California Jobs... I'm giving up!

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I am feeling really defeated right now. I have been applying for acute care positions in California for over nine months. I moved to the Sacramento area when I got a job in a chemotherapy clinic. I jumped at it because I felt it was my foot in the door. I had to resign the position because it was downright dangerous. While I was at the clinic, I continued to apply for hospital jobs. I've applied for everything - medical, oncology, ICU, ER, etc. I've probably applied for close to 100 jobs in the hospital setting. Not even ONE interview. In the meantime, I have been working at my old job per diem in Nevada. I am not a new grad. I have almost three years experience in medical/ oncology. I feel that getting a job at a SNF or nursing home is a step back especially since I already am employed at a hospital. What can I do other than go see the managers in person? I can't seem to get past the recruiters. It's starting to get a little ridiculous.

Advice? Encouragement? Thank you.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Why do you think you are not getting interviews? Do you have a BSN? Are you applying for jobs that match your education and experience? (e.g You are unlikely to get a job in a highly specialized field or intensive care.) Have you gotten good feedback on your resume and cover letter? Have you gotten good continuing education since graduation? etc.

How well does your presentation of your credentials and qualifications match the types of things that hiring managers and recruiters look for? That's the real question -- and your post doesn't give us enough information to answer that question.

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How rural are you willing to go?

Here in far Northern California we need acute nurses at our small rural hospital. We have an ER and do deliver babies and minor surgeries and wound care.

Have you tried Redding, Mt. Shasta, Red Bluff, Yreka?

(People forget that there is quite a bit of California north of Sacramento).

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I have a BSN, PALS, ACLS, telemetry certification, stroke certification, and chemotherapy certification. I keep up with continuing education annually. I have applied mostly for medical/ surgical and oncology positions. I have also applied for jobs where they say they are wiling to train those without requisite experience. My old manager and a few friends who work in administration say my resume looks great. I am in the Sacramento area because it is where my fiance lives. He cannot move. I really don't want to move 2-3 hours away and cannot afford to pay for two places (since I will likely rent a place if I moved to Redding, Red Bluff, etc.) I have applied for jobs in Placerville and Marysville as well as San Andreas, Stockton, Manteca, etc. Pretty much everything with 1-1.5 hour drive. Anymore than that and I might as well just go back full time at my old hospital since it's only 2 hours away.

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

That's unusual with the experience and all the right certs. I applied for about four months before I had a bite up here and moved. How recent is your oncology experience? I'm wondering if that's your problem. More than two years they tend to shy away from. That's the only issue I could potentially think of. Any connections? What about getting on with a travel company and with that recent experience you should be more marketable?

Hope you get a break soon.

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I know of an ADN with only a year or so of SNF experience who was hired in Jackson at SAH. I don't know which dept, only that she got a job at the hospital.

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Specializes in Hematology/Oncology.

I would try travel into perm jobs. It's hard to believe you can't get an interview. I would have someone look at your resune. When I had 1 year I was getting calls.

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Specializes in Med Surg.

I had the same problem once I moved to CA and found that my applications were not getting through HR and into the hiring managers hands. Although it is time consuming (and annoying) I had to rewrite each application for each job posting even though I had (what I thought) was an impressive resume.

I found a website where I could paste in the Job description and paste in my resume and it would calculate if I had enough key words to prevent the HR computer from screening my resume out. Once I had above 90% key words I would submit it.

Trust me I've been there. I spent 4-8 hours daily applying for jobs for months and receiving rejection emails weekly. I took a Med Spa RN position because I felt as though it was better than nothing; I soon left because I felt they were doing illegal things and my license may have been jeopardized. While at my lowest I ended up getting called for an interview at which I was told I would be getting the job! Then 5 days later I received a rejection email from that same hiring manager. Fast forward one week and that same unit called me back to offer me the job! So don't give up, even when you get rejected stay polite and gracious because people will remember you and look out for you when the next position comes along.

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Specializes in Hematology/Oncology.
I had the same problem once I moved to CA and found that my applications were not getting through HR and into the hiring managers hands. Although it is time consuming (and annoying) I had to rewrite each application for each job posting even though I had (what I thought) was an impressive resume.

I found a website where I could paste in the Job description and paste in my resume and it would calculate if I had enough key words to prevent the HR computer from screening my resume out. Once I had above 90% key words I would submit it.

Trust me I've been there. I spent 4-8 hours daily applying for jobs for months and receiving rejection emails weekly. I took a Med Spa RN position because I felt as though it was better than nothing; I soon left because I felt they were doing illegal things and my license may have been jeopardized. While at my lowest I ended up getting called for an interview at which I was told I would be getting the job! Then 5 days later I received a rejection email from that same hiring manager. Fast forward one week and that same unit called me back to offer me the job! So don't give up, even when you get rejected stay polite and gracious because people will remember you and look out for you when the next position comes along.

I applied to UCSF for poops and giggles, no cover letter. I got a call within 2 week and the manager apologized for taking so long.

They are poaching oncology nurses from the bay area.

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I'm in the same boat as you are except I have only been actively looking and applying for about two weeks. I'm looking in that Inland Empire area and there is one hospital in particular that is denying my applications in less than four hours with the reason being I "don't meet the MINIMUM qualifications". Seriously?! I've been a nurse for a little over three years, have a BSN, and have worked in numerous specialties.

I am only applying to positions that I have experience in. I'm currently looking for stepdown/telemetry positions and worked that area for 1.5 years, but yet I somehow don't meet the qualification of "one year experience". Ridiculous. I have BLS, ACLS, and I am able to recognize all of the rhythms (even took the certification class through AHA recently as a refresher). Oh, and I also did the resume scan thing to make sure that it contained enough key words. I don't know what else to do.

I found the nursing recruiter on LinkedIn last night. I'm going to forward her my cover letter and resume. Hope that doesn't seem stalker-ish. But I have never had this problem before.

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.
I'm in the same boat as you are except I have only been actively looking and applying for about two weeks. I'm looking in that Inland Empire area and there is one hospital in particular that is denying my applications in less than four hours with the reason being I "don't meet the MINIMUM qualifications". Seriously?! I've been a nurse for a little over three years, have a BSN, and have worked in numerous specialties.

I am only applying to positions that I have experience in. I'm currently looking for stepdown/telemetry positions and worked that area for 1.5 years, but yet I somehow don't meet the qualification of "one year experience". Ridiculous. I have BLS, ACLS, and I am able to recognize all of the rhythms (even took the certification class through AHA recently as a refresher). Oh, and I also did the resume scan thing to make sure that it contained enough key words. I don't know what else to do.

I found the nursing recruiter on LinkedIn last night. I'm going to forward her my cover letter and resume. Hope that doesn't seem stalker-ish. But I have never had this problem before.

3 years exp and your not getting bites in the IE? I started there as a new grad, did you try St Bs? That's crazy because the low wages versus cost of living always seemed they're all always hiring.

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3 years exp and your not getting bites in the IE? I started there as a new grad, did you try St Bs? That's crazy because the low wages versus cost of living always seemed they're all always hiring.

I haven't applied to St B's because I was told by HR that they don't accept temp licenses and I won't have my permanent until maybe the end of December. But maybe I should apply to a few open spots there anyway.

Riverside Community and Riverside County Regional have nothing open. I was added to the eligible list for Arrowhead Regional but that means basically nothing. All of the rejection letters I've been receiving are from San Antonio hospital. I'm trying to avoid for-profit hospitals because I've never had a good experience with those. Just sucks that I can't find anything because we're moving there from Phoenix at the end of next month for my husbands job.

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