Cant Find A Job!

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I live in northern NJ and have been looking for a job for months now. Any suggestions on how to secure a job as a new graduate. Unfortunately, most places want experience. How do you get experience if no one offers it. Have checked Craigs list daily and mailed out hundreds of resumes. I am starting to look in want ads for something under my old career. What happened to the nursing shortage! They tell you in school you will have many opportunities, but that hasn't been my experience.:madface:

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I have heard the same complaint for new nurses graduating in this state many times now. Did your school have any type of help? Do you read Spectum or Advance? Have you gone to the hospitals near where you live and actually looked at their job postings in HR??? Sometimes, jobs are there but not advertised. Did you intern or work as a tech/aide in any of the hospitals while going to school? If so, write a letter to the Nuring CEO, bypassing the HR department.

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

Try long term care, they should be hiring.

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Specializes in Corrections, Cardiac, Hospice.

This happened to me when I graduated in 1998. I passed my boards in Aug and still didn't have anything by November. (Luckily, I was working for a doctor so at least there was something.) So this is what I did...I printed up a dozen or so resume and started pounding the pavement. I went to about 8 or 9 nursing homes and handed them my resume. I had 4 job interviews on the spot and was offered 2 jobs that day. I worked per diem gained and some experience. Then one of my patients at the doctor's office told me they were hiring at the county jail (he was a city cop) and wanted to know if I would be interested in that job. I gave him a resume and he passed it on to the administrator. I started the per diem and quit the ECF. 6 months later my wonderful doc had a stroke and had to retire so I went full-time at the jail. About the time the pendulum started swinging back to a nurses shortage and I was able to get into the hospital about 5 months later. I guess this is my long way of telling you, take what you can get for now. Get your feet wet and wait it out for your dream job. I will say, I like corrections nursing and loved working with the cops. They have the same sick twisted sense of humor as most nurses I know, lol. I never would have had that experience had I got a job in the hospital right out of college.

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:heartbeat:heartbeat:heartbeat It could just be that the places you have applied to are at their limit for new grads. It's not that they will never hire you without experience, they just don't have the experience staff to balance out their new grads. Of course this isn't the case in all hospitals. There are some that strictly will not hire new grads (from what I've heard). I think your best bet might be to find a job to help you pay your bill and keep applying. And if you hear of any openings on a floor after you apply find out who the nurse manager is on that unit and call them about the position, and make them want to hire you that way. :heartbeat:heartbeat:heartbeat

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