Can't find pediatric job, move to adults?

[Mnstn, BSN, RN]

My dream is to work in a NICU. I quickly realized that wasn't going to work as most required a lot of experience. I moved onto looking at pediatric jobs, unfortunately a lot of those jobs require experience. There are two children's hospitals in my town but only one has a residency program, I'm looking into it.

My question is, I have been out of school over two months, I have applied to many jobs and haven't heard back from any of them. I write cover letters, I have had my resume looked over, the only thing left is to start calling the hiring managers and hope they listen to me.

If I can't find a job in pediatrics/neonatal, should I move to adults? I've looked into postpartum but many require experience as well. I'm incredibly frustrated. I've heard its hard to go from caring for adults to children plus most pediatric jobs want pediatric experience.

What should I do?

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

Why is it hard to go from caring for adults to caring for children? I know many people who made the transition with no difficulty.

[GundeRN]

I think it is pretty common for nurses to be expected to get a couple of years of basic med/surg experience before moving on to a specialized area. I am surprised no one has told you that before. Also, at least here in MN, jobs are not that plentiful in nursing period so even getting on a med/surg floor can take 6mo or more. I guess my short answer is, yes. Apply for jobs caring for adults.

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

I think it is pretty common for nurses to be expected to get a couple of years of basic med/surg experience before moving on to a specialized area. I am surprised no one has told you that before. Also at least here in MN, jobs are not that plentiful in nursing period so even getting on a med/surg floor can take 6mo or more. I guess my short answer is, yes. Apply for jobs caring for adults.[/quote']

It depends on your area. Many specialties these days hire new grads, but the amount of new grads applying is often way more than the amount of positions they have open.

You need to get some nursing experience, so even if it isn't what you want, I would start applying for adult nursing jobs. Perhaps you could at least try to get a adult nursing job at a hospital that has a NICU or a peds area, that way you will eventually be able to apply for an internal transfer if a position opens up. At my hospital, internal applicants always get preferential treatment for positions, even if it is for an area they have no experience in.

[Luckyyou, BSN, RN]

I started in adult oncology and was offered a NICU position after less than a year. My adult experience was extremely valuable in becoming a competent RN. Apply to anything and everything -- any experience is better than zero experience.