Best Career Opportunities with Criminal Record

[thejadedmonkey]

To sum up my situation, I am a newly licensed RN (ASN, licensed in June '13) in the state of Florida with a juvenile record. The FBON issued my license with no stipulations or restrictions. I have been looking for work for about 2 weeks with no success.

I realize I am not far enough along in the job hunt process to expect great results (unless I get extremely lucky), but I would like some advice on which fields of nursing I should be targeting. I realize that my degree (ASN vs BSN) and my criminal record are both negatives to most employers, and am trying to avoid wasting effort by going after jobs that are realistically out of reach for me. I'm not adverse to hard work and have been putting in 8+ hours a day just on job hunting, but I want to give my hard work the best chance of paying off.

Some advantages I have going for me are that I am truly passionate about nursing in every setting I experienced in school clinicals, so I can honestly say I would be thrilled to work any RN job I can think of! Additionally, I don't have a "dream" job besides just nursing and making a difference, so I don't need a job that can double as a stepping stone to another position. On that note, I also wouldn't mind signing onto jobs that require long-term commitments to the facility that takes the chance on training me. Another is that I am willing to relocate to any part of the country (or even out of the country!) to start my career.

So, in your opinion, what employers do you think would be most willing to take a chance on someone like me?

[amygarside]

I think it would help what part of nursing you are passionate about.

[thejadedmonkey]

I think it would help what part of nursing you are passionate about.

I really do feel like I would be fulfilled doing most kinds of nursing. I've been applying to correctional nursing jobs and LTC facilities mostly so far.