First job as a new grad nurse in a staffing agency

[2ndchance85]

Hi All

I'm due to graduate in early December with my BSN and the school I'm going to is telling me I shouldn't have a problem taking the NCLEX in late January.....hopefully all goes well and I pass the NCLEX, but I'm going to start applying to jobs now just to get the ball rolling.

I'm planning to apply to NYCHHC (the new city hospital system), some long term care facilities and I was also considering applying through the temporary staffing agency that I'm hoping to find some work as a CNA through (once I'm done with school, my schedule is too weird now, and I wouldn't apply to the staffing agency as a nurse until after I passed the NCLEX). I know new grad orientation can run from 6 months to a year typically in NYC, but I think it's shorter through the agency. Has anyone started their nursing career through a staffing agency?

Thanks for any input!

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

No new grad should start out as agency, no agency should hire a new grad. Some unreputable agencies MIGHT try to put you to work. You would be required to work in many different areas, in different hospitals. No new grad can safely handle that.

Think about it.. why would a hospital give you a lengthy orientation? So you can learn to apply the skills you learned in school.

Best wishes.

[2ndchance85]

Yeah, I probably just needed to hear someone confirm it. Thanks!

[Ilargia99, LVN, RN]

No new grad should start out as agency, no agency should hire a new grad. Some unreputable agencies MIGHT try to put you to work. You would be required to work in many different areas, in different hospitals. No new grad can safely handle that.

Think about it.. why would a hospital give you a lengthy orientation? So you can learn to apply the skills you learned in school.

Best wishes.

I got my license in April and was working as a PCA through an agency for about a month before that. They talked me into staying with them after I got my license and it was really difficult. I didn't like being sent to different facilities as a new grad with no orientation or help from the staff at these places as it felt dangerous to me. I stayed with them until I found a better, more stable job with actual training. I definitely don't recommend starting out at an agency!

[cleback]

Ditto what Been there said. You could work agency as a CNA though and make some contacts for an rn position. But I wouldn't wait until after graduation to do this.

[Kallie3006, ADN]

No new grad should start out as agency, no agency should hire a new grad. Some unreputable agencies MIGHT try to put you to work. You would be required to work in many different areas, in different hospitals. No new grad can safely handle that.

Think about it.. why would a hospital give you a lengthy orientation? So you can learn to apply the skills you learned in school.

Best wishes.

This....

[EDNURSE20, BSN]

Well I have to disagree. I graduated last December and started working in jan in my hospitals float pool. Slightly different because I wasn't working in different hospitals. But I am working all over the hospital. And I love it. I've learnt so much more than I could of if I worked in one area. I like the variety. The flexibility. It's worked out really well for me.

[Ilargia99, LVN, RN]

Well I have to disagree. I graduated last December and started working in jan in my hospitals float pool. Slightly different because I wasn't working in different hospitals. But I am working all over the hospital. And I love it. I've learnt so much more than I could of if I worked in one area. I like the variety. The flexibility. It's worked out really well for me.

That's very different from an agency. At least when you're at the same hospital you don't have to try and navigate different EMRs, different policies and rules, different patient loads, med carts administration protocols, etc. It's really tough, especially when you're new and have no idea what to do or how things work.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Well I have to disagree. I graduated last December and started working in jan in my hospitals float pool. Slightly different because I wasn't working in different hospitals. But I am working all over the hospital. And I love it. I've learnt so much more than I could of if I worked in one area. I like the variety. The flexibility. It's worked out really well for me.

Starting out in "your" hospitals float pool is completely different than agency work. How long was your orientation?

[TriciaJ, RN]

Agencies are no longer allowed to places nurses in areas where they don't have recent (in the past year) experience, per JCAHO. So JCAHO-accredited agencies are extremely unlikely to have work for new grads.

A hospital float pool is a different story.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

Well I have to disagree. I graduated last December and started working in jan in my hospitals float pool. Slightly different because I wasn't working in different hospitals. But I am working all over the hospital. And I love it. I've learnt so much more than I could of if I worked in one area. I like the variety. The flexibility. It's worked out really well for me.

It is very, very different working in the same facility than going to multiple facilities.

What times are meals? Where is everything kept? What's the code to the kitchen door? Supply room door? Med room door?

Break room? Other areas?

Do you have a charting code at each facility?

Who draws the labs?

Which doctor to call when you don't know the specialties of each doctor a pt has?

Etc.

Parking?

Breaks?

Very different.

Plus, do not work agency at first. Get oriented and grounded at one facility and then branch out if you want to, OP. Or work Float Pool at one facility.

[EDNURSE20, BSN]

I get it's different.

I moved to a new town for this job so everything was completely different to where I had studied. I got two months of orientation. Which I thought was fine. I've work in areas where I recieved no orientation which has never been an issue.