No luck with RN job search!!!

ashleyrosesf · Jun 11, 2013

Look into volunteering or internship opportunities at your local hospital. I don't know NJ specifically, but in Los Angeles Cedars Sinai Medical Center offers a shadowing/assisting internship as well as volunteering in-unit and feeding patients. I'm confident doing that while I was in nursing school helped land me the job! :-)

SexyFloridaGirl · Jun 12, 2013

Majority of MAJOR hospitals want people who have had direct patient care experience, otherwise you will be hired as a "new grad" RN which you will have to employ with them for a period of about 12 months or so until you are considered experienced. If I were you, I would try to apply for a job within the hospital, tell them your situation (about not having any experience) and go from there. Most of my fellow nursing students could tell you about anything that would be on exam, but had no idea how to comfort a patient at their bedside during a stressful time in their hospital stay. Also I would use job marketing websites who are looking for techs (monitor techs, care techs, etc.) to get in the door. This also may be a conflict due to your license (your scope of practice on a specific unit for a specific job will be limited to those duties only if not hired as an RN). I hope you find something, it took me MONTHS of applying and finally I got that one break I was looking for. Keep your hopes up & you will find what you're looking for.

Munch · Jun 13, 2013

I hope you find something, it took me MONTHS of applying and finally I got that one break I was looking for. Keep your hopes up & you will find what you're looking for.

Same thing happened to me. I live in NY(right in the suburbs of NYC) I sent in TONS of applications not only to hospitals, but clinics affiliated with hospitals, private doctors offices, community health centers and I send applications both in the suburbs where I live, in all 5 New York City Boroughs(depending on which borough is a 30-50 minute commute) and I also applied for jobs outside of New York City..upstate(anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half commute). I didn't hear anything for like 8 months..didn't even get an interview or anything. I was a new RN graduate and working on my BSN at the time. Finally I got a phone call literally 6 months after I had applied for a position. I was ecstatic even though the hospital had one of the worst reputations in New York City(heck maybe the worst reputations in the state or even country)..I didn't care. I was determined do a good job(and put in my "time", get some med-surg experience, get my BSN and get out..and that's what I did)..but it took a while...and I am absolutely grateful to the hospital no matter how terrible it was(it frequently made headlines for acts of negligence) because it gave me the experience to go on and move up to different departments in different(more reputable) hospitals. I used to work Human Resources for a company(one of my first jobs ever as a teen) and at this company they would sometimes have a period of time where they would NOT be hiring anyone at all..and then they would have periods where they were desperate for people so we would look through applications sometimes that would date back 6-10 months(the applications would expire after that). So just keep applying, you've only been looking for three months...it took me 6 months and it took my friend a little over a year to find a job..but she found one!

KJ87, BSN, RN · Jul 11, 2013

6 months???? Oh man.... I just started applying about a month ago, and got one interview (not with a hospital). I desperately want to start my nursing career, so this waiting game is very frustrating. I've been reading on here that it takes hospitals forever to get back to applicants though. Guess I just need to wait patiently....and have fun while I still can.

jeangarc18 · Jul 21, 2013

I have been looking for a year and a half. Still no such luck. I'm considering joining the military and moving out of state... But even that looks bleak at the moment... I'm desperate to start my life, get married, do grad school and get settled down like the rest of my classmates. But I can't even move out of my parents house. Not where I saw myself at the age of 26.

KJ87, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2013

I hear you jeangarc18, that's exactly where I'm at right now. It's tough. I hope something comes along for you very soon.

mcarroll789 · Jul 21, 2013

jeangarc18

chanteurdelamour Ladies, I want this to come across kind but also let straight forward. If you really want to land a nursing job and I'm making an assumption that you can move, there are PLENTY of Nursing Jobs for New Grads in middle America (think Nebraska, Kansas missouri etc) Looking for over a year and half, will actually begin to hurt you because there is a level of explaining that must be done to the person who is hiring you. They will begin to question how bad you want it? Be resourceful, you can take a job out of state, work for that all important year in a hospital setting and then move back to your home. A year goes by very quickly. If you dont already speak a 2nd language, pick one up in your spare time while you look for work. I encourage u to keep your head up, but u gotta go for it, and don't keep looking in regions that are saturated. Thats a zero sum game!

KJ87, BSN, RN · Jul 22, 2013

Thank you mcarroll789, very good advice! I really don't know much about this job application and interview process, as I've only had a couple of jobs at my university and those interviews were done through e-mail. This is probably a stupid reason, but I'm afraid to apply too far away from home because what if I get an interview? Would I have to go there? Because I cannot afford that, I have no money, and my parents are tight on their own money paying my student loans. I know people make these things work, but I don't know how....

Misskala · Jul 23, 2013

jeangarc18 chanteurdelamour Ladies, I want this to come across kind but also let straight forward. If you really want to land a nursing job and I'm making an assumption that you can move, there are PLENTY of nursing jobs for New Grads in middle America (think Nebraska, Kansas missouri etc) Looking for over a year and half, will actually begin to hurt you because there is a level of explaining that must be done to the person who is hiring you. They will begin to question how bad you want it? Be resourceful, you can take a job out of state, work for that all important year in a hospital setting and then move back to your home. A year goes by very quickly. If you dont already speak a 2nd language, pick one up in your spare time while you look for work. I encourage u to keep your head up, but u gotta go for it, and don't keep looking in regions that are saturated. Thats a zero sum game!

I'm finding hospitals want 2 years experience now if you are considered "experienced." IE, not a new grad, but have one hospital under belt? Stay there for 2 years, and then look for to transfer to a new hospital.

I left my 1st hospital job at one year, and am trying to get back in to the hospital systems, and I am running up against this "2 year" requirement.

Good luck! And jeangarc18, I wrote to you this before- I encourage the military if you are interested. It is very good training and steady employment.