New Graduate RN in Boston

U.S.A. Massachusetts

Published

Hello everyone, first time poster, but I've been reading info on this site for 4 years now while I toiled away in nursing school ;)

I graduated from a BSN program in May and passed my boards at 75 questions back in July. This was back in my home state of NJ. I moved with my significant other to Boston, MA as she is now a graduate SLP student at NEU.

This was a big move for us as it was the first time either of us had ever really left home as opposed to just going away to school for the year.

Unfortunately, by moving five hours and two states away I pretty much lost the entire network I had built during my time in nursing school, and I am now in a much worse spot when it comes to finding a job as I at least had a face to pair with my applications when it came to the unit managers near my school.

I keep running into the same issues everywhere "1-2 years experience required, previous [blank] experience required" with no application spot for new grads.

I seem to have missed that boat when the major Boston hospitals opened their applications for new grads as early as February. I didn't even consider looking into postings that early because the hospitals near my school hadn't opened their apps until mid-June.

I have not been hunting for very long as of now, so I'm not surprised or discouraged yet, but I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to improve my chances of finding a job, or if one of you god-sends knows somewhere that still wants new grads as of now.

I have called a few hospitals to see if I could meet with an HR rep or even a unit manager, but most places refer me to their website for "all application needs" as they have gone paperless. I don't want to just be another name sitting in a pile of hundreds of applicants, but the current system makes it very hard to stand out.

Any advice or words of encouragement are appreciated!

Specializes in Pediatric Cardiology.

When I graduated I could not find anything in acute care. After applying everywhere I was finally was offered a job in pediatric private duty. It actually paid pretty well and was full time. They are for the most part stable kids/adults so it wasn't a horrible fit for a new grad. After a year I was able to find a job in the hospital. You could try applying? Most of the companies will list cases/cities they need nurses in. There are a couple to choose from, Family Lives, PSA Healthcare, and Bayada.

Good luck, I know how horrible it is to continuously apply to positions and get nothing back. I went to school here, worked in a large Boston hospital and still had a tough time finding something at first.

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Just applied for Sutton Hill, thanks Erindel. I've been avoiding Genesis for the most part because their advertised positions are always in the list of NO NEW GRADS as the first words.

I've tried looking into substitute school nursing as something to at least bring in some income, but I have no clue how to even go about contacting the schools to make such an offer and I can't find postings on it.

@PediLove2147 When you started out were a lot of the kids on trachs? That is all I seem to find openings for in home care when they are listed as you say (ie: 5y/o boy needs help x days, conditions, etc.) and being the only person there to care for someone with a trach scares the crap out of me. If I could find home care for less acute patients I'd jump on it but every case I find seems fairly intense.

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Specializes in Psych, Hospice, Surgical unit, L&D/Postpartum.

Check out schoolspring.com for school nurse listings. Thats how i got my two jobs. I do per diem for two school districts.

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Have you looked into prisons? They hire new grads and generally pay very well. My first job was in a minimum security prison and was a very positive experience.

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I didn't know about school spring, I will try that now.

Do you know where listings for correctional nursing would be? Search engines make finding job engines a nightmare. I couldn't find a single posting related to correctional nursing when I searched it a month ago.

No one has even called me back or answered my follow up calls in almost a month. Home health and private duty nursing companies in the area won't take me without trach experience now that I've followed up on that avenue.

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Specializes in School nursing.

OP, send me a PM. I can get you onto the sub list for my charter school if you are interested.

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Try the mass.gov website for correctional postings.

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Are you interested in psych?? If you are then Westwood Lodge and any other UHS hospital in MA will hire new grads.

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OP, send me a PM. I can get you onto the sub list for my charter school if you are interested.

That would be beyond amazing Jen, I don't think I can use the PM system yet though because I don't have enough posts on the site :facepalm:

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Are you interested in psych?? If you are then Westwood Lodge and any other UHS hospital in MA will hire new grads.
At this point I am interested in any field of nursing that will take me so I will gladly try there next. Thank you.

I also tried correctional nursing and the only positions it seems were available were per diem in Concord and they would prefer experience. I got to speak with MHM's HR rep though which was a nice change from getting blocked off by a secretary. Still the same old "we'll call you if anything matches your qualifications" which is never a good sign :(

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Any luck with the job search ?

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I completely forgot about this post over the past few months until I got a notification about the post. I did finally find a job through craigslist of all places way up north of the city. It's LTC and with 11-7 I reverse commute home with all the regular commuters unfortunately so I've driven +2 hours one way coming home, but as much as it can be a pain, a job is a job.

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