I'll be serving whine at my pity party

[jadedjane]

*disclaimer* please read this with a sense of lightheartedness. There's no finger pointing, name calling, baby nurse eating (eww..just..ew) ranting. I just need to exhale.

background info: New Grad RN, great grades, in my late 30's, two teenage girls (17 &18), second career, no real contacts in the nursing world...worked my hiney off as a restaurant manager so I could pay out of pocket for school and not be loaded with debt...(we've seen this a hundred thousand times before).

The meat of the story: I'm living off of savings, but I'm not in dire straits at the moment. I really do want to find a job (the sooner the better). So, I'm filling out applications, uploading my resume, writing individual cover letters, making some phone calls, doing some volunteer work....and keeping a spreadsheet of all the places I've contacted - so far so good. These things take time - I know (I'm patient).

The plot thickens: I review my resume every few days. It seems to be a constantly evolving work in progress. I have a couple other people eyeball it for me (for mistakes) and they tell me "looks good". GREAT! I'll start papering the entire county with my resume and maybe a few for the neighboring counties too. So I open up my resume to add something to it ans much to my dismay....ERRORS - teeny tiny ones, but they are there - plain as day . UGH! All those resumes are out there sullying my good name and I can't fix them. *sigh* How on earth am I going to convince anyone that I have WONDERFUL attention to detail if I cannot manage to hand in a resume with no typos. I hang my head in shame.

The aftermath: I have yet to feel the pain of rejection, but I know it's coming:uhoh21:. I have plenty of guinness in the fridgy just waiting for it. I'll have to re-work my resume, fire my current set of "extra eyes" and start all over.

**Note to self: fix resume...THEN drink the beer

In all honesty - I do take my future career very seriously, and I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight because of it. I will be looking into a professional resume service, or at least not ask a fellow graduate (aka: the competition) to look over my resume. Lesson learned. I hope other new grads out there can take a lesson from me. Get it right the first time.

If I have managed to hold your attention for this long, thank you. If you have any tips or advice that would be awesome. If you want to send me a nasty-gram (for whatever reason - or just cause) that's fine too. Just put nasty-gram in the subject line so I know to delete them without looking If you happen to be a hiring manager in Southern California, pay no attention to that missing letter in the name of your lovely magnet status hospital

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

Spell check for many browsers can be uploaded plus the program you use to write have spell check. Also reading the paper backwards helps. I'm presuming you use a computer to write and do your resume and cover letters.

Congratulations.

[jadedjane, ASN, RN]

Moving forward to the panel interview!!! YAY

[Epic_RN]

Wooohooo! Good for you!

[Jenni811, RN]

Have to ask...my fiance and i MAY be relocated to southern california from northern Wisconsin. How is the job market out there?? Cost of living is ridiculous.

ok, since i asked a question i need to give advice. My 2 cents on this- don't over think it. the last thing a company wants is a perfectionist type A personality. They do good work, no doubt...but they are difficult to get along with. Not saying your "type a" but you sure sound like a perfectionist. Just need to let some things go. I had a couple typos in my cover letter i saw...but on the flip side, i also saw they had typos on the letters they were sending me. It goes both ways and we are only human.

[jadedjane, ASN, RN]

Thanks jenni811!

The market out in SoCal is still tough. New grad programs are opening up their online applications for their August cohorts, and closing down the applications after a day (and that's on a good day). Some have closed down in just a few hours. It's a "fair-to-iffy" market if you have the right amount of experience - not too little - not too much.

The cost of living IS ridiculous!.. I pay 2,000 a month for 2br apartment. I also pay pet rent for both of my wee beasties (Shells and Lucy-fur). Thankfully I don't have to pay for my iguana (Roxy) even though she's HUGE (~6ft head to tail). Auto insurance is actually cheap!! 550 a year - full coverage with a perfect driving record in a 4WD. Groceries aren't too bad either. The produce is AMAZING! I get a year round supply of just about any fresh veggie you can think of and the prices are usually pretty good thanks to the farmers market. You will need to take out a second mortgage on your home to fill up your gas tank though.

The beaches are beautiful. I go occasionally** but sunlight, red-hair, and freckles = limited exposure (SPF 5000, umbrella, rash guard...full body coverage....the works!!). I hike a lot because I live in the foothills of the Santa Ana mountains (Whiting ranch wilderness / Limestone Canyon) and just minutes from Holy-Jim and Blackstar canyons.

As for personality type, you might be onto me there. I do have a touch of** "perfectionist personality disorder". I wonder if that's actually listed in the DSM-IV-TR?? It's more of a self-perfectionist issue. I hold myself to a higher internal standard, but have much more patience and understanding with everyone else. I'm also far less forgiving of my own mistakes.

Alas, I must finish preparing for my panel interview (tomorrow). I'm stiff fairly** nervous. I'm not exactly sure what type of questions they are going to ask and given that I am a new grad, there is that "remote"** possibility that I might have my brain sucked out of my head at the door, and not know the perfect answer. :uhoh21:

**sarcasm glossary**

Occasionally = Almost never

a touch of = a massive case of

Fairly = extremely

remote = absolute