Advice for Graduate Nurse

[mwerland]

Hi, my name is Meghan and I am about to graduate in December with a BSN in nursing. I will take the NCLEX-RN in January. My question is where do you begin searching for jobs? Is it better to start with a job or do an internship to ease the transition? Also, I want to work in Labor and Delivery, but have no experience in the area other than clinical. What should I do to increase my chances of being hired in my desired field? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[kcalohagirl]

Congratulations on your impending graduation, and kudos to you for not waiting til the last minute to get your ducks in a row job-wise!

If you really want L&D, go for it! See if the hospital you didyour rotation in has nurse internships. If it doesn't, look at a differnt hospital! I did the majority of my clinicals at one hospital. I actually accepted a position as an SNA (Senior Nursing Associate) my last summer and year of school at a completely different and "rival" hospital. SNA's basically could do a CNA job + blood draws and any procedures we had been checked off on in nursing school (foleys, IV d/cs, that kind of thing). I didn't end up going to work on the unit I was an SNA on, but my nurse manager had a great working relationship with the nurse manager of the unit that I REALLY wanted to work on and gave me a FABULOUS recommendation.

So, I guess what I am trying to say is. . . .

See if your hospital has some type of an internship or employment program for nursing students. Most of them do, and most of them pay pretty decently. Mine was awesome about working with my school schedule, and if I could work more hours than my unit could support, my manager found another unit I could work on so that I wasn't floating to different units all the time. (I had the most awesome NM in the world, btw.)

Even if you can't find an internship in L&D, think about considering an internship elsewhere in the hospital. Life and nursing are all about building relationships. If you work on a unit and you do a great job, you may get that golden reference that may make the difference between you and the Jane Doe that are both applying for the same job!

Best of luck! I just graduated in June of 06. The last semester of nursing school can be a huge challenge. But you have made it this far. The light at the end of the tunnel is VISIBLE!

*hugs*