Graduating next Friday, now to find a job?

[beeenieweeenie, RN]

My twelve months has finally gone by and I graduate next week. I'm not worried about passing the NCLEX because I am an excellent test taker.

What worries me however is finding a job. The bottom line is I have a crappy work history. Over the last ten years, my primary job has been stay at home mom, and I have worked part time jobs here and there, only to supplement my husband's income when we really needed it. For example, I'd work as a cashier part time for a couple of months then quit because we no longer needed the extra money.

Now my kids are in school, growing up, and I am looking forward to starting my nursing career.

The reason I didn't work when my children were born is because without an education I couldn't have made enough money to justify what I'd have paid for daycare.

Any advice on how to explain this on a resume?

[amjowens]

I graduated a week or so ago. I also don't have much health care experience, and that's one of the reasons I chose to do the LPN first-so I could work and gain experience while doing my RN.

I'm planning to hopefully get a job as a nurse aid in LTC while I wait to take my NCLEX. Our school has an excellent career services place, and they go over resumes with students. A lot of students don't have experience when they graduate. The problem now is the economy, so it's becoming competitive. Career services told me to accentuate the positive, and even give clinical and precepting experiences (write out tasks in a basic form). Since you said you are good at test-taking, hopefully you have good grades...they also told me to put down my GPA and honors awards. While many nurses would say academic achievement is meaningless, there are quite a few (and more so in management positions, and so often the ones doing the hiring) who know the value of good grades and what it can mean. So, sell your unique qualities, and know that even those with stellar work experiences are having a hard time. I mean, a graduate nurse is a graduate nurse, whether she's been doing nurse aide-type work during school or not.

Also, it appears to be location location. I anticipate getting my license in my neighboring state, driving 40 or 50miles plus, for my first job. Plus, I'll be taking RN classes in my home state. So, yeah, we're having to do things we'd rather not for the moment. And to hear of the ex-factory workers, etc. who are recently unemployed wanting to go into "recession-proof" nursing...hope they do their research...good luck to you!

[allison_lpn, LPN]

I was looking through threads and found yours!! I'm glad to see we have so much in common. How did you job search go? I'm moving to the Shreveport area and will be looking for a job, do you have any advice on good places to work? Hope all is going well!!