BSN failed NCLEX twice, what jobs are in demand?

[WorldTravelingYogi]

OK please don't give any studying advice. I took the NCLEX twice. I failed twice at 75 Q. I did all of Kaplan, every inch of and started repeating the Q Bank. I did Hurst. Started with it online and then did the live version but I don't like how they dumb everything down. After watching all the videos 5 times I was done. I did ATI questions. I did a 2 month prep course for people that have been out of school for a while. We had 5 hours of homework every night for 2 months. And I used a bunch of different resources.

I graduated with a 3.87 GPA in my BSN. But I am DONE with NCLEX for a while. I don't want to talk about NCLEX.

I went to nursing school so that I could work in a medi spa. I also wanted to do Doctors without Borders.

So I have to find a job. I am going all these different directions. I had a Cosmetology license from before my first Bachelors so I thought I'll work as an esthetician and then start studying NCLEX again. When I pass I can migrate from doing facials to doing injections and laser. Well I took a couple advanced classes and I started interning at the place I get my facials. She works alone so she can't hire me. So I have been applying for esthetician jobs for a month and not a single bite. Not a call, email, nothing.

So now I am leaning back towards the medical field again but what can I do besides being a CNA. And even that requires flying to LA to challenge an exam. But I do not want to work in a CNA capacity. I will end up strangling myself within a week.

I can do a phlebotomy course or an EMT course because they are short BUT could I get hired for either of those? I totally see myself being an EMT. I know the pay is crap but I would be working in the medical field and then I could start studying again.

However, I don't want to waste time and money if I won't be able to get a job. And like everything it seems every single job wants experience before they will hire you.

I am at my wits end and I really don't know what to do. I feel like crawling under a rock. I am feeling like an unproductive member of society.

But please if anyone has suggestions of what type of jobs are in demand that I could do without going back to school for longer then a month please assist. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area so there are tons of two week classes for both EMT and phlebotomy but could I get a job?

Other jobs that I am missing? Ideas of job titles I can search in Indeed? I want to find a job that will allow a candidate who does not have experience and jobs in demand. Please...

[L&D<3]

Yeah I went to school in the Bay Area too and I'm wondering where you went?

[WorldTravelingYogi]

Hey there Yogi! I just ran across your post and I'm sorry to hear about your NCLEX trouble. Since you're looking for feedback, I think you're on the right track with an EMT program. I would strongly suggest that you try and get a job in a hospital versus working for a transport or ambulance service. You will be studying for your NCLEX every day you are at work. You will be around people using the medications and seeing patients with all the conditions you will face on the test. With the amount of review you have done, and knowing that you made it through nursing school, I would guess that you need some context to put all of that information into. Working with and around nurses is probably just what you need. That contextual use of the information you already have just might put you over the edge (in a good way) and allow the questions on the NCLEX to make more sense instead of being vague and conceptual. I am currently working in the ED and I know that our techs (they are all EMT's and medics, not CNA's) are awesome and such an important part of the team.

Plus, once you do pass the boards an RN job from a hospital that already knows you and has seen you perform well as an EMT will be all that much easier to land. Good luck with the current job hunt and EMT class.

Hey Cahoon, I am glad you are doing well. It's nice to see a familiar face/name on here. I have been soooo busy. I was not ignoring you just completely swamped. I swear this EMT program is more rigorous then our school. You know how it was so I am sure that doesn't surprise you.

I am so excited I got into this program. They allow 42 people and there were over 50 on the wait list. They called the night before and said I was in. I think part of it was because I already studied nursing because this is an intense program. It is at the San Francisco Paramedic Association and it is a 7 week boot camp. We have class from 8:30 to 5 PM Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Then on Thursdays they have free optional tutoring and skills practice and I always go to so I can keep up and learn more.

Our professor is on the committee that writes the questions for the NREMT (equivalent of the NCLEX) and he is on the board and writes a column for EMS World (an EMT magazine). The entire staff really cares about the students and they will do anything to help us succeed. The director of the program as a PhD in astrophysics from MIT and worked at Princeton. Then immediately switched careers and became an EMT and then a paramedic. I didn't hear this stuff from them. I heard it from other students and then looked up the staff on Linked in.

Most of the people in the class are planning to go to medical school, or nursing school but there is a whole range. This one guy in my squad is working on his PhD at UC Berkeley in Sociology. He is taking this course because he is doing his dissertation on Emergency Medical Services.

Anyway I feel like I went from the bottom to the top. I am learning so much. There is so much more pathophysiology then our nursing school. And we have to learn all the skills and once we are comfortable doing unaided we need 5 student signatures and then 1 instructor signature. It's just super organized with very good professors. The school is tied with UCLA for the number 1 spot for % of students that pass NREMT. They are both at 98% in 2012 and 2013 for students taking the NREMT for the first time. Here is a chart showing the passing rates by county. 2012 we were at 98% for first time test takers and again we are at 98% so far for 2013.

http://www.emsa.ca.gov/meetings/2013/03-20-13/5E_Attachment1_NREMT_EMT_Results-2013.pdf

Your advice was all totally spot on. All of it. I going to try to work in a hospital but I may have to do 6 months of BLS transport before I can move up.

If this post seems scattered it was written of the past month. It really has been crazy busy. I had one of my "clinicals" on Thursday and went to Kaiser Oakland ER. It was so awesome. I am totally getting excited about health care again.

[WorldTravelingYogi]

@worldtravelingyogi

Where did u go to school? I'm in SF too applying to schools and to be honest I want to stay away from where you went. Sorry for your situation

The school was not in the US, it was in Puerto Rico. To be fair, a lot of people who went there passed the NCLEX with no problems, myself included.

Megan, like Cahoon said the school was in Puerto Rico. And yes Cahoon some people passed NCLEX without issues although I know a ton of people who have failed taking it 2 and 3 times. Even a student who had worked as an LVN graduated from our school and took NCLEX at least 2 times if not 3 before passing.

Of the people I have spoken to the passing numbers and the failing numbers are about equal. Then there is about half of our class that is Puerto Rican and staying in Puerto Rico and they are not even going to take NCLEX because they don't need it to work in PR.