Best place for a new grad with kids to work near Denver?

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My husband and I live in Richmond, Virginia and are planning relocating to Colorado sometime in the spring or summer of the coming year- hopefully. My husband's job is very specialized (registered vascular ultrasound technologist- no other ultrasound certs) and so I've been considering moving the family out there on my salary as a new nurse.

I just completed my ADN in the Fall and passed my boards last Thursday (woo hoo!). I am currently pregnant with our second child so obviously won't be looking to work until later in the year (due in 4 1/2 weeks). I was wondering if anyone could tell me who hires ADN nurses in the Denver/Boulder area (either would be fine with us) and what hospitals are best to work for? I am not sure what area I would like to work in...leaning towards NICU but have EMS experience (1 year as an EMT) and also like ER and trauma/surgical (I did my "acute med/surg" clinical on a surgical-trauma unit with some step-down patients). I might need to stick it out for a year in med-surg somewhere just to get a job and have that magical "1 year of experience" under my belt, I guess. At this point after doing some research I would be happy to find somewhere that hires new grads with an ADN and pay somewhat decent.

I welcome ANY information and advice. Thank you so much!

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Hi JLForever,

I can answer your question about Boulder. The city of Boulder only has one hospital---Boulder Community Hospital, they have satellite facilities around town. As far as I know, Boulder Community isn't fond of hiring new grad nurses. I live in Boulder, when I pass NCLEX, there is no way, I'll be able to work in Boulder.

Since, Boulder is the "place to live", they have no problem attracting nurses with experience. Plus, Boulder is a university town, very expensive to live here.

Your best bet is to go on-line, and look for hospitals in Denver , or surrounding suburbs---St Joseph's, St Luke/Presbyterian, Porter, Lutheran --to name a few.

Those four hospitals are pretty good about hiring new grads.

Good luck!

Asia

P.S. Hope you and little one come out just fine. :wink2:

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, M/S.

Good info Asia, I graduated from nsg school in Fort Collins and also found the opportunities very limited (and competitive) for new grads in northern CO. I would recommend jlforever to contact the nsg recruiters of those hospitals in denver and find out WHEN they will be hiring their new grads. I'm not the expert but it seemed that most hospitals are hiring new grads at only certain times of the year. Last summer there were some posts by new grad RN's in the denver area that were very frustrated b/c they weren't getting hired.....so i would secure employment before making the move.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, MS, Ortho.

i am also moving to colorado (denver/boulder area). couple week ago i talked to my friend who works as rn there. she told me that boulder hospital pay is less than others in area.

asia was right about housing in boulder: absolutely outrageous! it is so expensive that is almost ridiculous. apartments aren’t cheap either.

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Specializes in Med Surg/Ortho.

Check out Parker Adventist Hospital. I know some people that work there, and have been a patient several times (so has my husband and kids). Great hospital. Plus the area is nice to live in. I live in north Parker, right near the hospital. Love it. Really good schools. My daughter is only in kindergarten (my son isn't in school yet) but am quite impressed with her school.

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Thanks for the information everyone. Sorry for the late reply. I had my daughter two weeks early and have been very distracted ever since! Haha. We are now debating between Colorado Springs and Denver- but this information is extremely helpful. Thank you! :)

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