Got a Job, Here's some advice

[Nurzelady]

Hello everyone, I'm a New Graduate nurse and I just got a great position at a hospital. I graduated over a year ago. This website was very helpful to me during my search so I wanted to leave some advice for others. These are in no particular order.

1. Apply to jobs EARLY. Don't wait till you graduate and pass your NCLEX. Start applying during your last semester.

2. Obtain certifications. I know these cost money, but you have to invest money before you can get money. The top three certifications I recommend is BLS, ACLS, and PALS. These are usually the ones employers want, especially the PALS if you're looking into working with Pediatrics or NRP if you're looking into L&D nursing.

3. Look at examples of good resumes and make a great resume for yourself and a standard cover letters that can be passed out to more than one employer. Post your resumes on Monster, and LinkedIn, these are great websites to find jobs.

4. DO NOT just apply to the positions you see posted to everyone because everyone is applying to them! There's so much more competition to work with, so you are really limiting yourself by only applying online to posted positions that say New Graduate in them. Look for the positions that state no experience required or 1 year PREFERRED or less than 6months. These positions do not always come up in searches such as Indeed or SimplyHired, so not everyone is applying to them.

5. If you can volunteer, do so, but try to volunteer during late afternoon hours or on the weekends, that way you don't miss out the the new jobs postings posted during the week. The best time to apply to a position is as soon as it opens up.

6. Check Allnurses regularly and the New Grad RN page on facebook for those of you who have it, there's so much information about upcoming New Grad positions (I kept a list:)).

7. Finally, my most important advice is apply in person! Look up all the hospitals/SNFs/Psych facilities/Clinics within commuting distance. Call their human resources and if you can, go in person and apply. They're much more likely to call you when they already have your paper application in hand. And follow up, follow up!! Always follow up! And if its a smaller hospital, try to contact the manager of the unit you desire directly, tell them about yourself and that you're really interested in working on their unit. It's not being pushy, it's being proactive.

I hope my advice was helpful! Feel free to leave comments, questions or just vent about your search. Best of luck to everyone!

[studystudy]

Thanks and congratulations on finally finding a job. :) I have been doing ALL of these things and am keeping the faith that something will pull through SOON! I am about one more rejection away from a breakdown...... :)

[MN-Nurse, ASN, RN]

I hope my advice was helpful! Feel free to leave comments, questions or just vent about your search. Best of luck to everyone!

Congrats and good advice all around.

I know of four out of about 80 students in my graduating class who have hospital jobs. (I'm one of them.)

All of us worked at a hospital for at least a year during nursing school. The other three all got jobs at the hospital they worked at as an aide or a HUC.

The hospital I worked at shut down their new grad program a long time ago and haven't restarted it, so I am at a different hospital where I had a Summer Nurse Internship.

Good luck everyone!