Denied from Johns Hopkins All Children's and Now I Can't Find a Job

[unluckystudentnurse]

After being selected as 1 of the 30 (out of 102 applicants) to attend the Johns Hopkins All Children's Interview Event in St. Petersburg, FL, I sadly discovered that I did not get offered a position...after paying my own airfare and accommodations just to attend, all the way from Pennsylvania.

I missed out on other opportunities just to go to this interview (it is expensive and logistically complicated to travel for multiple interviews back to back, and I put everything into this one opportunity because it was my top choice), and now I am struggling to get beyond an application submission. I am primarily looking in Florida because it is close to my family in SC, but I am open to many other locations.

I tried applying to a hospital in Charleston, SC also, but got disqualified before I could even submit because it only wanted candidates who were already licensed in one of the states within the same compact that SC belongs to (and I am licensed in PA, which is not)...

I feel as though I am such a strong candidate--I graduated from Duquesne's ABSN program, have a previous degree in psychology from The Citadel, am a USAF reservist and veteran, and was a PCT on a high acuity hem/onc unit for over a year...

I am revisiting the VA hospital in Tampa and Bay Pines, although I was more or less shot down by the recruiter prior to getting licensed.

Any advice would be much appreciated. I am feeling so discouraged.

[llg, PhD, RN]

The source of some of your problems is that you want to find a great job ... then do the paperwork to get your license in that state and move there. While that plan works for YOUR life, it doesn't work well for employers. There are lots of new grads out there looking for jobs -- especially in pediatrics, which is usually a popular specialty. Employers are looking for people who are going to STAY in their employ for a long time, not leave in just a year or two. Many hospitals have been burned by hiring nurses (new grads, especially) who are just looking for a year of experience so that they can leave and go back home to get their dream job at a hospital near their family or boyfriend or grad school ... whatever. So, hospitals look for nurses who have roots/ties to their area -- nurses who at least have committed to their region by moving their and getting a nurses license in that state. You have been willing to do neither, suggesting that you don't care where you live and that you will be more likely to leave as soon as something happens to displease you.

Decide where you want to live and get your license in that state. That shows a bit of a commitment to live there. You might be able to get away with not actually committing to a place to live by saying that you will be looking for an apartment near the hospital where you get a job -- but demonstrate that you have already investigated the local housing situation and are prepared to "pull the trigger" as soon as you know you will have a job nearby. Talk about the ties you have to region, the family who live there, the visits you have made to that city, etc. to show that you have roots in that committee. If you have no ties to that region, you are unlikely to get a job offer until you actually move there. Hospitals just aren't desperate enough to take a chance on a total outsider with no reason to stay in that community for long.

Unless you have an unusual skill or credential that the hospital needs (and as a new grad, you don't) ... your school, talents, credentials, or passion have little to do with it. They have lots of applicants who have those things -- the hospital is trying to predict which of those applicants is committed to working for them long-term. Having no ties to the local community implies that you will have no reason to stay for very long.