Applying to Jobs

[Liz48]

I’ve begun to start looking at where I might want to work and at new grad job applications. I’ve noticed that many prefer healthcare experience. I don’t have healthcare experience (CNA isn’t required at my school and our first semester including clinical was over things like ADLs along with our head to toes). My work experience is in retail. I enjoy what I do, and I’ve stuck with it. I’ve had plenty of supervisory experience in my work, so it’s not like I’ve just been a cashier for years (Nothing wrong with that obviously! I just feel like the fact that I have experience in things like delegating and resolving issues that get passed onto me is relevant to nursing).
Anyone here get hired on as a new nurse without healthcare experience? I’m getting kind of worried about it. I love my jobs and honestly prefer them to tech work - I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that - I do really enjoy clinical!
I’m 24, so I have 7 years of work experience. It’s just not in healthcare.
Advice is appreciated!!!!

[_Cecilia_, BSN, RN]

Hi! For future help, I definitely would suggest posting on the Job Hunt Assistance page - lots of advice there, too! Now on to your question...

I'm 23, worked as a Resident Assistant, Orientation Leader, and Office Assistant at my previous university. No hospital jobs or volunteer experience for a long time in the hospital. I graduated in May and have just received an offer at a Peds Stepdown Unit.

Most job applications will be asking for "at least 1 year of acute care experience," so it will be challenging to find which ones to apply to. I definitely suggest still applying for those jobs that would prefer that experience because it's worth still trying ?. Friends of mine were also very diligent in applying to multiple applications.

What has also helped me a lot during my job hunt was creating a LinkedIn profile and trying my best to connect with recruiters, asking what they would like to see in ideal nurse candidates, and reaching out to nurses who currently work at the hospital. I was able to have a phone interview with a Recruiter and an in-person with a Nurse Manager and Nurse Educator through those methods.

From my research and experience with interviews, HR and Nurse Managers are more interested in why you chose Nursing, why the hospital, strengths, weaknesses, "tell me about yourself", management of conflict, leadership, and teamwork skills. You can most definitely utilize examples you've seen/experienced during clinical, but if you have more strong examples from your other jobs, use that experience instead! They understand that many new graduates may not have healthcare experiences, and that's alright.

As long as you're able to effectively communicate how you can appropriately respond to conflicts, how you work in a team, and how you displayed leadership (appropriately delegating, etc.), then it's a valid example! Prepare to also answer scenario questions based on Nursing knowledge. Nurse Managers won't give you very complicated examples because they know you haven't had that experience yet.

Also, I suggest looking into Nurse Residency/Fellowship programs at hospitals near you. Those programs specifically look to hire new graduate nurses!

Please let me know if I can further help you ?