Career boost

[Slourayne]

Hi. I'm Sharisse from the Philippines. I graduated last Apr.2010, passed the local nursing exam (also known as the Philippine Nurse Licensure Examination) July that same year. I was immediately hired as a volunteer staff nurse in our province's tertiary hospital November 2010.

Now my dilemma is I'm already frustrated with everything that's going on with my nsg career. I mean I've been working for 6 months short of 2 years without pay! That's how inadequate the Phil. Govt. can be. I want to boost or at least upgrade on my career. I wanna work abroad already. Problem is I, personally, does'nt want to go and work in any Middle East countries for the reason that my very goal since I started to study BSN is to go and work in the US.

I know I've got to take NCLEX and IELTS. But after that, what should I do next? I particularly wanna work in California but other countries will do. Will you help me? Big thanks!

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

The problem here in California is that there is a glut of nurses--both new grad and experienced--who are struggling to find jobs. While you have to square away work permits, sponsorship, and whatever else you need to in order to work in the U.S., most of these nurses are already citizens or permanent residents who could start the job yesterday. So unless you can bring really strong to the interview table, you'd be at a disadvantage when competing against them.

However, you don't really know until you try. CA BRN's starting point:

Board of Registered Nursing - Get a Nursing License

Best of luck!