From NCLEX to RN MANAGER

[jlwoodsrn]

Hello Everyone,

I accepted a position after passing NCLEX as an RN Coordinator-non clinical position. The pay was great! Hours 9-5, longer on some days. I was excited, but feared losing my clinical skills. Well, after 3 years, the 85 year old non-profit organization mismanaged their money and everyone was laid off. I went back to take online classes for my BSN, as I have an ADN. How do i get a clinical nursing position, when my last job was an RN Clinical Coorindator (management) position. In the long run, Im glad that I was laid off, because I could have worked at the organization and not having the real feel of a clinical nurse. Any information on externships? internships? Employers seem to pass over my resume once they see that my clinical experiences were as an LPN (while I was in nursing school).

Hopeful, but input is needed.

Thanks.

[spotangel, DNP, RN, NP]

Two suggestions. Find out which agencies the hospital uses and get in perdiem to get experience. Sign up to volunteer at the facility you want to work. You will learn the culture and make contacts. If a position opens up, they may be able to guide you as to where and who to apply to, so that your resume does not end up in the HR black hole!All luck!

[lunchboxRN]

Tailor your resume to show your organization/time management skills, communication skills, and critical thinking skills. You use all of these, just not in a clinical manner. Talk about this in your cover letter as well. Make sure you use all the fun action verbs in your resume. Google Johns Hopkins guide for nursing resumes, it has a list of them and a lot of good information.

All your current can transfer to the clinical side of things. I was in the same boat and this is how I approached it. My NM liked that I had mgmt experience. As she said, skills are easy to teach. The other stuff? Not so much.

Side note: I got call backs from every position I applied for. I got one just 2 weeks ago months after applying! So also keep in mind, it can take a while to hear anything, they deal with hiring for a lot of different positions .