Sorry Nurse Recruiters/Nurse Managers!

Specialties Management

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As I receive rejection after rejection for nursing jobs, I feel the need to apologize to nurse recruiters/managers who overlook my BSN because I lack patient care tech experience.

I am sorry I could not afford to take a job as a tech making 7 an hour. You see while attending school part-time, I needed to maintain a home, equipped with mortgage payments, children and all the other responsibilities of wife and mother.

I m sorry you cant see that I carried a gpa over 3.0 even with the all the responsibilities I have.

I'm sorry that you cant see that for past 2 ½ years of nursing school, I stayed up late each night studying or preparing care plans while working 40 hours a week.

I'm sorry that you can't see how I worked tirelessly in every aspect of my life to obtain a second degree.

I'm sorry that you can't see that despite a lack of patient care experience I am mature, driven, focused, ambitious and hard working.

I'm sorry that you can't see that I passed by NCLEX exam with 75 questions in under one hour. Not because of exceptional knowledge, because I studied tirelessly!

I'm sorry that you can't see how I was complimented time and time again by not only my clinical instructors but more importantly the patients who I cared for. I wish you could hear the amount of times a patient or the family said "you are going to be great nurse."

I'm really sorry you can't see past this lack of experience and have formed a judgment against me before knowing me.

Specializes in Med-Surg/DOU/Ortho/Onc/Rehab/ER/.

That is exactly why I am working as a CNA in a hospital now. So my chances of getting hired, go up.

I am sorry this happened to you. I wish there wasn't this amount of competition for getting hired. I wish that a HR would take a deeper look into someone and give people chances, instead of just filling their interviewing quota.

Network, network, network. That's one of the best ways you can find a job in any field, including nursing.

Dedicate thirty minutes today (or tomorrow! It's 7:00pm here) to work solely on networking. Yes, you're busy, but putting time and effort into finding a job - just like studying - is essential.

Getting started networking:

1. Sit down with a piece of paper and pen. Make a list of everyone you know who is a nurse manager; charge nurse; staff nurse with 2+ years' experience; nurse recruiter; nurse educator; or nursing professor. EVERYONE YOU KNOW who falls into that group. It doesn't matter if you're not particularly close; that isn't a requirement for networking.

2. Choose three people to contact. Start with ones you know best or who are in more senior positions and either make hiring decisions or influence them. Don't forget your clinical instructors! Also, don't worry if you don't know them that well.

3. Contact each of the three people you chose separately. Contacting them separately is essential. You can't send a mass email to five or ten people announcing you're job seeking and asking for help. That email will be quickly read and quickly deleted. Also, this is important: you aren't contacting these people to ask them for a job; that's one of the tricks to successful networking. You rarely directly ask someone to help you get a job. Confused? Read on.

This is what you say in your email:

- If you don't know them very well, first remind them of who you are and your connection to them. ("Hi, Ms. Jones. This is Jane Doe. I worked with you X years ago at Y.")

- Mention that you've recently graduated from nursing school.

- Tell them that you'd love to be able to meet for lunch or coffee to talk about how they got their start in nursing and what job search tips they might be able to share.

- Name a couple of specific dates that are good for you and ask them to let you know when they could meet.

Keep the tone of the email upbeat and positive. Do NOT mention the rejections you've been getting. Do NOT express that you're frustrated and tired and fed up with the job hunt. Be sincere, but keep it positive and friendly.

4. At your meetings, discuss exactly what you've talked about in your email. Ask them questions - lots of questions! How did they get started in nursing? What was their first job? What were some of the biggest challenges they faced? People love to talk about themselves! Then steer the conversation towards your job search: What helped them land their first position? Do they have any tips for you in your job search? What could they recommend you do? If you are interested in the organization they happen to work for, ask them what the work environment is like.

Again, though, do NOT directly ask them for a job and keep the conversation positive. Do not spend time complaining about how crappy the job market is or lamenting how difficult it is to find a job. Yes, both those things are true, but bringing them up at this meeting will not help you.

When you meet with these people, especially if you don't know them well, remember to be professional and courteous and to leave them with a good impression of you. You certainly don't need to wear a business suit to grab coffee at Starbuck's, but it won't hurt to wear a nice outfit and look pulled together.

5. Move down your list. Set a goal of having three meetings a week - more if you can swing it. Yes, your life is busy, but this is so, so important. I have a job and I just met with someone this past weekend for coffee to discuss our career goals.

6. If you run out of contacts or can't think of many, start contacting people you know who know nurses. Your best friend's aunt is a nurse? Great - get her contact information and have your best friend put you two in touch. Your husband works with a guy whose wife is a nurse manager? Perfect! Have him get her email. Etc. Your network is much larger than you know; you've just got to think creatively and be willing to reach out to people you don't know directly.

7. Send thank you emails! After your meeting, send a brief email thanking them for taking the time for meeting with you and letting them know how much you appreciate it. Don't mention anything about jobs.

8. So, you're probably wondering - what's the point of all this? Why am I wasting my time meeting with these people if I'm not even going to ask them for a job? Well, ideally, some of them will be decision makers when it comes to who their organization hires, or will at least be in a position to influence hiring decisions. If their area has an opening, who do you think they might want to get in touch with? That's right - you. Keep in touch with these people. Let them know, periodically, how your job search is going or what you've been doing lately (related to nursing). If you apply for a position with their organization a week or two after your meeting, call or email them to let them know. ("Hi, Sarah, I just wanted to get in touch with you to say thanks again for meeting with me a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday I saw an opening on [Hospital]'s web site for an RN on your unit. I'd love to work in [area] so I've put in an application and hope to hear from them." Etc. This is, truly, how people find jobs - through personal connections, sometimes even very tenuous ones.

I'm graduating in May and was able to find a job, in part due to a connection I made during a clinical rotation. Some of the students who've gotten the most desirable jobs made them through personal connections. It takes time and sometimes you really have to milk your network (or get creative finding contacts), but if it turns into a job, it's worth it. Good luck to you!

I think MOST of us understand that the OP does not feel entitled.

SOMETIMES it's the "only" degree nurses that feel entitled, IMHO when I read through some of these posts. And really, these days? If you even so much as come on this board and act like you got some kinda wonderful as a nurse going, so much that you call others "entitled" who have already an extensive and long proven ability to work, when they express frustration in lack of work - well, to me, you are bat **** crazy, man. And I feel like remembering you for eternity when you find yourselves out of work, come on this board yourselves in frustration - without a job. I'll be riding your orifice so hard...

Specializes in Neuro.

i hate to say it, but you are not special and unique when it comes to your nursing credentials. i'mt ired of reading countless posts from people who think because they struggled and overcame insurmountable odds to become a nurse they should be handed a job. it takes a lot of dedication, hard work, studying and perseverance to become a nurse. it's not underwater basket weaving with a bonus nursing license at the end of the day. everyone in every nursing class has different socioeconomic issues, family issues and personal issues that they juggle and sacrifice to be able to study, pass tests, classes and eventually the nclex.

kudos to you for sticking with something long enough to pass the classes and the nclex, many have come before you and many will follow, in the exact same manner.

my suggestion to you is to stick with the job search, ltc, tcu, home health; apply to everything. try applying in person, look nice and talk to someone at the facility, that way you don't become lost in the online applications.

don't expect your dream job. sometimes it's all about right place, right time.

it took me 6 months to find a tcu job, i waited tables all through school and up until i got that job. i worked at the tcu a year before i got a job at a hospital. the tcu job still calls me 5 times a week to pick up shifts. they are begging to hire people. it's out there, you just have to keep at it.

Wow, you sound very bitter about not finding a job. Unfortunately, this is in large part a result of the economy and political factors, not the hiring practices at your local hospitals. At our hospital, we have twelve staff who will be graduating in May. All of them have already been placed in open positions. There are three nursing schools and two hospitals in our area. At last count there were more than 150 applications in HR from May grads. All of this for a total of nineteen positions. If you count the twelve internal staff already placed, that leaves seven positions to fill. I am sorry for all of the new grads having a tough time right now, but if you do get an interview and you come across as bitter as you sound in your post, you will have a very difficult time finding employment

Specializes in LTC and School Health.

On another note: we do need to allow the OP to vent. There are a ton of things we vent about on AN that never come across in our work life. Everyone offered great advice and tips but some people are a little harsh on the OP. She is venting, let her vent.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
On another note: we do need to allow the OP to vent. There are a ton of things we vent about on AN that never come across in our work life. Everyone offered great advice and tips but some people are a little harsh on the OP. She is venting, let her vent.
Well, that's the thing about vents. Do we (the ventees) dare offer suggestions for improvement (in this case, improvement in the job search process)? Do we point out glaring misconceptions or outright inaccuracies? Or do we stay silent and in the name of the almighty vent, let the venter continue to believe that she's (in this case at least) being dealt with unfairly?
Specializes in Mental Health, Hospice Care.
Shoot, I was an LPN for almost 5 years and the nurse recruiter flat out told me that LPN experience doesn't count nor matter.

that flat out sucks....I can't sugar coat it....I am counting on my experience as an LPN to help me transition into an RN position myself....starting my BSN in the fall....I question if it is even worth it now....

Specializes in Thoracic Cardiovasc ICU Med-Surg.
Have your tried LTC and home health agency?? I am in school now.. will graduated next year ( hopefully). I have a friend youis having a hard time getting a job in a hospital, so she started working in a home health to get the experience.

I wish you the very best. This is my second degree as well. I plan on getting a PT CNA job soon just to be in the "loop"

Kudos to you in getting a second degree.

Please, no home health without experience. That would be a disaster.

Specializes in Acute Mental Health.

It's just one hurdle after another hey! Keep on keepin on and you'll find a job. Someone will see you through everything and give you a shot! This is such a tough market right now and you're not alone. Good luck on this new path and keep the faith. Someone is going to be very lucky to snag you :)

Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

OP: it's a bad job market for new grads. You could do everything perfectly, have a perfect GPA, have stellar references, have whatever certs you can get as a new grad, interview perfectly, and still not land the job.

There's too many of you out there. There's too many of YOU out there as well: many students have gone through similar or worse struggles as you have and prevailed as you have, only to be rejected the same way as you are.

It's too few jobs, too many applicants. And it's taking new grads many months, sometimes even more than a year, before they land something.

All you can do keep trying. Try to get some experience somehow. Volunteer somewhere. Network anywhere and everywhere--they don't need to be working as a hospital RN to be a valuable contact. Be as flexible as possible with what facilities, specialities and hours you want to work. If relocating is possible, consider doing that. Get into a facility in some way, shape or form because once you are an employee (even if it's per-diem), you're now an internal candidate for other positions and nurse recruiters will actually return your messages. Look outside the hospital box because with the market today, you may have better luck in non-hospital setting.

And accept that you can take all of the advice we give you and do it perfectly and still not land the job...because a lot of the time, it's not you. It may be budget cuts, internal applicants getting priority, other applicants having a slight edge (not necessarily more experience), too many applicants, bad timing or dumb luck. Those factors you can not control.

All you can do is keep trying.

Best of luck.

Specializes in Trauma, ER, ICU, CCU, PACU, GI, Cardiology, OR.
that flat out sucks....i can't sugar coat it....i am counting on my experience as an lpn to help me transition into an rn position myself....starting my bsn in the fall....i question if it is even worth it now....

unquestionably, don't get discourage before you even start and definitely don't go by someone elses experiences. granted, it's a very competitive market out there these days, with that being said, it doesn't mean that a job can't be obtain. however, it may not be someone's dream job, but it's a job non the less. in regards to belittling your lpn degree, without any doubt it will give you an advantage to those that haven't been exposed to a hospital setting. having said that, the scope of practice of an rn can't be compared to an lpn. wishing you the very best as well, in all of your future endeavors...aloha~

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