Contacting Interview Panel

[Robin.Hood1986]

Hi guys,

I wanted to know about the likely hood of a person getting hired as fresh out of college with a msn but no bsn as I am deciding which program and degree to pursue.

So, I thought it was a good idea to contact some of the major hospitals in my area to get a feel of how they feel about hiring entry level msn students.

For all of them I pretty much emailed the general email address provided on their site and requested some statistics, FAQs or be forwarded to the proper person/department (hoping it would reach HR or one of the manager nurses) in hopes to address my question. However, out of the dozen hospitals, most responded by saying they do not forward information to the recruiting party.

This really sucks. I was really hoping I could meet with someone simply to discuss the outlook of my future.

So my question to you guys is, how do I approach this situation. Is there generally a person at a facility I could reach out to and have an open conversation with or is looked down upon and I shouldn't even have emailed the hospitals. (Even though I think it is a clever idea to reach out and do some research).

Thanks

[LessValuableNinja]

But does this mean they are actually preferred when it comes to the hiring choice? Or would they rather someone with more hands on experience who they could pay a bit less? I don't know just asking and probably somewhat position specific.

Ahhhhhh as for VA NP jobs I would love it but as recent as 5 years ago my base salary is >$50,000 more a year than the highest VA pay grade and I won't live long enough to get enough years experience to even make that one. Even if they have increased wages my guess is not enough and although I remember the perks of federal benefits they aren't enough for me to lose thousands of dollars a year in my salary. Bummer because as a RN VA paid me well and despite many negatives I really enjoyed it.

Preferred? In my experience, the VA usually wants to fill the slot with the person with the most points on the rubric. Education is usually worth points. Experience.. points. Veteran.. points. Disabled veteran.. more points. However, now, the category system is also in play, so now they hire based on points in the top available category. Used to be, the hiring manager could pick the candidate they liked the best out of the top 3 points-based applicants. Now, categories supercede that.

Also, just FYI, there are ways to pay above pay grades beyond just cola. Some of the advertisements are pretty high up there.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Hi guys,

I wanted to know about the likely hood of a person getting hired as fresh out of college with a msn but no bsn as I am deciding which program and degree to pursue.

So, I thought it was a good idea to contact some of the major hospitals in my area to get a feel of how they feel about hiring entry level msn students.

For all of them I pretty much emailed the general email address provided on their site and requested some statistics, FAQs or be forwarded to the proper person/department (hoping it would reach HR or one of the manager nurses) in hopes to address my question. However, out of the dozen hospitals, most responded by saying they do not forward information to the recruiting party.

This really sucks. I was really hoping I could meet with someone simply to discuss the outlook of my future.

So my question to you guys is, how do I approach this situation. Is there generally a person at a facility I could reach out to and have an open conversation with or is looked down upon and I shouldn't even have emailed the hospitals. (Even though I think it is a clever idea to reach out and do some research).

Thanks

My understanding of your questions is that you're looking at MSN as an entry to nursing as opposed to a BSN. Perhaps you already have another degree.

It's possible to get hired as a bedside nurse with an MSN -- I've precepted nurses with accelerated BSNs, regular BSNs, ADNs and MSN as entry. Generally, the MSNs fare the worst in a new grad orientation scenario and a year out are still lagging behind the BSNs and ADNs. Of course, that could be just because the MSN programs near me are inferior in preparing students to learn to be nurses. Think about what you want to do. Graduate credits are almost always more expensive than undergraduate credits . . . and that may be an important consideration.

[DTWriter]

You should only consider doing an entry level MSN program if you cannot afford the BSN programs (as in, you need to do a graduate program in order to get enough loans to cover your program), or if you want to be a NP (There are entry level NP programs).

Sure, a MSN looks great to HR but makes you a target on the floors, especially if your manager does not have a MSN :/

Plus, it causes confusion. There are recruiters out there who still do not know about entry level MSN programs; they assume that MSN = 2+ years experience You can end up being blocked from new grad programs because a recruiter thought you were an experienced nurse.