Can't get a job as new RN

U.S.A. Florida

Published

Hello all,

I'm hoping someone will be able to help me...I'm a brand new RN in Orlando, FL and I've been looking for a hospital job for the last 5 months with no luck. Every job opening I see requires you to have at least 1 year of hospital experience but no one will hire me. I've applied to about 200 jobs and nothing....every recruiter/HR dept tells me it is because I don't have experience. Anyone else around here going through this?? :o

Studeninnursing, thanks for the link. very interesting reading!

I went to a private nursing school that was affiliated w/a hospital. We got plenty of time in the hospital it self but our time with an instructor was very limited. It was good as far as exposure but i learned very little in clinicals. We usually had 8 students per 1 instructor where the public colleges ratio were more lie 1:10 not much difference really.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Just a quick reply... I have a BSN. Doesn't seem to matter.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Hi yall,

I feel so much better about not being able to find a job. I thought I was the only one! Who would have thought that we all would be sitting pretty at home instead of working our tails out caring for patients? It took an economic downturn for us nurses to realize we dont have the job security we thought we had in our profession. I scoff at the words "nursing shortage" If there was a nursing shortage, my phone would be ringing off the hook after applying to more than TEN local hospitals and only one called me for and interview and I still need to called back for a second interview by a nurse manager for that one!

If things dont start looking good in a few weeks, I'm going to re-evaluate some plans and start looking into Long Term Care and Agency work like a lot you guys have suggested. I know a whole lot about agencies. Please! I need some help! Anyone know some reputable, reliable, and well run agencies in the Kissimmee, Orlando, St. Cloud, Davenport, Winter Haven, Lakeland, or Tampa areas?

What about LTC facilities? Wouldnt it be more difficult to land a hospital job if I pursue a career in LTC? Dont hospitals only want experience in acute care settings in order to consider you for a position?

I just want to be a nurse :nurse:!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

The VA is building a new facility in Orlando....

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Keep doing what you are doing and keep positive. The new VA may very well be something to check out.

I have a friend who graduated from nursing school, went to work at a nursing home for just one year and when she tried to work at my hospital they made her take a refresher course. It wasn't cheap. Of course they offered to pay for it after she finished but then she had to sign a contract. So yes, it can happen. But better to do something in the field than not work at all.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thanks so much for the advise and words of support. I'm going to keep at it as you say. Its almost time to start calling back a few hospitals and checking in with HR. I dont see any hope at the VA. A lot of the positions ask for experience again!

I had a friend who was almost 5 months pregnant and started work at a local hospital almost a year after graduation and got the jobwith no experience! By the way, thats the same hospital that called me for an interview with HR, though I'm still waiting for a nurse manager to call me back for a second interview. Another friend landed a job after 6 months after graduation with no experience but she had inside help, her aunt worked at the facility for a decade or more as an RN.

I still have hope and I'm still going to fight for that acute setting job. What you said about your friend reinforces my thoughts that its just as tough getting an acute setting job if I've got LTC experience. We dont know what the future holds. A lot of talks about Health care reform and maybe the job market for nurses will open up a bit again or the health care industry will tank, who knows! Please keep me posted if yall have a position opening up on your unit! I dont have experience, but I make it up by being hardworking, a quick learner, and having a persevering spirit :typing (me applying none stop, lol everyday, all day:bugeyes:)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Hey yall,

For you guys and gals still looking for a job, try networking with friends! I took some advise from a good friend from nursing school and he suggested using my social networking site as a tool in my job search. :typing So jumped on it. Wrote a mass email to all of my nursing buddies and asked them to PLEASE refer me if there are openings in their units. Not only do they help me out but if I am hired, they get a referral bonus! :up: Three of them replied to me in less than 12 hours with suggested openings! It may be a long shot but you just gotta keep plodding on if you want to succeed!:typing

For any nurse managers out there, how can an inexperienced nurse spruce up her resume to stand out from the rest? I'm ACLS certified and I took it to stand out from other graduate RN's. But what else can I do if acute care setting is my goal? Any suggests from yall who are veterans in the nursing field? :nurse: What can I do to stick out?

Thanks in advance for the help!:bow:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I am confused; how does one get a BSN degree with no healthcare experience (it was quoted in another post as "no healthcare experience" only management or something to that effect). You have to work as an RN to get your clinical credits for BSN? Right? I must be missing something--you have to have the clinical hours in whether your get paid or not. I would think you would have gosh, a year and a half to two years it takes to complete a BSN, worth of experience working as RN to receive those BSN credits? Or they just considered it as having no healthcare experience?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Clinical hours during a nursing program is not adequate clinical experience for an acute care setting apparently. So its tough. Unfortunately I had to wait a while before begining my job search not realizing that I would be caught in a rock and a hard place. Its largely due to hiring managers not acquiring new staff during these economic times, low census and all that jazz.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

omg!!!!!! i have been out of school since december 2008. i immediately got a temporary permit which lasts 3 months. in april 2009 i took nclex and passed. i still cannot get a job. i know for certain that i have put in over 100 applications and still no luck. does anyone out there know of something in mobile, alabama? i need to work. i need experience. i dont want to waste my education. i just want to be a working rn.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

hi there, does your school offer placement assistance or can any of your past clinical instructors help get you "in"? Any nurses you met during rotations? Sometimes even when hospitals don't post openings if you know the right people they can get you in. Any classmates, friends or family work at any hospitals? Network, push hard, keep trying and best of luck!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Good luck with that one. I live in Mobile, or should I say use to? I applied to most hospitals in Alabama with no luck. I am currently looking for jobs in Florida, hopefully something will happen. If it is any help, there are jobs in Louisiana that will hire new grads just as there are in florida. I will keep you posted and I hope that you will do the same.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment