Government Interview Response Times for Nursing Jobs

[Robotech]

I am a med-surg nurse with over 3 years experience who recently became unemployed. Now, I want to work as a nurse for the government but I was told that it could take a few months just to get a response from them after applying. Does anybody have any experience with applying to government nursing jobs? If so, how long does it take to get an interview? I don't know if I should wait a few months just to find out if I will be accepted or not.

[ItsTheDude]

what type gov (fed, state, county, city, etc). the federal gov is notorious for taking a long time to interview, then longer to do a background investigation.

[Robotech]

To ItsTheDude

I applied to Federal Government Jobs.

[ItsTheDude]

well, hang in there then, you'll experience bureaucracy at it's finest.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

Which region of the country do you live in? If you are trying to get hired by the VA it is better (IMO) to apply directly to the hospitals.

USAJOBS is great for finding potential leads but I think the resume tool has hiccups for getting applicants names over to hiring authorities.

460 postings at USAJOBS - Search Jobs

[sunnycalifRN]

To ItsTheDude

I applied to Federal Government Jobs.

and, if you apply to the VA, keep copies of everything . . . they lost my entire application, transcripts and all!!

[lucky1RN]

Here's my experience:

Found the job I wanted on USAJobs.com and hand carried my application to the VA hospital on June 30.

Got the call for the interview on Oct 13.

Got the official job offer on December 23.

Started work January 19. I probably could have started a week or so earlier but had to give appropriate notice to my last job.

I'm happy I was in a position (i.e. employed) to wait because so far, it's my dream job!

Best of luck!

[diane227, LPN, RN]

It takes forever. Keep bugging them.