2007 grads: where did you get hired?

Phish · Sep 23, 2007

I graduated May 2006.

I had been applying everywhere with no response. I sent in my resume to a health center in Boston, heard back within a week. I was really excited at the time. My starting salary was 26.50/hr.

After 9 months of no real support :angryfire, I networked my way into a major hospital in Boston. I love it!!!

A rough starting point but I don't regret it, I believe it made me a stronger person in the end. :trout:

Good luck new grads, it can be a little discouraging in the beginning but hang in there, it is worth in the end.

Nurseismade RN · Sep 23, 2007

I passed the boards July 17th.....but hospital jobs for new grads was slim pickings and most of those were already gone. I ended up interviewing at a community health center where I did my OB rotation and got the job middle of August as their adult medicine RN, Starting pay $26 per hour. m-f and no nights. So far its great. I occasionaly have to work the peds side..have to give lots of shots, not my favorite part.

so don't give up....look for something outside of the box like I did....just for a year..then you can look for your dream job if you choose.

Shopgirl1 · Sep 25, 2007

Hi All,

So I applied in February for new grad positions to mostly everywhere, well at least all the major spots in Boston. I called and called and paniced as all of my classmates were landing spots. Finally, two days after graduation I was offered a job. As I mentioned in a different thread, I really think it's about who you know in order to get a job at the major hospitals, if you haven't had a clinical rotation or worked as a PCA there.

Anyhow, I'm now almost done orientation, and I absloutely love my job, which is such a great feeling!

Chloe'sinNYNow · Sep 25, 2007

Hi!

I'm in a suburb of metro Atlanta. I graduated in May '07, passed boards on 1st attempt in Aug., and had my first day of general hospital orientation yesterday. I start on the Oncology/Renal unit (they also do dialysis) end of next week and my base is 21.50. I'll be working 7P-7A eventually and the pay diff will bump me into $25.50. This seems to be par for metro Atlanta.

Not the field I wanted or know much about, until I started looking long term at future prospects and reading posts on this site. I have learned a lot about how I will learn a lot!! :wink2:

Chloe, RN-BSN, BA

carrie13 · Oct 24, 2007

I finally got a job at a community hospital west of Boston after 7+ months of searching. I'm starting at $24.75/hr ($27.85 with evening differential) in a telemetry unit. From the interview to the job offer took about 1 month for this hospital. Even though it took a month to get the offer, the nurse recruiter and nurse manager were very approachable and made efforts to follow-up and stay in contact. I did apply at pretty much every hospital east of Worcester and only rec'd responses to my applications from a handful of places. Mostly got those computer generated emails saying my app was accepted or the postcard from HR that they rec'd my resume.

Nursey Face · Oct 25, 2007

I haven't officially graduated yet (December 2007), but I have applied to one job at a large teaching hospital here in Boston and I think I am going to be offered the job (they asked me to come in for a shadow day Friday which they told me at the interview that this means they are interested in me and want to make sure it's a good fit for ME). Anyhow, I think the thing that made it so much easier for me is that I had several clinicals at this hospital, which lead to a PCA position, which lead to contacts at the hospital. My advice: GET PCA JOB!!!

lveroflife · Oct 25, 2007

i worked as a camp nurse in NH all summer, and have looked for jobs for months and months!! I am sooo sad about this new grad rejection in Boston!! I have my BSN and now i just volunteer at the hospitals!!

any suggestions for job networking? I go to job fairs, etc.. bein new to the city is hard enough!! I go to a local unemployment office that has computers and free resources and apply to jobs all day all week!! god bless us all for sticking with it, because we all know how hard just going through and getting into nursing school was! GO US!!!:)

Nursey Face · Oct 26, 2007

i worked as a camp nurse in NH all summer, and have looked for jobs for months and months!! I am sooo sad about this new grad rejection in Boston!! I have my BSN and now i just volunteer at the hospitals!!
any suggestions for job networking? I go to job fairs, etc.. bein new to the city is hard enough!! I go to a local unemployment office that has computers and free resources and apply to jobs all day all week!! god bless us all for sticking with it, because we all know how hard just going through and getting into nursing school was! GO US!!!:)

new2boston - where have you applied? have you considered applying a little outside of boston. people on this board have said that they couldn't find a job in boston proper initially but were able to get a job a little outside and then they applied a year later to a boston hospital and were then hired.

I actually found out today that I got a job at MGH! I start the second week of February. I am very happy and so relieved. I tell ya, being a PCA at a hospital that you want to work in does wonders.

Nursey Face · Oct 30, 2007

I got the job! I start in February at MGH on a general medical floor. I'm ecstatic and very relieved. Good luck everyone!

middleageNP · Feb 16, 2008

I'm very perplexed. I thought there is a serious nursing shortage. To hear that some of you went without jobs for months after graduation is surprising. Where I am, hospital recruiters try to grab every graduates they can. The hospital I'm currently working hired me before I graduated. I didn't start working until a month later but they would have been happy if I went straight to work from graduation. Does the shortage matter? or it is still "location, location, location"?

April, RN, BSN, RN · Feb 17, 2008

I'm very perplexed. I thought there is a serious nursing shortage. To hear that some of you went without jobs for months after graduation is surprising. Where I am, hospital recruiters try to grab every graduates they can. The hospital I'm currently working hired me before I graduated. I didn't start working until a month later but they would have been happy if I went straight to work from graduation. Does the shortage matter? or it is still "location, location, location"?

It's definately location. Here in MA it's been very hard for new grads to find jobs for the last year or two. It's in all areas of MA and New England too, not just Boston. There just isn't as much of a shortage here as other areas of the country. A few years ago recruiters were snatching up new graduates, but now the job market for nurses is apparently saturated around here. Also, many units that are hurting for nurses need experienced nurses. Nursing schools are putting out so many new graduates every semester and there just aren't enough positions for them all. Some classmates of mine couldn't even get hired as RNs on the floors they worked on as PCAs because there were too many PCAs graduating at the same time and not enough positions available. It's a very frustrating experience to have such a hard time getting a job after all that hard work!