[B]Question about "experience"[/B]

meggo · Apr 8, 2011

Any patient care work you've done can be considered experience. Its not RN experience but use whatever you have to get a job in this economy! A lot of applications will state if they want specific experience like "2 years of recent Emergency Department experience required" so obviously you can't use your experience there. For positions that don't have things like that, apply and make sure you put the nursing assistant work on your resume and bring it up during any interviews because it will definitely help! Good luck on NCLEX!

shhhh · Apr 8, 2011

When I applied for my first nursing job at the facility I worked at as a CNA, I listed my CNA job because I provided direct patient care, and I worked with many of the nurses there already and hoped they would speak well of me if the hiring manager asked them about how I did as a CNA. Another big reason was, aside from decorating cakes in high school, it was the ONLY job I had before I graduated college, and I had to bulk up my resume with all the work experience I had.

So, to answer your question: It certainly wouldn't help you land the job if an RN with more experience also applied, but I think it's important to list a nursing-RELATED job like your CNA position. Being a CNA is important work and I personally would be more inclined to hire a new grad nurse who worked a little bit as a CNA as opposed to a new grad nurse who didn't work at all, but that's just me. :)

linearthinker, DNP, RN · Apr 8, 2011

Yes, it will be of some help.

Vanillanut, DNP, RN, APRN · Apr 8, 2011

When I graduated with my BSN, I had 4 years of care aide experience under my belt. None of it was considered for any RN jobs. Sorry to bust your bubble, this was just my experience. It seemed that for an RN job, you need to have RN-experience- not just any patient care experience.

JenniferSews · Apr 8, 2011

It will help you somewhat. If a hospital is looking at two new grads and one has no healthcare experience, they will take your CNA experience into account. But when you're looking at jobs that say 1+ experience necessary then no, they mean experience as an RN. In my state they mean experience as an RN in a hospital. LTC doesn't count.

akosiemong · Apr 8, 2011

Thanks for the comments and replies guys, I'm getting a lot of insights from what you guys are saying. Cause I've been thinking if it would be of any help to continue with my work as a CNA or should I pursue a higher paying job but not related to the health care field. So far I'm somehow convinced that it would be significant in helping me land a job as an RN someday. And the wait for the NCLEX exams are so anxiety inducing as well. :banghead:

Well when the day comes, I hope I'll have some luck with applying for a job as an RN. :)

akosiemong · Apr 8, 2011

Any patient care work you've done can be considered experience. Its not RN experience but use whatever you have to get a job in this economy! A lot of applications will state if they want specific experience like "2 years of recent Emergency Department experience required" so obviously you can't use your experience there. For positions that don't have things like that, apply and make sure you put the nursing assistant work on your resume and bring it up during any interviews because it will definitely help! Good luck on NCLEX!

Thank you so much. Hope I do well. :)

ACorEtACri · Apr 8, 2011

We have had two recruiters talk about listing your previous work. Although they focus on school, clinicals, ect , having work experience of any kind or health related can be used to differentiate you from other candidates. Potentially just listing/talking about your great previous employment could get you the job over another relatively equal candidate.

We were told to even list your job at the campus post office (college students) or your previous career in the Y industry if that is the work history you have. Once you have work experience as an RN for 5 or 10 + years, we were told it wasn't worth listing.

Savannah1986 · May 6, 2011

Any patient care work you've done can be considered experience. Its not RN experience but use whatever you have to get a job in this economy! A lot of applications will state if they want specific experience like "2 years of recent Emergency Department experience required" so obviously you can't use your experience there. For positions that don't have things like that, apply and make sure you put the nursing assistant work on your resume and bring it up during any interviews because it will definitely help! Good luck on NCLEX!

This is a realy problem with experience that you can't use there. I think that you can also use resume help for writing your resume. This servce could help to do this to you.