Hi new grads! I, too, am a new grad-disheartened by our job opportunities. I was wanting to know how many new grads are taking rn jobs elsewhere-not in the hospitals??
I think that I might have the opportunity to do private duty nursing-my excitment is overwhelming-I have been looking for a job since december.
I know that many people say to do "a yr in med/surg" before doing anything else. I think that that is very wise advice and that was the goal-however, for many of us, we have to be honest to ourselves and realize that that isn't going to happen.
I, personally, need a job asap-as we are bad off financially. And I know that we didn't have clinicals in private duty and that I have a lot of learning to do ahead of me-but I am grateful and excited for the opportunity just to be considered for employment.
Well, how many more are out there and where are you going, or what are you trying to get into besides hospitals??? Good luck to everyone!!
I am lucky to have gotten an LPN job last summer at a nursing home and they will keep me on as an RN when I pass my boards. I hope to encourage other nurses applying to places that aren't hospitals. SNF have a bad rep for whatever reason but not all of them are bad places to work. I really do like my job. It's not med/surg or PEDS or whatever you might want to do, but it is a good place to be if you can't get to the area you are hoping for.
:tinkbll:Good luck everyone (and me, too)!
Hey natrgrrl, do you think it would be wierd to apply for an LPN job even after passing the NCLEX? I'm just trying to make a "plan B" for myself if I can't find an RN job after graduating. I would be willing to work at an LTC but I don't want to start as a supervisor (which seems to be what most RN's get hired for at LTC's).
Being a medical assistant requires a different certification all together. Plus as an RN, you would in a way be demoting yourself. RN's supervise MA's.
I don't think you can work as a MA once you ae an RN because you are over qualified. I know many of my former classmates who worked as CNAs and not only could they not get a job as a GN, they lost their CNA jobs because they are now considered over qualified.
I too, took a job in skilled LTC, "the year in Med-Surg" was not going to happen for a while, where I live there are no hospitals hiring; however, I have still applied to some for perhaps a per-diem, and at least get my foot in the door. I have found that a lot of nurses "poo-poo" on long-term care, but geriatrics is something that I do enjoy, and it was a full time day postion with no weekends.
Mannn I had ONE interview out of the many positions I applied for....and was told no. I don't know if the issue was that I still didn't have my ATT at the time of the interview and therefore wouldn't be able to have my license in time, or if my interview was just that horrible! They asked me some nursing-based questions, and I was so nervous that I answered two of them wrong...idiot was the only thing that came to mind. I'm so frustrated!
i too am in the same boat as many of you. just graduated in may, passed the boards in june. i was offered a rn position at a pediatric clinic i have been working at as an ma for almost 5 years. the job was part time with no benefits. thinking that i could do better- i declined. i just recently came crawling back asking for the position-benefits or not.
my biggest fear is whether or not this will hurt me in the long run? i have heard from numerous people that it's very difficult to get a hospital job after you've worked at a clinic seeing as the job description is so different. problem is every job i apply to asks do you have 1-2 years of rn experience. what have you guys heard? do you think there is still hope for a future hospital job, or have i made a mistake?
yeah, i passed the LVN board exam last december and when i started to look for a job i was so excited and very optimistic. now, i feel like why are these facilities asking for experience. they all started with no experience. everybody started as a graduate nurse. its so frustrating and disappointing really... i have two kids to provide. i unfortunately am married and so i can't even apply for welfare... i feel so bad because i donot want to ask for welfare, i have never applied for one. don't intend to but sometimes i envy those women who did not get married or are not married because .... at least they can get some kind of help while waiting for a job... so disappointing really!!!!!!!!!!!
I keep seeing homecare jobs in my area. I would think you could find them in any area and I'm not sure that new grads remember this as a possibility. I've got an interview coming up. Hospitals are pretty frozen here.
i too am in the same boat as many of you. just graduated in may, passed the boards in june. i was offered a rn position at a pediatric clinic i have been working at as an ma for almost 5 years. the job was part time with no benefits. thinking that i could do better- i declined. i just recently came crawling back asking for the position-benefits or not.
my biggest fear is whether or not this will hurt me in the long run? i have heard from numerous people that it's very difficult to get a hospital job after you've worked at a clinic seeing as the job description is so different. problem is every job i apply to asks do you have 1-2 years of rn experience. what have you guys heard? do you think there is still hope for a future hospital job, or have i made a mistake?
i think that there is a potential that it **may** harm us all in the long run-but, ya know what? i think that eventually when this thing turns around and people start retiring-there will be jobs and hospitals will take us! (at least that is what i hope!) you got to do what you got to do-even if that means telling an hr rep that you took the job to work and know that you lack experience-plus the bonus is that some experience is better than no experience at all----because the latter is obviously keeping a lot of us out right now!!
good luck to you guys~i say, take what you can get!!!
Question: to do homecare and stuff like that, don't they require experience first?? My friend keeps telling me about school nursing, but I'm like dude I don't have experience yet!
Yep, I graduated last December, passed boards in February. Hospitals weren't hiring then. Began working in LTC on the rehab wing in March. I finally have health insurance after going 4 years without. My income has now doubled (I was living on child support) so now I don't worry about which bill to pay first. True, maybe some of my skills aren't being tested, but other ones are getting quite a bit of experience. Better than sitting around and forgetting everything we learned in school.
Welcome to nursing, and congratulations to all of for passing your boards. When I graduated, they told us most of us would not find jobs in hospitals, they were not hiring, then the next year there was a shortage. It will continue to go back and forth. I would say, take what you can find for now, but reapply in hospitals every couple of months. Check to see if they have any intern positions, which would involve more education, but you would be paid for it. Be patient, the jobs will come. Nurses are stretched thin right now, work conditions are difficult, and some are going to walk away from it if they can retire early. Working in a hospital is not easy, but you learn so much that you will not be able to outside the hospital. Take any position available, any shift, and work into something else later. If any of you come my way, I will take you under my wing and teach you all I can. Bless you all.:redbeathe
Question: to do homecare and stuff like that, don't they require experience first?? My friend keeps telling me about school nursing, but I'm like dude I don't have experience yet!
Call and ask the company! many do, some don't. Sometimes they say that they will fully train you to the case. Others want at least a year experience.
greenfaery
95 Posts
Hey natrgrrl, do you think it would be wierd to apply for an LPN job even after passing the NCLEX? I'm just trying to make a "plan B" for myself if I can't find an RN job after graduating. I would be willing to work at an LTC but I don't want to start as a supervisor (which seems to be what most RN's get hired for at LTC's).