Hard to find a position

[Autumn1081]

So, I've receintly moved to Atlanta and I'm having a very difficult time getting a job. I'm open to a wide variety of areas of nursing and I'm available to do hospital or clinic setting. I've submitted my resume and applied for tons of jobs and I just feel like I'm not getting anywhere. I'm a relatively new nurse with a small amount of NICU/NBN experience and 18 months of Infertility experience (clinic setting). I'd really love to get into pediatrics, but I just can't seem to get hired on anywhere. It seems as if my lack of experience is holding me back in many ways, but I can't seem to understand where I'm supposed to get experience if no one will hire me to get the experience required. What do I have to do in order to get a pediatric hospital or clinic to take a chance on me and train me? Any advice or tips are very much appreciated! Thanks so much!

[jjjoy, LPN]

Generally, in this kind of situation, my advice is simply to BE PERSISTENT. While many potential employers may be reticent to hire anyone but nurses with recent experience or new grads, all you need is one that will give you a chance. Call back week after week asking about openings and expressing your continued interest in working at their facility. Something else to try is to see if there are any local refresher courses or local nursing programs that could set you up with a clinical experience or at least let you use their skills lab so that you could show employers just how motivated you are. Good luck!

[angel337, MSN, RN]

i'm going to assume you are an RN. if so, i would call the nursing agencies first and see if they could temporarily help you out. if that does not work, call the HR department of the hospitals that you are interested in and ask to speak to the nurse recruiter. this usually works. sometimes they don't call back for various reasons, but if you explain that you are a new nurse that is motivated to work, trust me someone will hire you. there are too many RN positions out there that need to be filled. you say that you have a little NICU experience....how little? does your resume reflect stability or does it appear like you jump around too much? sometimes when you are a new nurse and you haven't held a hospital position for at least a year, employers are skeptical about taking a chance on you. any way, good luck and let us know what happens.