CNA schedule for getting a job

[nurse4a]

I have two weeks left of the class, and then another two weeks before I can take my test. That's mid-June before it's all said and done... I need to know if I should go ahead and apply for jobs now (I'm interested in nursing assistant position in a hospital), or wait until I get everything finished up. I'm kind of banking on this job working out.... I'm on unemployment from my past job and NEED to start work.... I am in school so it's keeping me occupied, but I need to start work somewhere.

[mindyfromcali]

Not sure where you live, but in California in 2009 it took me a month and a half to get my stuff back in the mail with my certificate. I don't know if a hospital would accept that. For me, it took a year worth of experience in skilled nursing/geriatrics to even be considered to work for a registry for a hospital. When the Red Cross assessed me for my skills for the CNA they gave me a couple of cards saying that I passed that.

[nursetabitha]

I mailed in my application the day after I took the exam (2 weeks after my last class) and it took exactly 3 weeks to get my license. If you do LTC in nursing homes they usually will hire you with a stipulation that you must pass your exams and have your license within a certain number of days after you start. My fellow CNA classmates who went into nursing homes started working before they even passed their exams. I didn't want to work in LTC so I applied at a skilled nursing facility and I got the job but couldn't step foot in a patients room until I had my actual license in hand. They're much more strict than LTC. I had my last CNA class on March 27th, took my exams on April 12th, and start my first job on May 16th.

[nursetabitha]

Oh and hospitals pretty much across the board require one year of experience before they will even consider you. Some people will work in a LTC facility to get the experience and volunteer at the hospital so they can be on the "inside" track when a position opens up.