Tired of Hearing the One Year Experience Required Line!!

GonnaAmazeYou, ASN, RN · Aug 30, 2012

I love this thread, because I sometimes feel like everyone else who has posted on here. Worked so hard in school, now want a job blah blah blah...but REALITY check looking for a job for 2-8 months makes ABSOLUTE sense, even though it is annoying/frustrating/depressing/demotivating/demoralizing and Annoying! Think about it, no matter what career you choose you usually have to intern, or start as an assistant or whatever but in nursing you might go through a new grad program, but probably just a 4-12 week preceptorship and then you are on your own... so facilities have to hire strategically. They need to make sure they have enough experienced nurses to not only maintain patient care, but to orient the new grads as well!! And of course WHO YOU KNOW is important, that is with ANY job, unless it is a government job that you have to test and wait 6-12 months for(check out usajobs.com there are plenty to apply and wait on)... taking a job in LTC or SNF is not a "step down" -- I mean c'mon you do not graduate law school and get a job as the District Attorney, you have to DO YOUR TIME... so do it, happily, and appreciate the experiences you have WHEREVER you work whether it is for a shot clinic, SNF, LTC, SAF, etc etc etc ... once you start working you will have plenty of years to land that "DREAM JOB" so for now just keep your head up, keep plugging away at those applications and take any experience you can get!! If you did not get into the New Grad program for whatever facility, SMILE and LAUGH knowing that once you get your one or two years experience you can REAPPLY as an EXPERIENCED nurse and request relocation expenses, debt forgiveness, sign on bonuses ETC ETC ETC and you can get more sign on bonuses YEARLY-- if you go through the new grad program at your "Dream Hospital" you will sign a 2-3 year commitment contract and NO BONUSES!!! So in the end, in a couple years you are really much better off working your way up and changing facilities every couple years versus landing that dream job on your first interview. I have heard of nurses who work for the same facility for 5-10 years and make less than someone who is a new hire from another facility with 3-5 years experience because those new hires had higher salary requirements and they were also offered incentives/sign on bonuses of 5-10k/year.

joanna73, BSN, RN · Aug 30, 2012

I also didn't want to start working as a CNA or an LPN, and this is not because I don't value these roles. I do, very much so. I decided to return to school to get my BSN after having worked for 20 years. The career path people choose is personal. Fortunately, I didn't have as many hurdles as a new grad because I spent 3.5 years working clinicals on various medicine floors. If we weren't able to perform basic skills, the faculty informed us we would be held back. So the problem is too many nursing schools not preparing students, NOT the fact that one should work as a CNA or an LPN first.

simonemesina · Aug 30, 2012

This is why I feel nursing school should mandate experience in nursing as a requirement to enter the program. No one should be allowed to enter a LPN program without having worked for a year as a CNA. And make a year of LPN experience a mandatory requirement to enter any RN program. The cumulative knowledge would make the new grad at every level a better nurse and would eliminate having new grads with zero experience.

I have to disagree with this. I worked 8 years in a small ER soaking up anything and everything any of my RN's or Dr's would teach me. Granted I have no "hands on" experience, I can successfully walk through chest tubes, full codes, trauma codes, cardiac protocols, and stroke protocols. I know "theoretically" how to cath a pt, start and IV, place a NG tube, and a PICC line. I spent 2 years in a large facility working in the Education Department, TEACHING incoming staff hospital specific protocols and leading their PBDS classes. I've assisted with teaching ACLS and PALS and I'm a CPR Instructor. I know more about nursing than most of the CNA's I know. I've helped where I can during most everything and anything that came in to "my" ER. I know how to read a basic EKG and most lab results. I've had to deal with families during a code, after a pt passes, and pretty much anytime they are scared, confused, or just plain don't know what's going on. Even so, I don't have a CNA or a LPN, so does that make me less deserving of a spot in school? No.

mschrisRN · Aug 30, 2012

Another avenue to investigate is Long Term Acute Care (LTACH). I graduated in May 2011 and couldn't find a job; I kept hearing "We love your personality and we'd love to have you, but we only hire with one year experience." I finally happened upon an LTACH in my city that will hire new grads and give them orientation/training on the floor. I won't lie, it's grueling work, but you won't find any better experience. I have experience with vented patients, chronic trachs, vent weans, paraplegics/quads, s/p CVA/STEMI/NSTEMI, PEGs, PICCs, chronic wounds, wound vacs, ostomy care, and we do our own phlebotomy so lots of experience with periph. sticks and IV starts. Another thing to consider is the nurse to patient ratios are much lower than they are in LTC. I am 1:3 in the ICU, 1:4 or 5 on Stepdown, and 1:6 to 8 (8 usually when I'm covering an LPN) on the Second (Complex Medical) Floor. It's not my dream job (I'm an OB girl through and through and want to get my Master's in Midwifery) but it's experience. I will have my year in January; then I'm hitting the resume' circuit again. :) Good luck!

tnmarie · Aug 30, 2012

Before I'd consider applying to a known terrible place to work, I'd consider relocating somewhere jobs were more numerous, if at all possible, as the poster above suggested.

I applied for jobs across several states and not just over the internet. I drove to various cities and stayed in town applying for jobs. I don't know anyone else had a similar experience, but I didn't want to sign a lease without a job but employers didn't want to hire you without a local address (kind of like the inability to get a job with out experience conundrum). I was also told from a friend in HR that a lot of time employers don't want to fool with out of state references when they have numerous applicants in state so they just toss your application in the discard pile.

You should definitely try relocation if you can swing it, but beware that it can add more obstacles in many cases.

MalzANurse25 · Aug 30, 2012

Just a heads up but Employers dont consider PCT or CNA jobs as experience so keep looking dont give up!!! And from some stories Ive heard from classmates its sometimes even harder to get those jobs because you will get questions like "what if a nursing job comes along are you going to leave this position?" So its risky but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do to get a job! GOOD LUCK!!

MalzANurse25 · Aug 30, 2012

I hear what your saying but unfortunately these do not count for experience in the next level field. CNA work doest count for LPN experience and sadly LPN experience doesnt count for RN experience. There are plenty of my classmates that were CNAs and PCTs before graduating and they are having just as hard a time as those of us who never worked in healthcare.

BrandonLPN, LPN · Aug 30, 2012

Just a heads up Employers dont consider PCT or CNA jobs as experience so keep looking dont give up!!! And from some stories Ive heard from classmates its sometimes even harder to get those jobs because you will get questions like "what if a nursing job comes along are you going to leave this position?" So its risky but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do to get a job! GOOD LUCK!!

They don't consider it actual nursing experience, of course, but being a former aide as a new grad IS a big help. Many, many hospitals will hire former NAs before they hire from the outside. When I worked at the hospital, my unit was forced to post all RN openings to the public per policy. But nine times out of ten this was just a formality and the job had long been promised to an aide who had just graduated from nursing school.

MalzANurse25 · Aug 30, 2012

I really think it just goes back to my original post that its not what you know but who you know. Because by working somewhere and knowing hiring managers that may give you that chance you have a better shot at getting a job. So I guess essentially being in healthcare already does have its advantages! Guess I gotta go find some DON friends LOL

Kamel Dancer · Aug 30, 2012

You don't have to be a new grad to hear the same stupid question. I have been an RN for 22 years. Took 3 years off and was told you haven't worked in the hospital for 1 year in the last 3 so I am so sorry I am unable to help you. All I can say to the LVN an LPN is continue to educate yourself. ACLS, medicine or surgery classes, not for the certificate but for you resume. Remember you have to stand out from all the other people that graduated in you class before you and after you. Try working in a clinic, SNF or assisted living. Take a smaller wage or volunteer. This looks like you are still out there pursuing your ambitions. Work as a CNA in a hospital until someone sees that you are terrific. But don't give up. Try dialysis. You get to use your assessment skills and stick needles. Draw blood and chart. Monitor patients and if you have the right RN she will help you develop a sense of acuity for your patients. Also you are able to keep up with vaccinations for patients and have the need to know the patients information. Which gives you the right to read the History and physical from the MD. This helps you develop and remember your medical terminology. I once was an LVN and 2 years later became an RN. I am now 60 years old. I started this process when I was 36 years old. I had many strikes against me but I did what I outlined above and received many job offers. The last thing I would like to advise you is to continue to the next level. When you are trained in the hospital stay in the hospital. Now the market is so flooded with nurses that only the best brown noses remain in the hospitals. That doesn't mean the are the best for the position that just means they know how to play the game. ME?? I couldn't play the game. I have too much integrity.

Catch22Personified · Aug 30, 2012

I have my "one year of experience" too bad it's in LTC so it doesn't even count in hospitals. Now I get "We aren't hiring new grads". Apparently a new grad is someone with 0-2 years experience. I can land an interview sadly only because of WHO I know, not WHAT I earned. Unfortunately I'm running out of people in my network to ask.

I graduated in 2010, just say you want someone who has 39507329016703967 years of experience and is willing to work minimum wage already you cheap pricks.

Radnurse54 · Aug 30, 2012

This is exactly why I am a big fan of nursing changing to fit a model more like physicians, where students actually do an internship or residency in an area for the last year of their training. Then when nurses actually go out into the "big wide world" they already have their first year of experience under their belt.