One Strategy To Land a Nursing Job: The End Around

[KeepItRealRN]

In order to get a leg up on the competition you need to employ strategies that will help your application float to the top rather than sink to the bottom. The goal is to get your application to the desk of a nurse recruiter and ultimately a nurse manager who is doing some actual hiring.

How do you get your application into the hands of someone who can make a difference? If you are looking for a strategy to get this done, then you have come to the right place.

How To Land a Nursing Job

If you are a new grad, getting that interview with the nurse recruiter is especially challenging. Hospitals receive hundreds of applications from new grads each year so your application may not be seen by a human for weeks if not months. That is why I have a method for dealing with this that I call, "The End Around"

The traditional sequence of procuring employment as a nurse goes like this:

• Submit application and wait
• Wait some more
• Interview with HR/nurse recruiter
• Interview with nurse manager
• If all goes well nurse manager offers you the job

The End Around

Inside secret:

There is a little known fact that in many hospitals in this country a nurse manager can contact HR and have a specific application pulled. For you the job hunter, this is good news because it provides a way to get your application on the desk top of someone who can help you out. What you need is a way to get face time with the nurse manager. When that door opens you need to be prepared, act swiftly, act confidently, and act with purpose.

Preparation is key:

1. The first step in the process is doing your homework. Things you need to have prepared in advance are:

2. An abbreviated resume. Keep it to one page or less. If you are a new grad, accentuate attributes that would make you a good fit, but again keep it brief.

3. Do your homework on the hospital and unit you are targeting. Know what types of patients they service.

• What is the unit's mission statement?
• What type of committees do they have?
• What awards has the unit received?

4. Learn something about the nurse manager.

• What awards has the manager received?
• What projects is the manager involved in?
• How long has the manager been with the organization?

5. Take what you learned about the unit and the unit's manager and craft a brief cover letter highlighting attributes you have and how you would be a good fit. Again, be brief. Keep it to a page or less.

6. Get some business cards. Nothing fancy, all that is needed is your name, phone number, and email address. Options range from buying business card stock for your home printer, to ordering a box from Vistaprint for as little as $6 for 25 cards.

The reason to include a business card is that there is a possibility your card could sit on the managers desktop for quite some time. A business card sitting on the desktop is like a billboard advertising your name. For this reason to not staple your business card to the resume.

7. Get some decent clothes together. You don't need a business suit yet, but business casual is a must for when the plan is put into motion.

8. The next step is to actually try to arrange for face time with the nurse manager. This is where the unit's secretary comes in handy.

The direct strategy:

The direct strategy is to simply show up at the unit you are targeting armed with your resume, cover letter, and business card. The unit's secretary is usually your first point of contact. The secretary is your best resource to find out the location of the manager's office.

If the secretary is especially friendly, it may be to your advantage to disclose exactly what your mission is. People naturally want to help, and if not too busy the secretary may blaze a path for you to the mangers door.

If the secretary is not helpful, be resourceful and strike up a conversation with a friendly looking nurse if there is one around. If this is not working then simply do what you have to do and find the manger's office and knock on the door. The goal here is to get your resume, letter, and business card into the hands of the nurse manager.

The pitch:

The manager is not expecting you and may not have much time. Be ready to make your pitch in one minute or less. If it is good you may get more time, but you need to stick your foot in the door when it is cracked open. Tell the manager why you are there and how much you want to work on the unit.

Butter up the nurse manager:

Complement the manager on something you learned while doing your homework. Mention that you have an application in HR and that you would like to leave your resume, letter, and business card. Once you have handed the manger your docs, mission accomplished. Be sure to thank the manger for taking the time to talk to you. State your name one more time and say you hope to speak to the manager again sometime in the near future.

Mission accomplished:

If the manager is actively hiring for the unit, you are already ahead of 90% of the competition because your docs are on the mangers desk.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

The problem in my area is all entering the facility ( especially children's hospitals) must state their reason for entering, show valid ID and be issued a visitors pass. This is for inpatient, outpatient, vendors, students & staff. Patients are issued armbands. Anyone in an unauthorized area will be escorted off property. Going unannounced to visit a unit is not permitted. HR is off site and only online applications are accepted. If caught without a pass in a patient care area (inpatient or outpatient) you are escorted off property.

Now getting noticed during a clinical rotation or preceptorship can fast track your application with a NM.

Having a clinical instructor who knows the NM hand over your resume with a recommendation has met with success.

Getting a good reputation as an employee and thereby getting access to a NM for transfer like a poster above.

Showing up unannounced in facilities as a new grad or non-employee in my area is a way to get marked as "do not hire". But unauthorized visitors have tried to abduct children as a noncustodial parent. Unauthorized visitors have assaulted patients and staff, even shot patients so higher security is a necessary evil. Some areas even have armed guards and metal detectors at the facility entrances. (Clues that cold calling on a nurse manager might not be a good idea. )

If you live in an area where you can follow the OP's suggestions them by all means do so for a coveted position. It just might give you an edge. But I think even the author realizes that this won't work for everyone or every facility.

[GM2RN]

JustBeachyNurse said:

The problem in my area is all entering the facility ( especially children's hospitals) must state their reason for entering, show valid ID and be issued a visitors pass. This is for inpatient, outpatient, vendors, students & staff. Patients are issued armbands. Anyone in an unauthorized area will be escorted off property. Going unannounced to visit a unit is not permitted. HR is off site and only online applications are accepted. If caught without a pass in a patient care area (inpatient or outpatient) you are escorted off property.

Now getting noticed during a clinical rotation or preceptorship can fast track your application with a NM.

Having a clinical instructor who knows the NM hand over your resume with a recommendation has met with success.

Getting a good reputation as an employee and thereby getting access to a NM for transfer like a poster above.

Showing up unannounced in facilities as a new grad or non-employee in my area is a way to get marked as "do not hire". But unauthorized visitors have tried to abduct children as a noncustodial parent. Unauthorized visitors have assaulted patients and staff, even shot patients so higher security is a necessary evil. Some areas even have armed guards and metal detectors at the facility entrances. (Clues that cold calling on a nurse manager might not be a good idea. )

If you live in an area where you can follow the OP's suggestions them by all means do so for a coveted position. It just might give you an edge. But I think even the author realizes that this won't work for everyone or every facility.

Peds, NICU and newborn/maternity areas are certainly places that would have tighter security where the OP's strategy wouldn't work. What I like most about this post is that you didn't just post why it wouldn't work for you, but you included something that WOULD work.

There is another thread from 2011 that I never forgot and it has some creative strategies that could work, even in high security areas. Here is the link:

Whatever strategy or strategies one decides to use isn't the most important point to take from this. The main point for everyone is to not make excuses why a particular strategy won't work and to be proactive in finding a strategies that can work.

[GM2RN]

I'd also like to add that for those still in nursing school, the hunt for a job does not begin when you graduate, but before you start classes with your interview for nursing school. You should consider the entire time you are in school as a series of interviews and make yourself stand out to your classroom and clinical instructors WAY before graduation day. In my opinion, those who wait until the last semester of school to start thinking about ways to make themselves stand out are much less likely to have the success that they desire.

[Nonetheless]

Maybe I misunderstand, but I interpret your post as "go to the hospital you want to work in, somehow bypass security to get into the ER/ ICU/ med surg/ etc unit where patient's privacy and safety are at risk, and then walk over to the nurse's station where the unit secretary is (if the place has a secretary) or bother a busy nurse and demand the nurse manager speak to you and offer you an interview....I don't know, but that sounds extremely unprofessional to me.

I think it is very appropriate to call a nurse manager or send an email indicating interest...but going in person only makes sense if a) you work there already or b) the place you are visiting is not a hospital.

Where I did my preceptorship, if a stranger who was not a patient family member or staff member just walked into the unit, that person would be escorted out. The hospital is not an office building. Letting strangers waltz in and out is both a privacy violation and safety hazard. You can't just barge into the back door of the ER without an ID and ask for an interview.

If I was a nurse manager, and somehow a layperson managed to get into my unit and ask for me, I would understandably turn that person away, and review the hospital's security policies (laypeople should not be allowed into hospital units unless they are family/ friends of the pts!)

I am just as desperate as anyone else for a hospital new grad position, but I think what you suggested is unprofessional and foolish. I think it tells the nurse manager that you do not actually care about the patient--because if you did you would not be invading their privacy.

I am sorry if I sound harsh/ angry, but I do not agree with this post at all, unless the facility is *not a hospital*. Edit: or if you work there already and have security clearance and stuff.

[Nonetheless]

GM2RN said:

Whatever strategy or strategies one decides to use isn't the most important point to take from this. The main point for everyone is to not make excuses why a particular strategy won't work and to be proactive in finding a strategies that can work.

Things that would work instead of somehow getting into a locked unit and basically being unprofessional:

calling the nurse manager

emailing the nurse manager

calling HR

emailing HR

making connections in school and emailing them on a regular basis to update them on your situation and ask if they recommend any jobs to you

volunteering somewhere you eventually can work... including clinics

searching for work outside the hospital setting

being patient (it will take at least 6 months to get a job...hang in there)

[KeepItRealRN, BSN, RN]

GM2RN said:

I don't understand some of the negativity toward the OP's information. It's a GOOD strategy. No one said it is guaranteed to work 100% of the time, and yes, you might irritate some NMs. But no one has a crystal ball that can predict exactly what will work and if you aren't getting any response from the hospital anyway, it certainly isn't going to hurt!

Exactly. This is only "a" strategy and not necessarily the "best" strategy. In the OP I stressed doing one's "homework". Doing the homework includes researching the facility, manager, etc. It is this stage in planning that give rise as to the odds of success with this strategy. Obviously it isn't going to work if you have to enter a secured area, and this is a fact that would show itself during the "discovery" phase of the homework.

The point is to get your cover letter, resume, and business card into the NM's hand. There have been some posts here that suggest using a courier such as someone who personally knows the NM, like a nursing instructor, or even the NM's secretary. That works too, and is "another" strategy to achieve the goal.

[GM2RN]

It's obvious that some here still have on the rose colored glasses of a new grad. It WAS specified, more than once, that not every strategy will work for every area, but if nurses with many years of experience are suggesting that it is NOT unprofessional, done correctly, to seek out the NM in person, then just maybe a new grad should at least consider that advice. Just saying...

[BSNbeauty, BSN, RN]

I have done this and trust me it works!!!! Let me clarify, I have done this with doctors offices and nursing homes never a hospital. I just think for security reasons they just wouldn't let any random person on the unit. Since my dream job was Post-partum, I knew I definitely could not just walk on the unit. So therefore, I knew someone that worked at the hospital that was able to give me the NM number. I called the NM almost daily until she responded to me. I don't see why people complain about not having a job without trying to directly contact the NM. I literally stalked my NM and it was the best thing I've ever done and she has never regretted hiring me to this day.

[mjohnson1106]

I applied on the unit that I did my orientation on my final semester. I had a letter of recommendation from my clinical instructor, my preceptor and former employer along with my resume and cover letter. I had applied online a couple weeks before and hadn't heard anything so I thought I would give it a shot. Some good advice from my former instructor was to pick a floor for your internship that you might want to start on and make friends with EVERYONE. I did that, so when I dropped off my stuff I was able to tell her how much I enjoyed the floor and the people that I had worked with. I kept it brief, smiled, shook her hand and thanked her for her time. The next day I got called for an interview, had the interview a week later and was offered the job a week after that. Some advice to students-even though you might not be looking for a job for a couple of years, make the most of your clinical rotations. Be friendly and helpful to everyone, you never know who might be considering you for a job when you graduate.

[KeepItRealRN, BSN, RN]

obesity33 said:

walk over to the nurse's station where the unit secretary is (if the place has a secretary) or bother a busy nurse and demand the nurse manager speak to you and offer you an interview....I don't know, but that sounds extremely unprofessional to me.

First of all I never said that you should demand the nurse manager speak to you and offer an interview. The point of the whole strategy is to get your cover letter, resume, and business card into the managers hand. That is all. If the opportunity for dialogue happens which is likely, then it is a bonus.

Second of all, if I was working and someone showe up on my unit doing this. I would probably be pretty impressed especially if that person had done his/her homework. I would certainly show him/her where the manager's office is. If the manager wasn't around I would help the person deliver the goods to the managers IN box.

[Baubo516, RN]

I work at a hospital on a rehab/skilled unit, and if a person comes during normal business hours, they absolutely CAN walk right onto our unit. Maybe it's because we are in a medium sized midwest town, but our security during the day is not that tight. The hospital doors are only locked at night (begins at 8 or 10pm, can't remember) and our unit certainly is not locked! So, this would actually be feasible on my unit. Also, I don't think my particular nurse manager would mind, as long as the contact was kept brief.

[THELIVINGWORST, ASN, RN]

Baubo516 said:

I work at a hospital on a rehab/skilled unit, and if a person comes during normal business hours, they absolutely CAN walk right onto our unit. Maybe it's because we are in a medium sized midwest town, but our security during the day is not that tight. The hospital doors are only locked at night (begins at 8 or 10pm, can't remember) and our unit certainly is not locked! So, this would actually be feasible on my unit. Also, I don't think my particular nurse manager would mind, as long as the contact was kept brief.

This is how I got my job as a CNA that led to my job as an RN. Also two of my classmates got their jobs on my unit this way as well. Use your best judgment. HR is no longer a very reliable way to get a job these days, unless you know somebody on the inside.