Experienced Nurse Having Difficulty finding a Job

I am a "new-ish" RN too. This fall will make my 2nd yr as an ICU nurse. I am guessing since you said Duke you are looking for jobs in NC? Have you tried Rex? Moses Cone? PCMH (or Vidant Medical Center as they call it now)? Just to name a few of the bigger/well known hospitals in NC off the top of my head. There are still a lot of great smaller hospitals in NC that are hiring but I shall not bore you and list them, lol. Good luck. Keep looking. If one door closes another one will open.

As far as who's getting the jobs....? I have no idea. But keep in mind that May was just a couple months ago and now is about time when all those new grads have started passing the NCLEX and are starting their new jobs.

What about UNC ? Have a few OCD peers look at your resume, you may have something basic out of place or omitted. These above facilities are looking for traveler nurses in several of their ICU areas. Charlotte university, the hospital in fayetteville and Lumberton were hiring travelers too. I know you don't want a travel job, just sharing that there are ICU needs in these facilities. As a travel nurse, I am watching north carolina and virginia openings closely, so this is recent information!

I've applied to duke, rex, and wake med... nothing. I'm looking into traveling now but have to give 30 days notice at my current job so travel assignments are tricky. Ugh!!

And yet every day I see references to the "nursing shortage" - ha!

ICU nurses are not all that hard to find. ICU work is often seen as glamorous. The "shortage" is most often seen in rural areas and in "undesirable" fields such as general med/surg, community/public health, nursing homes, etc. My recommendation for landing an ICU job is to think outside the box...apply to a PACU (these are often considered ICU-level care), try the ED, try a PCU. My experience is that once you are in the system, you can move around fairly easily. Good Luck!