Capstone

[NICUnLDRN]

I'm a senior nursing student and I'm torn on choosing my top 3 areas to do my capstone in. My dream top would be to work in NICU or OB as a labor and delivery nurse. I know for a fact that the hospitals here don't hire new grads into these specialty units. I've talked to nurse recruiters and people at the hospitals and they want new grads to have experience first as a nurse then transfer if possible to those units. However, I've said before I would be willing to move to another state and apply to a new grad program for NICU or Labor and delivery however, its scary to just move alone especially during covid and not know anyone. I also tend to have social anxiety and fear that I will start to feel alone and not make any friends since I'm shy and quiet. 

So should I just choose areas that I know I can possibly get hired in because they do offer these jobs to new grads even though they are competitive such as ICU, OR, or ED. Or should I just stay with the areas I want which would be NICU, OB, ICU, even though I know I won't get hired in these positions and who knows if I'll get hired as a new grad in a new state. 

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

Depends on how passionate you are for those specialties. I did a NICU Capstone in school and planned to move anywhere that would hire me as a new grad. Fortunately, I found two hospitals that wanted me, both out of state. I decided to go with the Level IV NICU. There are hospitals that will hire new grads into those specialties, but you have to look for them. My unit hires almost exclusively Capstone students, Summer externs, and our PCAs that finished nursing school.