can won't be good for you if you really have the knack for CCU or Geriatrics. Pyramids are built wide at the bottom then narrow out later on up. Godo luck.

[Iris in the morning]

I strongly agree with the above. Get a firm foundation in a Med-Surg unit. One to two years worth. It will prepare you for any specialty you then want to go into. There is no specialized area in which nurses don't benefit from knowing when their patients are becoming medically unstable and knowing what to do for them. My personal feeling is that going into a specialty right after graduation limits the potential of becoming a well-rounded nurse who can look at the patient as a whole, and see what is going on and not just the area one is "specialized" in.

Wishing you the best in your career.