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! )
Thank you so much! I have the feeling you are going to be a great nurse! Congratulations on your graduation and first job. I am an LPN but is starting my second year in a BSN program Fall. Keep up the good works and may God bless you as you help people with all your heart!:heartbeat
Thank you so much for posting this! I am a pre-nursing student and I am so grateful to read about "real world" nursing here. You sound like you have a great grip on life and I applaud you for persevering through all those applications without getting discouraged! I am sorry to hear about your traumatic first night but I really appreciate you writing about your experiences here. You sound like a wonderful nurse, keep on keeping on!
I agree - network, network, network. Business cards, health conferences, courses, and resumes. Email local hospitals, email local health advocates. You can get your name out there, and regardless the amount of new grads looking for work, you can find a new grad job:)
Much of this site provides a release valve for burned out and over-worked nurses, which seems to serve them but leaves prospective nurses discouraged and questioning.
@MICUBSN - This was a clear, concrete post based on real-life personal experience that balances reality with optimism.
I am pursing my CNA while completing my pre-reqs and hope to work as a CNA/PCT to gain clinical time in a health care setting. I will keep your advice in mind as I apply for those positions and as I plan for my career as an RN.
Your patients and the nursing field are lucky to have you. I hope you will be a frequent contributor to the site.
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.
We do not average a death per night, and 70% of our codes survive. I was writing more figuratively that every night entails several critical situations. I did not mean to be confusing about that. My unit is a 22 bed unit. I should have clarified that not all of the codes take place on my unit. My unit is part of the code/rapid response team and we alternate carrying pagers to respond to any and all codes in the hospital. When the code happens, and if the patient resumes a HR and breathing, they are automatically transferred to my unit. I hope that helps a little bit!
I am humbled by what all of you have written on here! I tried to write and convey what I wished someone had told me a few years ago when I was starting out on the road to a nursing career. I am more than happy to answer questions, help out on the bad days, and applaud the great ones that we all do have. Congrats to all of you that are starting out on this adventure, and to all of you that are in the trenches and job hunting keep your chin up. It will happen!
Great post! Hope you don't mind if I add my own story.
I studied my butt off in school, and I got REALLY good grades. I was involved in extracurricular/student leadership, and I volunteered for those opportunities presented to us at health fairs, homeless shelters, etc. I did all this to ensure my resume would be top-notch, even without a tech position. (I, too, applied for them during school, but only one interviewed me, and I didn't get it.)
My final clinical was an intensive one with a capstone. I treated every clinical like a job interview, but I knew the last one, especially, could really make a difference. That does NOT mean you never make mistakes or never have an idiotic move or two as a student. However, it does mean that you always act professionally and with accountability. Always, always, always be pleasant. Always be willing to pitch in during downtime. Always take an active role in your own learning.
The capstone gave me the opportunity to work with the unit manager and present to head honchos at the hospital. The unit manager, one of the doctors I worked with, my preceptor, and my capstone clinical instructor all offered to be references.
I networked like crazy during my final clinical. I got to know nearly everyone who could get you through the hiring process, including nurse managers of various units. I found out about an Open House for nurses at the hospital, and I attended it. I sat down to talk with all the NMs.
Fast forward to getting licensed in June. I sent out over 60 resumes to every hospital in my area, starting on the day I got licensed. I got callbacks for interviews at three of them within three weeks of becoming licensed, two of which were where I did clinicals. The nurse managers already knew me!
When I sat down with the NM who eventually hired me, she said the magic words: "You're the only candidate that I know outside of the interviews." She was one of the NMs I talked to at the Open House.
NETWORK, especially as a student because it provides a context and allows for a natural conversation to transpire.
I know it's uncomfortable; I know it's nerve-wracking. But do it! It can be as simple as, "Hi. My name is Dudette, and I'm doing a clinical here. I am enjoying this experience, and I'm learning so much." Small talk will surely follow. That's all it takes. You don't have to ask for a job; you don't have to hand over your resume then and there. Just talk. And smile. Remember the person's name, and if you see them again in the hall or whatever, just say, "Hi, [insert name here]." They are used to just "hellos" from people, but rarely do they get a "hello" with their own name being said.
It worked for me, and it can work for you.
ETA: I think it's important to mention that a number of my classmates knew about the Open House at the hospital. I even told a couple of them myself. I was the only one who showed up.
I am so glad you added your story dudette! You sound a lot like me. Congrats to you for how your hard work paid off. Kudos to you!!!
I have so much sympathy for new grads that have not gotten a grad nurse position yet. I know how stressful and frustrating the job hunt was for me, and I cannot imagine what places your mind goes to when you have worked so hard and the reward is slow in coming. But, I can also honestly say that during my clinical experiences, I saw a lot of behaviors from my fellow classmates that were less than becoming. There was a lot of eye-rolling, asking to leave early, not jumping in and helping during "code browns", etc. When I do some deep down honest reflection, these are also the classmates that have not found a job yet. I realize that this in no way applies to all new grads that are still job hunting. I have a few excellent and superior classmates that are still job hunting and I have no clue why some facility hasn't snatched up a great nurse such as themselves. But there are also a lot of my still unemployed classmates that have sat back on their laurels and assumed that a BSN would equate into an instant job without much effort on their part. Others are still stuck in the mentality that "we went to so and so school/have a BSN/etc so everyone will hire us". After talking to a few of my classmates this week, we are down to only having 7 classmates that have not gotten a job yet. Brutal honesty about the 7 that do not have a job: 2 refuse to work anywhere but L/D. 2 others did not pass NCLEX on first try and are not retaking until September. One other has a recent DUI with 1 prior and was not allowed diversion this go-round. The other 2, well....they barely squeaked their way through school, missed a lot of class, consistently had to do make-up clinicals due to absences, did not take school very seriously at all, etc.
The nursing profession is changing everyday. Jobs are not as plentiful. Jobs were not plentiful when I started school and I knew the job hunt could be an ugly process. Our professors were very upfront about this every semester. Every one of my classmates knew that it would take a lot of hard work to land a job. I hope that other schools are as honest with their students because it really does help you prepare for the rigors of the job hunt. Taking charge of your own future is the biggest asset you have in this economy. I realize this is not always the case, and there are thousands of new grads that did everything right and are still job hunting. But I truly believe in my heart that they will come out on top and land a job. I have faith!! :heartbeat
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Stanique
3 Posts
Thank you so much! I have the feeling you are going to be a great nurse! Congratulations on your graduation and first job. I am an LPN but is starting my second year in a BSN program Fall. Keep up the good works and may God bless you as you help people with all your heart!:heartbeat