California's 2009 New Grad RN Program- Who's hiring right now?

[piscesmama]

Greetings.

This is my story- I graduated from Nursing School in May 2008 (ADN) and passed my boards in October 2008.

I live north of San Fran and have yet to find a New Grad Program. I've been on Allnurses since last summer when I started studying to pass the boards. I used Allnurses especially the "random facts" thread which helped me pass the boards with flying colors. My family is ready to move out of the area because there is no new grad program avail out here.

I have spent hours online looking for New Grad positions in Washington State, Southern Ca, New Mexico, and Ashville NC. These are the areas, along with the Bay Area that I am interested in. I am looking to see if someone would like to buddy up or we can all help continue this thread and we can help search together for all the possible positions in the areas mentioned above or just in California. I have found that the work done alone is not enough or that I have just missed an application date, or I didn't know that blank blank just hired for the season.

The random facts thread was so hot because it was encompassing info about one main event with up to the minute info. Maybe a thread like "California's 2009 New Grad RN Program- Who's hiring right now?"- and it would include SNF's and whatever we can think of that a new nurse can do in the community, would be like the "random facts" thread. I'm sure I will hear from an Allnurses thread monitor about if this is OK or not.

At this point I am just trying to be creative and use the best resource online, which to me has been this sight.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Piscesmama

[.california nurse.]

Im currently working at Monrovia Memorial Hospital.Its a sub acute just like Vista and Kindred

1. did you apply as a new grad? - I applied as a new grad RN

2. how many weeks of training did you receive prior to working alone on the floor? - 2 days only. One was the paperworks,the other one was observation on the floor. On my 3rd day,I was supposed to have orrientation during the night but everybody was so busy,even my presceptor who was busy doing admission wasnt able to orrient me. They give me 4 patients and one of the patient is sedated and has a bp of 200 plus/90 plus.hehe!!! My supervisor was irritated at me that time.

3. how many patients do you care for? When they know that I cant handle 4 patients,they gave me 2 until I get used to it,then 3, 4.The maximum that I have is 5.

4. 8 hr shifts or 12? 12 1/2

5. how many other RN's work with you during a shift? 3 rn, 1 lvn or 2 rn, 1 lvn

gwafuh, how was the interview? Sorry to ask, but with hiring freezes everywhere, I want to make sure I get this job :/ I appreciate your help !

[mmm333, LVN]

8 months since graduation and given the job market it's not looking like I'm going to be a real nurse. What happens to new grads who haven't found anything within 1, 2, or 3 years? What do they do? Just maintain their license and wear the title?

[lperkrn, MSN, RN]

Reply to mmm333: I posted on this thread "New Grad RN-->No Jobs, Then what?" https://allnurses.com/nursing-career-advice/new-grad-rn-407045.html and have cut and pasted my response below on what happened to me.

I am the original poster of this thread and have been following all the great ideas that people have put forward over the past 18 months. I haven't seen much shifting in terms of "old grads" getting into acute care positions. In fact, many around the bay area, where I am located, have strict criteria that may say the applicant must have graduated no earlier than December 2009 and in some very competitive programs, the grad date is even as little as 6 months prior to the application date. With that said, the acute care position for "old grads" has become the elusive dream (if that is what you wanted in the first place). It was what I wanted, but I have always been very open to a wide variety of nursing opportunities, both in and out of acute care.

Here is my own experience. I returned part-time to my previous non-health profession so that I could pay the bills and maintain quality of life for my family. I felt lucky that I had something in my back pocket that I loved to do, but also was somewhat disappointed that I wasn't getting my year or more of acute care. I continued applying to openings wherever I could find them, in both acute and non-acute settings and at the same time, diligently looked for volunteer positions since I figured if I can't get paid, at least I want somewhere to practice. In early 2010, I found two places to volunteer: one in a juvenile correctional facility and one in public health. After two months, I was hired per diem for the juvenile facility. I have had consistent scheduling in some months and erratic in others, thus I am not able to rely on it for my primary source of income. I also enhanced my skill set by becoming a Red Cross Volunteer, volunteering with Project Homeless Connect, picking up some per diem agency work in Occupational Health, and getting ACLS certified. Soon I will do a 3 day course on STD/HIV training (the fee was waived since I don't have regular RN employment) and then PALS. All the while I have been applying to jobs when I see them. I also continue to volunteer in public health. I think it is difficult searching and applying to jobs because it is very time consuming, especially when trying to work and keep up and/or gain nursing skills through per diem or volunteer work. Sometimes I found myself wishing that I just had that ONE paid full-time job and then my life would be simplified. However, the trade off has been a lot of freedom and that is something that does not have a price tag. I still hope to find acute care employment some day, but in the meantime I am enjoying what I do and have found myself among patient populations that I never thought I would serve, but they have been the most stellar reward.

The downside to all of this is that I am not experienced in acute care. Acute care recruiters have said, "you know, your experience doesn't count for acute care." I know this, but my experience does count for something. Maybe I won't end up in that L&D position that motivated me to be a second career RN, but I have found so many other paths to travel on, and be rewarded by, that acute care isn't the only place to be.

postscript: I realize that my non RN part-time employment is what makes it possible for me to be positioned as a per diem and volunteer RN and that most RN new grads are seeking ft employment, but I wanted to share how I have made it work so far.

[ORRocksRN]

do keep in mind that this month marks the first of the baby boomers turning 65. there will soon be rapid fire retirement of older nurses from here on out and positions WILL open. Hospitals WILL have to hire. Keep motivated, volunteer, get extra certs, be willing to relocate and have hope. It will happen for you.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Its interesting that there seems to be so much focus on acute care. There are so many areas that are interesting too, and require nurses. I actually prefer LTC, psych, OR, occ health, public health, palliative care. I am open to acute care, but that certainly is not the only option. More importantly, nurses are so overworked on those floors right now. Ask yourself if that is really what you want?

[gwafuh_rn, BSN, RN]

gwafuh, how was the interview? Sorry to ask, but with hiring freezes everywhere, I want to make sure I get this job :/ I appreciate your help !

hello.im not sure if they're still hiring at monrovia since i switch myself to per diem because its far from where I live and I work full time now at kindred hospital which is a long term acute and its just 1 mile from our place.

[nursepenelope]

Gwafah, Is Kindred hiring rite now and do you like it? I have applied to them but did not get a response back. Sounds like it would be a step in the right direction if you want to eventually land a job in acute care. I work in SNF and it is hard, very busy and demanding. I would love to have only 5 pt's.

[nursepenelope]

Did anyone out there get an interview with Alta Bates Labor and Delivery Unit for their March training program? Just wanted some feed back. I interviewed, but it was impossible to read how I did in the interview. It was 3 interviewers and they all had poker faces, and I think I answered too honostly with some of the questions. Just trying to be myself, but I stink at interviews. Lol.

[dmskoka]

I left Ca for Little Rock Arkansas.. They have a new grad 6 month training program. We have had classroom and a few days on the floor.. Now we are switching to about 3 days on the floor and one day class. We choose a track, some emergency room , some cardiac, some icu , some medical, some surgical etc. We rotate to different floors in the track and then we get matched to a floor after 3 months. We then work with one preceptor for 3 months, then graduate. They are hiring again in March for med-surg and then doing another regular class in June. St. Vincent medical center in Little Rock. I was tired of getting no where in Ca and I hadn't seen another program in the country as long, as this one. One of my former classmates came and liked it , now 3 from my class are here..... good luck everyone.. this is such a tough market

[PRN22]

I left Ca for Little Rock Arkansas.. They have a new grad 6 month training program. We have had classroom and a few days on the floor.. Now we are switching to about 3 days on the floor and one day class. We choose a track, some emergency room , some cardiac, some icu , some medical, some surgical etc. We rotate to different floors in the track and then we get matched to a floor after 3 months. We then work with one preceptor for 3 months, then graduate. They are hiring again in March for med-surg and then doing another regular class in June. St. Vincent medical center in Little Rock. I was tired of getting no where in Ca and I hadn't seen another program in the country as long, as this one. One of my former classmates came and liked it , now 3 from my class are here..... good luck everyone.. this is such a tough market

Thank you dmskoka for the informations, I'm tired of Ca too. how long it take to do the license enforcement in arkansas?

[dmskoka]

you can get a temporary while waiting. My fingerprints went back so still waiting on the perm one. My classmate already has the perm. It doesn't take long at all. Also a lot of people in my group from Arkansas had a temp license and just took the NCLEX this week. IT did cost me about 200 dollars. 60 goes to the state of Ca. You can get fingerprints in AR free from the state police but I paid 40 in Ca before I left to get it done.

[gwafuh_rn, BSN, RN]

Gwafah, Is Kindred hiring rite now and do you like it? I have applied to them but did not get a response back. Sounds like it would be a step in the right direction if you want to eventually land a job in acute care. I work in SNF and it is hard, very busy and demanding. I would love to have only 5 pt's.

they're not hiring right now at kindred la but you check the other locations of kindred.

kindred la is a long term acute hospital.you're lucky if you get 5 pt's.the max pt that you can get is somewhere between 8-10 and most of them are on ventilators.but you work with a team.you have an lvn and a cna.