First RN Job Tips/Advice

[vangoghfan77, BSN]

Hi nursing students/graduates! So I recently made a more specific post about the job I accepted but I wanted to make a more general post about jobs. I know how stressful I felt while applying and thought I'd try and give my own personal advice. I'm in no way a career expert or anything but I did graduate in May and have a job lined up...so I must have done something right lol!

So I graduated on May 18, 2019. I chose my nursing school solely based off convenience and cost. Going to school in this city allowed me to live at home and since my parents pay for my school and I was never eligible for financial aid, it just seemed like the right decision if I wanted to avoid taking out student loans. Since this wasn't my desired city I had no interest in working or living here. I stayed true to this and did not apply to any jobs in this city. I knew that applying here would be easy because they have such a shortage of nurses but couldn't force myself into living here any longer ? Pretty much all throughout nursing school I knew that I wanted to work in the NICU and move half way across the US. Spoiler alert, neither of those things ended up happening...and I'm okay with that.

I spent about 3.5 weeks studying for my NCLEX after I graduated. I went out of town twice for interviews which really messed up my study flow but luckily I PASSED! A little side note, after NCLEX I was felt like I'd failed so looking for jobs was not on my mind at all. During the time I spent studying I honestly was also not spending much time looking for jobs. I did a few interviews at the last minute but was totally focused on passing NCLEX.

After I passed NCLEX the pressure was on to start the job hunt. It was very time consuming and stressful. If you've done any type of job hunting you know that around 85% of the posted jobs require at least 1 year of experience. Many of the nurse residency/new graduate programs I looked into had also already closed their application windows because I'd seemingly waited too long to start searching for jobs. I tried to fill out 20+ applications and got so many rejection emails. I grew worried that I wouldn't start working until October or later. I read so many horror articles about new nursing graduates not being able to find jobs for 6 months-1 year. Luckily, I don't have bills or children to support but the thought of putting off working was not something I wanted to do.

Long story short, one of the interviews that I randomly did whilst studying for NCLEX actually ended up offering me a job!! Oddly enough it's in my hometown, where I thought I would never live again. Life has such a funny way of doing things, doesn't it?? It's also not in the NICU but luckily is still in pediatrics. Although I was somewhat upset at first because it was not in my dream city or unit I now know just how lucky I am. I came across the residency program literally 3 days before the application window closed and both interviews I did went really smoothly.

I can rest easy now knowing that I actually have a job lined up but I know so many of you all are in the same position that I was in literally last week! So my first piece of advice...start applying early. I'll admit I'm a chronic procrastinator but I really thought that finding a job as a nurse would be easy. I mean, how many of us have heard everyone around us say that as nurses we'll "never have trouble finding work"...

Start looking for jobs that interest you while in nursing school. Do your research and make notes of hospitals and programs and important dates. Most hospitals have pretty easy to understand timelines so doing everything in a timely manner is possible. Many of my classmates had jobs lined up before we'd even graduated from school.

This isn't really a tip but I would say to stop comparing yourself to your classmates. It can be annoying when your entire Facebook feed is people posting about their new jobs and you're still scrolling through page after page on indeed or Glassdoor. You will find a job eventually and in the grand scheme of things the fact that your classmate starting working a few months before you doesn't matter.

My final little bit of advice is to keep an open mind. It sounds silly and cliche but it's so necessary!! I was a bit naive and thought that I would be able to land a NICU job quickly and in a different state. I was so positive that I wanted to leave my home state but now that I have a job lined up I'm genuinely excited to start working. I'm also going to be close to family and since this is my first time working and being an actual adult I think it's best that I have that close support system. I'm going to get some much needed experience under my belt so when the time comes I can make that move to my dream city.

If you have your heart set on a dream city, unit, or hospital that's awesome, but don't let other opportunities go unnoticed because of this dream. If you truly want to work somewhere specific you'll end up there, maybe just not right away! Remember that no matter where you start working fresh out of college you are going to learn and grow. Just because you start in one hospital or city does not mean you have to stay there forever!

This was a bit of a lengthy post but I thought I'd put my two cents in. If anyone has any questions about jobs, interviews, etc. please ask me!!! I didn't really have anyone to help guide me through everything and would love to be of assistance to anyone out there ?

[C00KIE, RN]

Thank you for your wonderful advice and sharing your experience. It is very stressful situation that I am right now. I can totally relate.