What did you do to land a job in L&D?

[jamd11]

Hey everyone!

I'm a Canadian nurse and I had posted this to the Canadian nurses forum with little luck before the thread went off topic/dead.

I am just wondering what you did to land your job in L&D or PP? Did you take special courses, volunteer, interview demeanour, resume etc.? Anything you think helped you land your job.

Any float nurses out there? Did you float to this unit often, if you was it a good experience?

I know this isn't going to be a job I walk into and will def. have to take a job in another area and build seniority and then apply for any internal positions in this area. I am also prepared to work casual to gain experience!. I know I have to work hard and it could take years before I'm given an opportunity.

I know Canadian and US nursing are different worlds but I think you ladies and gentleman could really give me some good advice and point me in the right direction :)

Thank-you in advance :)

[eden]

I am a Canadian L&D nurse. I started in medicine and cardiology to get skills experience then applied for anything related to L&D, postpartum, gyne or NICU. It took a year and a half of applying but I did eventually get a call back ( I swear the manager was just sick of looking at my name:laugh: so she hired me). In reality I think what helped is that I applied for so many positions that the manager knew it was somewhere I really wanted to be and I wouldn't just up and go try something else. That was 9 years ago and I still love it though a move may finally pull me away.

Good luck.

[OB-nurse2013, BSN, RN]

What I meant was the thread was short and its not getting many bites. Higher traffic area here. Just looking for past experiences and differences in what others did to land their jobs. I'm not sure how it was constructed that my OP meant I didn't like "what canadian nurses said"?. There were a few good posts and then it strayed off topic and no longer has activity.

I understood what you meant :) This would prob be an area that you would get more responses. I was very fortunate to get my job through meeting people there when I completed my clinical rotation there as a student.

[sjamesrn]

I am a Canadian L&D nurse. I started in medicine and cardiology to get skills experience then applied for anything related to L&D, postpartum, gyne or NICU. It took a year and a half of applying but I did eventually get a call back ( I swear the manager was just sick of looking at my name:laugh: so she hired me). In reality I think what helped is that I applied for so many positions that the manager knew it was somewhere I really wanted to be and I wouldn't just up and go try something else. That was 9 years ago and I still love it though a move may finally pull me away.

Good luck.

I'm a Canadian nurse as well and this is exactly my background! I just had an interview so fingers crossed. I took my NRP and a workshop/small course in breastfeeding challenges in attempts to get my foot in the door plus have updated and changed my resume and cover letter several times by self editing and having a bunch of friends review and edit it as well.

[gemininurse71]

I got my first job at a nearby (100 miles away from home) rural hospital with an OB program. They were a small critical access hospital that only did 70-90 deliveries per year. I was a staff nurse and got great experience in several different areas (ER, peds, med-surg, post-partum) but I also got OB experience. They sent me to all of the classes (management of labor, NRP, ACLS) and although I didn't have a ton of OB experience a year later when I applied at the larger hospital, it did get me in the door. Good luck!