29 applications in and still no job!!!

Nurses Job Hunt

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I graduated a few months back, passed NCLex last month on my first try, had good grades and excellent references but little job history as I was a stay at home mom for most of my adult life. I've now put in 29 applications and haven't even gotten a call for an interview!!! I'm not sure what to think but this is getting to be discouraging and my husband is losing patience with being the only support for the family. SIGH

Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.

It bears repeating: don't expect fast results if all you're going to do is sit @ home churning out your resume into the internet. The most successful candidates that get interviews and jobs fastest are the ones that have some human contact, the ones that actually pound the pavement to get noticed. Very very few employers will notice you based on a piece of paper these days (or in 21st century speak, a Word or PDF document). Networking is still underestimated. It's truly still a who-you-know market.

I still think 29 is a lot of applications, particularly if the field you're interested in is very specific: ie PICU. Finding new grad positions in an area like that can be tedious and time-consuming. I sent out around 35 applications and had 2 interviews: UCSF and CHOP. I landed the PICU job at CHOP but had to fly myself to PA on my dime. I had no connections to the hospital and was very surprised to have even been considered! So, it is possible.

I sent out over 100 applications in three different states over the course of three months. Out of all those applications, I got two calls for interviews. Just be patient and keep applying.

Are you licensed in all 3 states? If not how are you addressing that in your application? There are a couple of states I'd be willing to move to, but I can't justify going everywhere and getting endorsed so I can apply.

Would appreciate your reply, thanks in advance.

After you move to a state you have 30 days to have your state of residents changed. This means notifying the state in which you intent to practice and your home state. You then are issued a license by your new home state. A non compact state will issue you a non compact license. Or if you are licensed in a non compact state you must apply for a separate license in other non compact states. So basically get the job then move your license or just apply within other compact states. Also remember that if you itemize on your taxes professional association dues and work expenses may be tax deductible. Save your receipts for all job hunt expenses because they too may be deductible! Talk to your accountant!

Specializes in Labor & Delivery.

29 applications???? I had over 200 in before I got my first job!

Hi,

Let me first qualify my comments by saying that while I work in a hospital, I am a nursing student with a little under a year left, so I don't have the direct experience with the nursing market that many of the contributors to this thread can offer. BUT- I've been a situation that sounds awfully familiar. Lots of experienced folks staying in the biz, very competitive markets with a lot of newcomers desperate to get in the mix, and I've used some strategies that, for me, worked very well. I know how bad it sucks to be a full time applicant, so maybe it will be helpful in the nursing arena.

I was a teacher for years (recent years :) before I got into nursing school. Yes, you have to fill out the required on-line app. Yes, they ask you to upload resumes, licenses, etc. However, all that "required" submission only makes you searchable, not get any special attention. Another drop in a big, big ocean.

I tried some different things when I wasn't getting anywhere. It can be very difficult to get past the gatekeeper secretary, and sometimes, near impossible because of the instructions given by the boss. So, I went with a PRINTED resume, in a sealed manila envelope, to speak with the principal. Often, if i did a little legwork, I knew their name, and sometime's the secretaries, when i walked in. they meet a lot of people and might be nice out of sheer worry that they SHOULD know you. Never know.

At the very least, I could say, "that's ok- i understand your busy getting ready for the new school year, so I'll just drop this in her box and touch base at a more convenient time." If you can see the office/inbox and it's in a public access hall, just go like you know what you're doing. I've had them take it and say they would get it to them, but only sometimes.

Sometimes the secretary would take it/filter it anyway, but sometimes, they would let me put it in her office door box. It's harder to throw out a hard copy without even looking at it than it is to delete an e-mail. Then, I would follow up in a way that I asked a question in the e-mail, in order to provoke a response if only out of courtesy. and i always went AFTER i'd done all the "required" submission, and noted that they could review this at the end of my letter. This avoids the "please apply online, best of luck" dismiss.

did I get every job i went for? nope. but every job but one that i landed, i did. and it took some days, and some paper, and some organizing of names BUT, if i did 500 online resumes, and got 1 or 2 bites, i got 1 or 2 of every 10-20 "cold calls" i did. This includes my first hospital job- with ZERO health care experience and a RN school acceptance letter. For an unposted position that she just hadn't had time to put thru the system yet.

Maybe I'm totally off-base here and it's not like the situation you face. But it can't hurt! Will you still get no's? I'd imagine. Will you have people be surprised or flustered since you're not "doing it by the book"? I sure did. But bosses meet lots of people, all day long. Be one of them! Go after it completely prepared to push it just to the point that i could come back again later without being thrown out. Sell it like you work on commission- I may have rubbed a few people the wrong way, but I've never been asked to leave, and gotten several on-the-spot meetings, interviews, and jobs this way.

In the meantime, go to CE stuff- hospitals often offer them to non-employees. Go to professional org meetings. Get a non RN hospital job. ANYTHING to get you face time.

Professional assertiveness, when a decision maker sees it,has not often gone badly for me. I figure if I'm already at a "no" (job, that is), what do I have to lose?

BEST of luck. If you find something that works, pleases share! I'll take any "in" I can get :)

Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.
Hi,

Let me first qualify my comments by saying that while I work in a hospital, I am a nursing student with a little under a year left, so I don't have the direct experience with the nursing market that many of the contributors to this thread can offer. BUT- I've been a situation that sounds awfully familiar. Lots of experienced folks staying in the biz, very competitive markets with a lot of newcomers desperate to get in the mix, and I've used some strategies that, for me, worked very well. I know how bad it sucks to be a full time applicant, so maybe it will be helpful in the nursing arena.

I was a teacher for years (recent years :) before I got into nursing school. Yes, you have to fill out the required on-line app. Yes, they ask you to upload resumes, licenses, etc. However, all that "required" submission only makes you searchable, not get any special attention. Another drop in a big, big ocean.

I tried some different things when I wasn't getting anywhere. It can be very difficult to get past the gatekeeper secretary, and sometimes, near impossible because of the instructions given by the boss. So, I went with a PRINTED resume, in a sealed manila envelope, to speak with the principal. Often, if i did a little legwork, I knew their name, and sometime's the secretaries, when i walked in. they meet a lot of people and might be nice out of sheer worry that they SHOULD know you. Never know.

At the very least, I could say, "that's ok- i understand your busy getting ready for the new school year, so I'll just drop this in her box and touch base at a more convenient time." If you can see the office/inbox and it's in a public access hall, just go like you know what you're doing. I've had them take it and say they would get it to them, but only sometimes.

Sometimes the secretary would take it/filter it anyway, but sometimes, they would let me put it in her office door box. It's harder to throw out a hard copy without even looking at it than it is to delete an e-mail. Then, I would follow up in a way that I asked a question in the e-mail, in order to provoke a response if only out of courtesy. and i always went AFTER i'd done all the "required" submission, and noted that they could review this at the end of my letter. This avoids the "please apply online, best of luck" dismiss.

did I get every job i went for? nope. but every job but one that i landed, i did. and it took some days, and some paper, and some organizing of names BUT, if i did 500 online resumes, and got 1 or 2 bites, i got 1 or 2 of every 10-20 "cold calls" i did. This includes my first hospital job- with ZERO health care experience and a RN school acceptance letter. For an unposted position that she just hadn't had time to put thru the system yet.

Maybe I'm totally off-base here and it's not like the situation you face. But it can't hurt! Will you still get no's? I'd imagine. Will you have people be surprised or flustered since you're not "doing it by the book"? I sure did. But bosses meet lots of people, all day long. Be one of them! Go after it completely prepared to push it just to the point that i could come back again later without being thrown out. Sell it like you work on commission- I may have rubbed a few people the wrong way, but I've never been asked to leave, and gotten several on-the-spot meetings, interviews, and jobs this way.

In the meantime, go to CE stuff- hospitals often offer them to non-employees. Go to professional org meetings. Get a non RN hospital job. ANYTHING to get you face time.

Professional assertiveness, when a decision maker sees it,has not often gone badly for me. I figure if I'm already at a "no" (job, that is), what do I have to lose?

BEST of luck. If you find something that works, pleases share! I'll take any "in" I can get :)

Excellent post in my book. Validates my point earlier, that it takes more than sitting behind a computer (in most instances) to get a job.

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