Employed '09 and '10 grads: Are you where you wanted to be?

[Lovely_RN]

First let me write that I am super thankful to be gainfully employed as a new grad RN...so this isn't a rant thread. I'm just curious to know if you landed a job in the area that you wanted when you were in school? Also, if you didn't get the area you wanted are you happy where you're at now? Do you have plans to switch to your desired area in a few years when things turn around?

I worked in a skilled facility as an LPN but I always wanted to be a L&D nurse once I got my RN. Well, long story short I graduated in April '09, passed boards in June, and couldn't find a job till late Dec(and that was with a connection!). My area is substance abuse and about as far from L&D as you can imagine.

I was thrilled about finally getting an RN job and a pretty good one at that and I don't like to think ungrateful thoughts when so many can't find anything at all. I'm not exaggerating...the schedule...my co-workers....my head nurse....my nurse manager it's all good.

I'm really lucky to have this job and would have never got it if it wasn't for getting a little assistance. I even got my first review and it was glowing.

I truly have nothing to complain about.....yet I still have thoughts of wanting to work in L&D. Not that I could get a job in that area anyway so I'm stuck where I'm at for now. The job requires critical thinking but very little hands on and I'm losing my skills! I haven't dressed a wound or given an injection since Dec and street clothes are nice but I miss my scrubs sometimes.

[JoyfulRN14, BSN, RN]

I ended up just where I wanted to be. I graduated May 2010, passed NCLEX June 2010, and just started my job today. After doing my ICU rotation, I knew that was where I saw myself fitting. The job I just started is a 17 week critical care internship, rotating between CVICU, ICU, and ED. The hospital is AMAZING, offers great benefits, the best pay for a new grad in the area, and staff seems very supportive of us.

There are 16 of us doing this internship, we all met today for orientation and it seems like it's going to be a great team.

I feel very lucky!

[NewAggieGrad09]

Hey all! I graduated nursing school in May 2009. Passed NCLEX at the end of August, and started my first RN job as a New Grad in Dec 2009. Even though my first choice was labor and delivery, it is not easy to start there as a new grad. I am working on a general medical floor at a pediatric hospital in DC....which was my second choice. I had been trying for months and months to get in here, as well as otehr hospitals, and I am just so elated that my former nurse manager saw something in me that others did not (we merged into a bigger floor with the respiratory care unit, and my former nurse manager manages two different units now ). I am learning a lot, and even though I have some days where I really don't want to come to work (I'm only human lol), I am very blessed and happy to have this position; it took a lot of tears, frustration, and work to get here. Good luck to all those who are still hunting and don't give up.

[kxvc]

I have been a registered nurse for exactly one year and four days. I miraculously landed my dream job in the ED at the facility I already worked at. When I stepped into the interview all I knew was it was for an ED in the region.

Fast forward to now... I love my job. I love the people I work with. I have earned the respect of my managers, the docs/PAs, and my co-workers, and I know this because they have made it known to me. I knew the ED was the place for me from the start.

I am now looking into working as a nurse abroad in the future. A job I was recently offered by a friend. I never imagined those opportunities would be available to me this soon in my career.