New Grad: feeling defeated

Nursing Students ADN/BSN

Published

Anyone else out there having a hard time finding a job as a new grad?? I graduated in May and passed my boards right away. I have been looking for a job for over a month now and all I get are the automated rejection emails. I'm quickly loosing hope. I have been a paramedic for over 5 years and I thought that would help me secure a position, but apparently I was wrong. I have applied to med/surg, ER, PACU, New grad residency, you name it I have applied and yet all I get is "you don't have enough experience." Even with the ER positions when I have all the certs they ask for (BLS, ACLS, PALS, PHTLS, RN)!!! I can intubate people, I can work a code with my eyes closed by myself, I can read EKGs, I can do IVs, I have experience with peds, but yet it's not enough because I don't have experience as a nurse other than school. I know it hasn't been that long, but I didn't think it would be this hard... frustration is starting to settle in and I'm loosing hope :(

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

I know it is frustrating but don't give up hope! The job market is very tight in some areas, are you open to relocating if need be?

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Specializes in oncology, MS/tele/stepdown.

Of course you are frustrated, but you have no alternative but to move forward! You have amazing credentials, and I am sure you will find a job. However, it has been taking some people 6 months to a year to get a job. Is there anybody you know who knows someone? Are there any job fairs in your area? Can you relocate? Sometimes you only have to go an hour or so away to leave a saturated market (that's how it is near me). Just keep at it. You will find something.

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Of course it's frustrating, though you haven't been looking for very long. Don't give in to those feelings of defeat.

You state that you've applied for many jobs but... have they been new-grad postings? If not, then you had little to no chance of actually landing them.

While your medic experience is a big plus in my book (I'm in a busy ED), it is an entirely different mindset and one with which you need to be cautious in its presentation. Some medics have a cockiness and manifest an attitude of superiority over nurses. I'm not saying that you do but be careful about comments like, "I can intubate" and "I can work a code with my eyes closed by myself" because neither of those is necessary (or even permissible) in most nursing settings, and even if they are, they will be done by senior nurses with specific authorization, never by a new grad, regardless of his/her skill.

Big pieces of what recruiters are looking for in newbies include (1) trainability, (2) flexibility, and (3) how easily they'll integrate into the existing environment. Too much emphasis on your medic experience might raise some concerns in the minds of some people because it could portend difficulty in transitioning from a medic role to a nurse role.

I've a friend who wears a shirt that says something to the effect of, "I was going to be a nurse but I don't like taking orders" and had a medic intern who was fond of saying things like, "Oh, that's right, you guys aren't allowed to do that." My buddy is a fine medic but I'd hesitate to hire him into a nursing role if he decided to go down that route.

I love medics and respect the heck out of them - and I'm not so confident that I could do their job very well - but I'm not convinced that medic experience is 'all that' when it comes to nursing, even in the ED.

Hang in there... things should be OK for you but recognize that you're competing with lots of other folks fighting for those same jobs so have a meticulously planned and executed search and application strategy.

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You are absolutely right. There are lots of medics out there with that attitude and believe me that's one of the reasons why I was very careful to tell anyone I was a medic while going though nursing school. What I said about I can intubate and work a code with my eyes closed wasn't meant to sound "I'm better than any ED nurse". Not at all were I was going. I'm not one of those medics. I'm very humble and I know there is A LOT for me to learn. I just meant, I have emergency medicine experience, that's all. Being a medic is completely different from being a nurse, but I do think my previous experience is valuable and will be helpful in any ED if someone would just give me a chance. Thank you for your support.

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Thank you guys for your support! and yes I have applied to anything I can find that's within an 1 to 1.30 form were I live, including new grad residencies. I sometimes wonder if in fact being a medic is playing against me. Lots of people think we are all cocky and feel superior to every RN. Which is sad, because it's not always true.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PSYCH, PP, CEN.

We hire new grads in our ICU all the time. Wanna move to Texas. We are short about 12 nurses. It's a great place to work too, with a superior orientation.

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I'm having the same issue. I've just been trying to apply places everyday. @gonzo1 Which hospital do you work for?

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Specializes in "Wound care - geriatric care.

It's all a bunch of BS. You do have good experience, they just can't let go of their golden profits so they rather squeeze every penny out of their staff before they hire anyone. Don't worry they (corporate hospital USA) are in for a rude awakening when they run out of experienced nurses, and travel agencies can no longer provide them with nurses. This is already happening in some areas. For the past 5 years only about 1/2 of the available nurses recent graduated have gone into the profession because they could not find anyone who trained them. 80% of nurses in the US are at retiring age, only hanging by a tread waiting for a sign. This will happen soon. Hospitals are simply not fulfilling their end of the deal, which is to train nurses. They get money from the gov. in form of tax shelters "not for profit status" which would be destined to community benefits...to train new nurses, instead they pocket that money and pay their CEO's millions in a unprecedented profit spree never seen before.

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I've been going through the same thing, graduated in May, as well. I'm anxious to begin my career and am bored sitting at home trying to find a job. I've gone to every hospital to hand them my resume an hour drive from me also. I'm certainly not being picky, just no call backs whatsoever. I had great grades in school and networked as much as possible. I think my problem that I'm not receiving call backs is that I have an associates and in school for my bachelors, I'm up against competition that already have their BSN. Good luck, I've just started to extend my search to nursing homes and dialysis centers even though it's far from my interest of NICU. Who knows maybe I'll end up changing my nursing interests once I begin my career, nursing in general interests me anyway. It's certainly depressing applying to hundreds of jobs every week and not getting any calls.

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(I) graduated in May... applying to hundreds of jobs every week and not getting any calls.
If you're applying to hundreds of jobs every week, you must be responding to many, many positions for which you're not qualified. From what I've seen, there aren't hundreds of new-grad openings posted every week.
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Specializes in Med/surg, Onc.
We hire new grads in our ICU all the time. Wanna move to Texas. We are short about 12 nurses. It's a great place to work too, with a superior orientation.

hmm, where in Texas if you don't mind mentioning. My husband and I would consider a move to Texas for the right position.

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