How Crucial to 1st job offers are connections from clinicals?

[Adenium]

The program I'd applied to (UConn's master's entry NP for 2nd degree folks) has filled up for its January 08 class, and is debating adding a new clinical cohort to accommodate some of the waitlist students. If they're able to do this, I would be ecstatic to start in January then rather than having to wait a year.

My worry is this - I live in East Hartford, soon to move to the Andover/Coventry area, and the potential cohort would be in the Waterbury area. My fear is that after the 1st year, and licensure, when I go to get my first RN job I'll be lacking any contacts in the eastern area where I'd like to work - all the clinical instruction would have been in the Waterbury area. At that point I'll be doing all my master's level classes at UConn's Storrs campus, so no big commutes. But I'm just trying to gauge how much I'll be digging a hole for myself if I have to go for initial jobs without any prior connection - just my present non-nursng career experience and my grades from nursing school.

Every job I've had so far has been acquired through some level of personal connection - and this is how it's worked for pretty much all friends and family. No one I know has been hired merely from sending in a resume or applying to an online job posting. Is nursing so different? The school tells me their grads get recruited, but then they're also a wee bit biased. Any advice/opinions would be much appreciated.

[Reeney78]

I can only speak from an undergraduate nursing perspective, but I'll share anyway...

Before we started clinicals, my school told us how heavily recruited we would be, both during our clinicals and by hospitals we did not have clinicals at... I didn't believe them, but they were right!!! I found that the reputation of the school's nursing program (and in your case NP program) goes a long way. I am sure UConn's program has a very strong rep.

Although my present staff nursing position is on a floor that I did a clinical on, many of my classmates from the second degree program I just graduated from received job offers from hospitals we were not involved with. For my program at least, we used the same 3-4 hospitals, but I have classmates working at hospitals all over Connecticut and many in NYC.

Hope this helps...

[Adenium]

Thanks! That's exactly the kind of information I needed to breathe a little easier, assuming most people have the kind of experience you did.

[caliotter3]

When I was in nursing school, at my last clinical rotation, most of the nurses I worked with gave me a heads up about a job opening on that floor and urged me to go to HR to apply. It was for a CNA position, but would have placed me in a position for hire for the next RN position. Unfortunately, when I went to HR I was told that the position announcement had closed. That was the closest I've ever come to having connections help me get a job. Ever since, I've always gotten jobs by going to apply for them. During one interview, I was asked about my former DON during the interview. That was it. Usually people don't even know who I am. They call my references, or send the form letters to my references, and I get the position, or I don't. You will most likely be able to make some good connections in your program, so don't worry too much. Your credentials will be instrumental in getting your jobs; your connections will be most helpful in letting you know which places are hiring. Good luck.