Critical Care/ED job for Newer Nurse

[LeLeeFNP]

I am moving to Nashville, TN in a few weeks. I currently live in Milwaukee, WI. I graduated with my RN in May of this year and have been working as an ICU nurse since graduation (about 4 months). I would like to stay in Critical Care or emergency but I am finding it dificult to locate hospitals that hire new grads or nurses with less than a year of experience for critical care/emergency dept positions. I am BLS and ACLS certified and I am basic and 12-lead EKG certified as well. Although I only have four months of RN exprience I have a year of LPN experience in a Long term Acute Care facility and I also completed an internship on a Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit prior to getting my RN. I feel like I have a lot of experience and credentials for a relative new grad. Nursing is my second career. I originally got a Bachelors degree in Communication. I felt that going back to school for nursing would give me more job opportunities. This was true in Wisconsin. I received multiple offers when I graduated, but now that I am looking for jobs in Nashville, it seems that they want nurses with years and years of experience. How do they expect the new grads to get trained and take over for the retirees if they won't give us a chance? I'm just so frustrated because I have 3 college degrees and can't find a job! any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[meandragonbrett]

You are likely having difficulty because of a few reasons.

You're a new grad that is leaving their first RN position 4 months after licensing. That makes you look like an individual that could be indecisive, unable to get along with others, unable to do critical care, etc. Also, 4 months of critical care is likely being viewed as 1-2 months by hiring managers because of your hospital and nursing orientation to the unit once you obtained your RN license.

Your previous LPN experience is irrelevant in the eyes of most nurse managers in critical care ares.

Many new grads have BLS, ACLS, and have worked as interns, externs, and/or done critical care residency programs. They've taken telemetry courses and critical care courses. Your credentials aren't necessarily any different than those you are competing against for a job.

What hospitals have you applied at?

[LeLeeFNP]

meandragonbrett,

thank you very much for your reply. I have searched for positions at vanderbilt, centenial and the St. Thomas hospitals. I agree with what you posted because as I am reading more blogs about nurses in Tennessee, I am seeing that many new grads do take the initiative to get certified in those areas on their own. Where I'm from that isn't the case and my resume is very competetive. Also when I apply to jobs, I submit a cover letter explaining why I am leaving wisconsin and my job. It's simply due to my husband's relocation of employment and not because I wasn't sucessful in critical care. In fact I even have letters of recommendation from all of my previous supervisors, including my ICU manager. If I could just get an interview they would see how much I have to offer. Do you have any tips on what I could do to simply get an interview? I only have an associates degree in nursing now and my bachelors is in another field, but if I can't find a job soon in the area that I want I thought about just going back to school for a bachelors in nursing and eventually an MSN. The only issue with that is that I don't want my skills to suffer.

[meandragonbrett]

It can be very tough to get through the recruitment teams at the hospitals in this area. Have you been contacted by the recruiters at all even saying "hey, we've received your application?"

Sometimes getting the job you want down here ends up in knowing somebody, or going behind recruitment's back and contacting the unit managers. I know that from experience!

[LeLeeFNP]

meandragonbrett,

i have been contacted by one recruiter from centennial medical center. she just e-mailed me today and told me that she would send out my resume to the unit managers with open positions. i know what you mean about knowing people. this will be tough for me because i don't know anyone in the area. thats why i figured i could make some contacts by going back to school. maybe the instructors will have some connections for me. but that won't happen until january at the very earliest. i don't want to go that long without work.

[Cinqly, BSN, RN]

Keep in mind that you are applying after the hospitals have filled up with May and August new grads. I live on the western side of the state, but where I am they only hire so-many newbies and after that they prefer people with more experience (i.e. several years). I know it can be tough, but if your are persistent they will eventually see you are serious. Also, you can always try to get a job on another unit in the hopstial, and then apply for a transfer after 6 months. Not ideal, but at least you will keep your skills fresh. Good luck!

[kdsharp]

What part of Nashville are you moving to? I just left Stonecrest in Smyrna, about 25 miles from Nashville, I know they expect to have open positions in ICU soon. Try there, it's a HCA facility.

[LeLeeFNP]

I am actually having luck now. I got an offer from southern hills which is an HCA facility. Thanks for all your help and advice. I moved to Hendersonville.