Nursing Students, prepare to get a job!!!

U.S.A. Massachusetts

Published

Hey everyone, this is mainly for Nursing students in school possibly going to be entering their last year. I am graduating in exactly 30 days. yay! I work as an aide at a major hospital in Burlington, MA (if you're from around here you know which one i mean). I got a job as an aide last June (2007) and I am now employed on my unit at this hospital. My friends, all of them, that are graduating with me cannot find a job because they didn't work as an aide (thus having their foot in the door somewhere). Just a word of advice, get your foot in the door NOW as an aide in the hospital that you want to work in when you graduate. Yes there is a nursing shortage... it doesnt matter. Read the posts on here about new grads not finding work, then having to step stone from LTC to med-surg.

Specializes in ICU.
Excellent advice from the OP. Like someone else mentioned here, relocation is not an option for me (nor do I want to leave Boston). However, I got a job as an aide a a major Boston teaching hospital and, with a little aggressive networking, got an interview on a unit that had positions opening for new grads and on Friday was offered a job.

I'll add that it may be in your interest to get a job on a specific unit rather than work as an aide in a float pool where you won't be able to make a solid connection with one unit or be able to make a great, lasting impression there. Even if that's not the unit you end up working as a nurse, the people you develop a relationship with on your one unit can be great allies.

Congrats on the job offer, Cityhawk! Thanks to everyone for the great advice. I'll be starting an accelerated BSN program in Jan '09, and am hoping that things improve before I graduate in May '10 (ever the optimist!). Like some others, relocating out of state is not an option (husband, house, kids, etc.) so I will be networking like crazy and getting an aide job before graduating.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Mount Auburn Hospital has been advertising positions for new graduates. Good Luck job hunting.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Promin, though you make a good point about there being jobs elsewhere and flexibility is key, part of the reason there are less jobs here is because hospitals are hiring from within... which means that they are benefitting their aides. Why would a unit want to hire a new grad from outside when they have an experienced aide (and believe me, aide work counts for something in a nurses' experience, imo) that they know gets along well with staff, knows the layout and systems, shows up on time and works hard? (provided all things are true..)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in acute care.
Because you waited this long you lost:

a. about 60K

b. a year of experience

c. you did not meet new interesting people and places

I really encourage all new grads not to be afraid to move somewhere else for a year or so. There are a lot of places in this country where nurses are in demand and the pay rate is better too.

Well, that doesn't work for all of us. Some people have famlies to consider, others, like me, are in direct-entry MSN programs in MA and therefore do not have the option to go somewhere else. It's frustrating. I also don't appreciate your condescending tone--you certainly have a valid suggestion for those in a position to consider it, but it could have been given without implying that those who have not are lazy or stupid.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Angie O'Plasty, I did not address my post to you but let me tell you something. Moving was "not an option" for me either. But I reconsidered and re-adjusted my "options" of sitting and waiting for nothing to moving to a different place. Moving to a new place may have a lot of challenges. But I decided to try it rather then just to sit and wait. But some people are just afraid of changes and they can't admit to it or they don't want to change anything in their lives because it's more comfortable enough to keep it the way it is. They justify the inability or unwillingness to make decisions by having "circumstances" and therefore prefer to wait for a miracle.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Neuro, Cardiology, ICU, Med/Surg.

It is still condescending to assume that the only reason people won't move is because they are afraid of change. People have all kinds of reasons for the things that they do or choose not to do.

If I were not afraid of change, I would not have moved to Boston in the first place, nor would I have given up a 20-year software engineering degree to pursue nursing.

Reading other posts, Angie O'Plasty is attending a direct entry master's program which, in itself means that she is changing from one career to another. Also, as a result, she is still in school, so it's not like she can just quit and get an RN job somewhere else while she continues to attend school in Boston.

I am not afraid of change, but I know what I need in my life. No one can judge me for that.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Pease remember we all have choices in life and that doesn't always mean we can up root and move. An opinion was made on one choice may not work and the reasons why. I too have known nurses stay in a job they didn't particularly like because their family commitments did not give them chance to get up and move.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Neuro, Cardiology, ICU, Med/Surg.
If I were not afraid of change,....

I meant to say, "If I were afraid of change".:typing

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment