when to apply for jobs

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I graduate in May and was wondering when I should start applying for jobs as a new grad.

I had an interview with a hospital for my practicum which will be in April and I have heard they usually hire new grads if it goes well. But I don't want to solely rely on that.

Also wondering where I can find the best source for what my area pays new grads. I live in Colorado. Thanks!

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I graduated in August and had started to apply for positions in May / June. You need to do some research on the new graduate residency programs in your area to see what the timeline for their cohorts are. A lot of hospitals have August start date for new grad residencies. Around here for an August cohort they would probably take applications around March / April timeframe. For the job I ended up taking, I applied in June, heard from them in mid August, and interviewed and accepted the offer a week after graduation. I took a month to study for NCLEX and ended up starting work in early October. Do your research now and talk to recruiters so you know the dates. Many programs will only accept so many applications, and if you are not paying attention you will miss the application time period. You can usually sign up so that you will get a email notification when they open up applications. Work on your resume and get comfortable with cover letters. And individualize your cover letter to the position you are seeking. That is often the difference between getting an interview or not.

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Specializes in Pedi.

I submitted my resume online in January of my senior year of college to the floor that I was going to be doing my practicum on. Just before spring break, my preceptor mentioned to the director that I had applied and she contacted HR saying she wanted to interview me. I then interviewed and was offered a job by the end of March.

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Specializes in NICU, Psych.

I would start looking now because some residencies open months before graduation and end only a few days later (I'm looking at you, UTSW).

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I submitted my resume online in January of my senior year of college to the floor that I was going to be doing my practicum on. Just before spring break, my preceptor mentioned to the director that I had applied and she contacted HR saying she wanted to interview me. I then interviewed and was offered a job by the end of March.

Had you done your practicum yet? Did you graduate in May when the job was offered in March? What a great turnout for you!

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I would start looking now because some residencies open months before graduation and end only a few days later (I'm looking at you, UTSW).

I will do this! Any good suggestions of websites or resources to check for easy searching? Thanks!

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Specializes in NICU, Psych.
I will do this! Any good suggestions of websites or resources to check for easy searching? Thanks!

Best thing I can say is to check the websites of the hospitals that you are interested in working for and searching "Nurse Resident", "Graduate Nurse", "RN Residency", or something similar. I never had much luck with sites like Monster.com for healthcare related jobs, the individual hospital career pages have always been my best bet.

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Best thing I can say is to check the websites of the hospitals that you are interested in working for and searching "Nurse Resident", "Graduate Nurse", "RN Residency", or something similar. I never had much luck with sites like Monster.com for healthcare related jobs, the individual hospital career pages have always been my best bet.

Thank you for your suggestions. :)

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Specializes in Pedi.
Had you done your practicum yet? Did you graduate in May when the job was offered in March? What a great turnout for you!

No, I submitted my application when I was just starting it. I had also done my pediatric clinical on that floor though and I was pretty set on where I wanted to be. I was actually going to start submitting my resumes to other hospitals in different parts of the country right after spring break but I never needed to because I got the one job I applied for. This was 10 years ago. The job market may be different today.

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I graduate in 10 days. I applied to a nurse residency in late June/July. I interviewed in September and have another interview in September that I applied for during September. The second interview was for a smaller hospital and they offered me a tech job but could not offer a RN position as it was too far from graduation. I had several other interviews during October at my local hospital but none of them felt right. I ended up taking the offer for the residency back in late September (they literally called during my interview at the small hospital and I didn't know until after the interview).

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

In my area, there are versant programs that hire you / accept you prior to graduation or right after--prior to NCLEX. However, they're open to BSN grads only.

As an ADN RN, I was told I could only apply after passing NCLEX and receiving my RN license.

However, I heard of a hospital that offered a classmate a position as soon as we graduated. I applied there. Though they did not give me a written job offer, they did interview me and verbally told me they would hire me as soon as I obtained my license.

I'm still there over a year later.

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