Advice for a Graduate Nurse

[mwerland]

Hi, my name is Meghan and I am about to graduate in December with a BSN in nursing. I will take the NCLEX-RN in January. My question is where do you begin searching for jobs? Is it better to start with a job or do an internship to ease the transition? Also, I want to work in Labor and Delivery, but have no experience in the area other than clinical. What should I do to increase my chances of being hired in my desired field? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[iwannabeanurse06]

hello.

i just graduated myself and what i've heard reccomended is 3-4mos before graduating. in my area they do new grad programs in july and jan. so now would be a good time to start calling recruiters and finding out what they reccomend. good luck!!

[lilo19]

Well, if you want to increase your experience area in your resume ( ), you'll have to do various activities and I suggest starting with some voluntary work (you don't have to do that for a long time, just gather some 50-60 hours in a private clinic or in a state hospital, NGO etc), a good internship and some work after that.