Applying to 'no experience necessary' jobs and being rejected for lack of experience?

Nurses Job Hunt

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I've been a nurse for 4 years and have not worked in the hospital setting but am trying to get back in so I've been applying for positions like internships and positions at certain hospitals that are listed as having no experience required. Then I'm getting rejection notifications saying that my background and experience don't meet any positions they have available. What does that even mean?! I spent hours last night filling out 13 different applications for positions and in one email they dismissed me.

So disillusioned and frustrated. How can I apply for an internship and be rejected based on lack of experience?!

I remember when I first started working as a nurse, being in hospital orientation with an RN who had received a sign on bonus plus her moving expenses from out of state paid. I have not heard of that practice since.

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, M/S.

A new grad RN in OK is claiming, on another thread, that she got a 11k sign on bonus for a 2 year commitment and $21-23/hour.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
I have a problem believing there were tons of sign-on incentives and internships when you started school. Sign-on bonuses have gone the way of the gooney-bird years ago. Once in a great while you will see one, but the position usually requires an experienced nurse, not a new grad.

If this is directed to the OP, then I don't disbelieve it. If she's been a nurse for 4 years, then she probalby started nursing school 2-3 years before that. I've been a nurse for 7 years, and when I graduated, there were many sign-on and relocation bonuses being offered. Grads in 2006 were being courted heavily. I don't think that changed until 2007-08.

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Everyone keeps telling me to suck it up to reach my goal but my point is that DOES WORKING IN AN OFFICE OR LTC ACTUALLY IT INCREASE MY CHANCES OF GETTING A JOB IN A HOSPITAL?

Do not presume to know how much I do or do not want this.

Wow. Ok, I'm not going to parrot what everyone else has already wisely told you- it's starting to sound like you really don't want the advice that you came here seeking. I am going to answer the question you posted in all caps up there...

YES. It will. I worked at a SNF for about 2 years, no hospitals wanted a new grad when I came out of nursing school. I learned some of the extremely valuable skills that you've been told you can learn in those settings. I could've advanced into management if I wanted to. I opted to start applying to hospitals instead. I was hired at my first interview- from my first application. Because I brought something to the table. I'm on a telemetry unit, I now float to ICU & also do charge when needed. And just putting this out there, I'm a diploma nurse.

Do not presume that something will be of no value to you unless you truly know it's value.

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When I graduated with my BSN last October, I couldn't get a hospital job at all, even with 12 years of other healthcare experience. Yet all my classmates were getting them. It was frustrating. I took a job at a SNF, with both ltc and subacute rehab. I have now been there seven months. I have learned a great deal! All sorts of skills, time management, organization, etc. About a month ago, started applying to hospitals, and started getting interviews! Yay! I accepted a position with an acute rehabilitation hospital.

So sure, SNF might not be ideal, but you learn a ton, and more than likely, hospitals will start looking at you more once you get that experience. Best of luck to you in your search.

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I daresay you will learn a whole lot more about being a nurse working at a SNF than you would doing vaccine clinics. If I were a hiring manager in L&D, I would take the nurse with SNF experience over the nurse with flu shot experience in a heartbeat.

Anyone can learn how to give shots, but working in a SNF tells me that you have great time management, prioritization and delegation skills, and those are not things that anyone can learn in one afternoon.

Thank you.

OP you're being ridiculous.

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Specializes in FNP, ONP.

Let me put it like this- I go to Uganda every year on a medical mission trip. I teach whomever I can grab to be my "nurse." Last year I taught two 14 year olds for whom Swahili was their primary language (and of which I speak about a dozen words) to give IM and SQ injections in about 20 minutes. This is not a high tech skill. So frankly, I don't think flu shot clinic experience is worth a hill of beans.

klone said it well, you can learn valuable skills in LTC that translate well to acute care. you won't learn any of that at a flu shot clinic. you know what else you will get at LTC? An employment record. You will demonstrate that you are capable of hard work, of seeing something through for more than 6 to 8 weeks, capable of being someplace on time every day, being dependable, being part of a team. You might even demonstrate that you are an innovator, a problem solver! Or that you are good for morale, that you have a particular talent of some kind, heretofore undiscovered. These things matter.

And you know, you might even surprise yourself. I think you are just scared and making excuses, that's what I think. Take a chance. you can always quit, but if you won't even try, what does that say?

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I understand how you feel. I have been putting in aps everywhere even out of state at this point. I have goten several we went for someone with more experience for residency programs, which are advertized as they want someone with NO experience... It seems that in my area you need to know someone to get a job as an RN.

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If this is directed to the OP, then I don't disbelieve it. If she's been a nurse for 4 years, then she probalby started nursing school 2-3 years before that. I've been a nurse for 7 years, and when I graduated, there were many sign-on and relocation bonuses being offered. Grads in 2006 were being courted heavily. I don't think that changed until 2007-08.

I have a friend here in PA that got a $20,000 sign on bonus in 2010 for a 3 year commitment right out of a 4 year bsn program.

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, M/S.

I have a friend here in PA that got a $20,000 sign on bonus in 2010 for a 3 year commitment right out of a 4 year bsn program.

I have a hard time believing that - and we do not know the terms, but whatever. Sign on bonuses can screw you, FYI. Around 30-40% goes to taxes and if the job doesn't work out you have to pay it ALL back, including what they took out for taxes.

I think the reason hospital managers will not consider LTC nurses, oftentimes, is simply because they don't like LTCs in general and consider themselves above them. LTC nurses have the reputation of being the "leftovers" who couldn't make it in acute care, which is sad and inaccurate but is often how they are perceived.

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Not to drift too far off topic, but there is a rather notorious chain of nursing homes in my area that really does still offer a $1,000 to $2,000 sign on bonus for all licensed nurses.

I'm sure there's so much fine print attached as to make the bonus not worth it. But they do advertise it on their website.

Honestly, though, in this economy I would view any sort of "sign on bonus" as more of a red flag than anything else. How horrible does a facility have to be to resort to this in today's job market?

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Specializes in Pedi.
Let me put it like this- I go to Uganda every year on a medical mission trip. I teach whomever I can grab to be my "nurse." Last year I taught two 14 year olds for whom Swahili was their primary language (and of which I speak about a dozen words) to give IM and SQ injections in about 20 minutes. This is not a high tech skill. So frankly, I don't think flu shot clinic experience is worth a hill of beans.

klone said it well, you can learn valuable skills in LTC that translate well to acute care. you won't learn any of that at a flu shot clinic. you know what else you will get at LTC? An employment record. You will demonstrate that you are capable of hard work, of seeing something through for more than 6 to 8 weeks, capable of being someplace on time every day, being dependable, being part of a team. You might even demonstrate that you are an innovator, a problem solver! Or that you are good for morale, that you have a particular talent of some kind, heretofore undiscovered. These things matter.

And you know, you might even surprise yourself. I think you are just scared and making excuses, that's what I think. Take a chance. you can always quit, but if you won't even try, what does that say?

Yup, I taught a Mom who can barely manage to give her kid his PO meds how to give a subq yesterday and it took me about ten minutes. Vaccine clinic experience as a nurse is worth essentially nothing as far as a hospital would be concerned.

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