A little "pick me up" for students and new grads

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hey fellow nurses!

i finally took the plunge and registered here after perusing this forum for the past 4 years. i have learned a lot from this forum and thought i could contribute a little bit now that i am in the working world.

i graduated with my bsn in may, 2011 and took my nclex the following week. i, like many others, submitted around 30-40 job applications. received 2 interviews. it took nearly 3 months following my interview to get the offer for my current new grad position. out of my class of 60 people, roughly 75% had a job secured at graduation. the remaining 25% are still seeking their first job. for people that are still in school or just starting nursing school, definitely try to secure a tech position. i am the only new grad on my unit that did not tech for the unit or do a month long capstone preceptorship on the unit. with that said, if you are a tech on a unit, be responsible with that position. i had 2 classmates that were techs during school but called in a lot and took extensive amounts of time off. they were not offered a new grad position on their units. when you work as a tech, treat that job as your first rn position. if you work hard, they will be more inclined to reward you with a new grad position somewhere in their facility.

i applied for nearly 50 tech positions during school. did not even get an interview for a single application. for those of you that find yourself in my situation, you must network!! utilize any option you can to get to know someone already employed at any type of healthcare facility. do happy hours at a bar where hospital employees congregate after their shifts end. talk to your instructors and clinical preceptors. work your hiney off during clinicals and get to know nurses at clinical sites. networking opportunities present themselves every day at clinical. be professional, make contacts, and utilize these people during your job hunt. i know specifically of one recent new grad position that only interviewed people that had an inside connection to the facility. most importantly....apply everywhere!! as new grads, we need to be willing to work anywhere. no, it may not be the dream job you envisioned when you started nursing school, but a job is a job that will earn you a paycheck and the oh so important experience that nurses need to hopefully move on to a specialty unit later on.

on top of all this, study hard and get the best grades you possibly can. sadly, networking is the best option, but when you are in the running for a job, grades do matter. my high gpa was complimented during both of my interviews. no, grades are not the end all be all, and beyond your first job they are nearly irrelevant except for grad school admission. with the job market as tight as it is, you have to show the unit manager that you took school seriously. this translates into you taking your new job seriously. it also indicates that you will be receptive and retentive to the information given to you during orientation. i am a huge believer that the better you do during school, the more baseline information you have learned and retained. this will help you tremendously in your first post grad position. med surg class will come back to haunt you if you didn't fully understand patho of disease processes, abg levels, fluid balances......... eek!

i am currently halfway through a 12 week orientation at a super busy micu. on my very first night my unit had a patient die, 1 code, 2 rapid responses, and 4 admits from the er and or tele floor. i now understand this is a typical night. when i left that day i was shell shocked, stunned, and felt dumber than a blade of grass. i wondered what the heck i had gotten myself into! i have read so many posts from fellow new grads about feeling stupid, overwhelmed, stressed, nauseated, freaked out, and downright unsure about becoming a nurse. yep, we all feel this way! i have had 3 preceptors that i rotate with. there's some good and some bad with each of them. what i have learned is this: regardless of your preceptor, unit, hospital, day or night shift, weekday or weekend.....your experience will be what you make of it. it is easy to crawl into a hole of fear and disdain when things don't go well. trust me, i could have very easily done that after my first night! but you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and make the choice to take control of your future. if there is something you don't understand, research it. go back through your old textbooks. search it online. ask questions on this website. write things down that you don't understand or know. if your preceptor isn't helpful, seek out other resources. most hospitals have educators you can seek out for assistance. my hospital has classes we can take to enhance our learning if we need to. it is done on your own time outside of your unit shifts, but it is paid time at least! each of us also have our professors to bounce ideas and questions off of. i have utilized 2 of my former instructors already. i realized they are invaluable resources to us because we know them and are comfortable with them.

nursing is hard. getting through school is hard! whether you choose adn or bsn, the end result is nclex and clinical experience. you have to work hard to develop critical thinking and the basic skills that are necessary to properly and safely care for any patient population. new grads have individual learning curves and some get it faster, others get it slower. there are no right or wrong ways to this process! give yourself credit where it is due. in a tough economy, a manager saw something in you that they liked. they extended the privilege to you and took a leap of faith that you would do your part to develop into the nurse they see as an asset to their facility. there will be good days and there will be bad ones. as long as you are learning, developing, and making small advances every shift, you are doing exactly what is expected of a new grad. spend some time when you are off work to develop the things you need to work on. it will help make your shift easier when the proverbial light bulb goes off and you realize that the extra time you spent researching something you didn't understand is now something you do understand.

sorry this got to be such a long post. just wanted to contribute something helpful to my wonderful peers. i hope this helps someone out. if this helps just one person feel better and gain a little bit of confidence, then it was well worth it! :heartbeat:)

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Specializes in Hospice / Psych / RNAC.

Excellent post. You sound like me and a couple other classmates of mine long ago. Network now while in clinical, meet people (find out where they hang out), study your guts out, just go for it try it because the opportunity will never come again. Strike ... while the iron is hot!

Congratulations on your new job :up:

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Specializes in Cardiac.

Beautifully put. Congrats on being halfway done with your orientation! I start as a new grad on a cardiac unit next month. Nervous!

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Curious how big your unit is? If you average a code and death per night, which means basically two codes a night something is wrong- weather it be physicians or nurses. I work at the biggest hospital in our state in SI. Our MI has 20 beds with very sick folks, they may average 1 code a week. If there were 2 a night I suspect someone would be looking into it. Good luck in your endevours.

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I am very surprised and happy you got a job in the ICU straight out of school. This is what I am trying to do too. Could you tell me where you found such a job?? At least the state you work in? I would be willing to move anywhere.

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Specializes in Med Surg.

Great post!! I couldn't agree more about networking. I got my job b/c I did my final ASN precepting on the unit and one of my classmates worked on the unit. Between the two of them giving me good reviews, I got the position.

I also completely agree about making the best of your situation. I've only done 4 shifts on the floor thus far, but I've made certain to work my backside off, doing whatever needs doing if I'm not busy with my patients. I intend to have a good career on this floor for however long I desire, so I don't want to be known as the new grad who's too scared or lazy to do anything.

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Specializes in Nursing Supervisor.

Excellent advice for everyone to follow! Thank you for taking the time to word it so wonderfully!

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I'm a future nurse, and I have to say that your article certain helps me. It is very encouraging. I have a feeling that I will be revisiting your post again for that pick me up. Thanks so much! :)

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I am starting nursing school this fall semester and I have begun to think about all that you've written about. I've been applying to tech jobs this summer, but no call, as I figured would happen. I volunteered for a year, but stopped mid-spring semester, as I had 18 credits and a 3 year old son. Do you recommend I start volunteering on a med/surg unit (was previously mother/baby) throughout nursing school? Will this be almost as ideal as working as a tech, in terms of networking? A lot of the tech jobs require nursing assistant certification, which I do not have.

Thank you for a well written and inspirational post. :)

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To the OP, thank you for taking the time to write this. I have worked my tail off to finally get accepted into a BSN program and I start in the fall. I have been discouraged by what I have been reading here, all the doom and gloom and overall feelings of discouragement by new grands and newly hired. I will print this post up and hang it on my wall so that in 3 years when I graduate and start my job, and when I have a bad shift, I can read it and feel empowered.

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Specializes in geriatrics.

I joined this site shortly after I graduated, made a friend here by fluke....got a job through her, and we are still friends 9 months later. Networking is key. You never know who you will meet and the opportunities are endless.

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Specializes in LTC, NICU, Med-surg.

Wow....I couldn't have said it better! I have been explaining this very same thing to a few people starting NS this fall. To go ahead now and be ahead of the game by getting a job as a tech, Nurse aid, CNA, something to help you stand out above the rest as a new grad. I wish someone had told me this back then. Nearly everyone in my class who worked as techs or in some sort of medical capacity either had jobs lined up before graduation or were promoted into a RN position on the floor they worked on as a tech....

I am also a new grad and am having THE hardest time getting a job in a hospital. However, I landed a job in LTC, the last place I'd said to ever work. Grateful to have a job, yes I am, but still praying, hoping, and keeping the Faith that someday I will eventually find myself in NICU!:heartbeat

Wishing you all the best in MICU, I'm sure with time you will do just fine....:yeah:

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