Hard for GNs to get jobs in St. Louis?

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Specializes in PACU, Surgery, Acute Medicine.

I'm planning to relocate to St. Louis after graduation in May and would like to find out if it's relatively easy for GNs to get hired in St. Louis, or if there are so many nursing students there that it gets pretty competitive. Here in Austin, you can be pretty confident that if you did okay in school, you're going to be able to get a job. From the Colorado board though, for example, it sounds like a lot of GNs who even went to school in CO have a hard time finding work there. For the record, this is a career change for me out of finance, and I will have an ADN (like an ASN). I've done well in school and think I would make an attractive candidate, but I don't know the culture in St. Louis as far as how much of getting a job gets lined up informally through clinicals and tech jobs. I'm particularly interested in working ER. Any feedback is appreciated!

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Specializes in tele, oncology.

There are many many facilities in the St. Louis area, which range in size from big Barnes to small rural facilities when you get about 30-40 miles outside of the city. I know that we tend to hire new grads on our floor and that many of the hospitals in the area have alot of RN positions open. Check out SSM, BJC, and Tenet (the top three hospital systems in the area) for job listings.

The St. Louis area is a great place to live in and raise a family in if you move to the right area. I live across the river in St. Charles where there is a cluster of cities (St. Peters, St. Charles, and O'Fallon) which were actually on Money magazine's top 100 places to live list. There are all kinds of cultural places/activities, a top notch zoo, and many good school districts. Plus our gas prices are actually under $3/gallon now!

Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

As a recent grad, I'm not aware of anyone I graduated with who wasn't able to find a job.

The trick will be how picky you are and if you are looking for a specialty area such as OR, ER, CCU, L&D, etc. Those are a bit more difficult to come by as the competition can be stiff. Having a BSN seems to be advantageous for those positions, but there are those who got those also. The facility where I was hired hired several folks who graduated from out of state, so I wouldn't be concerned about relocating so soon after graduation.

Straight med/surg type positions are plentiful and are to be had if you are willing to start on a similar type floor. Check out the facilities mentioned above as well as St. Luke's Chesterfield, and if you are interested in a peds position, Children's Hospital of St. Louis.

I am also from out of state, although I've been here for quite a few years now and graduated locally, and find St. Louis to be a wonderful place to live!!

Best wishes!!

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I am planning to relocate to St Louis after graduation and have an interview at Childrens in the NICU. Does anyone have any advice about this? I have done a 6 week preceptorship in a NICU here in Virginia and have had experience as a PCT and a nurse intern (not in the NICU). I also plan on shadowing there before my interview. If anyone else has worked as a new grad in their NICU and has any advice I would appreciate it :-)

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

Nurse2be:

Good luck! I shadowed there before graduation and applied, but never got a call (last spring).

I called to follow up and was told they had already done their hiring, so apparently wasn't even considered (I'm an ADN graduate w/no NICU experience other than the shadow).

I wish you good luck! :redbeathe It's truly a beautiful area of the hospital!

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Specializes in PACU, Surgery, Acute Medicine.
Nurse2be:

Good luck! I shadowed there before graduation and applied, but never got a call (last spring).

I called to follow up and was told they had already done their hiring, so apparently wasn't even considered (I'm an ADN graduate w/no NICU experience other than the shadow).

I wish you good luck! :redbeathe It's truly a beautiful area of the hospital!

This is what scares me. I have several interviews lined up, but part of me is afraid that not all of these places are actually hiring, it might just be good PR for them. I left a message with HR at one facility, they called back and got my voice mail, left a message that they would love to interview me and give me a tour, call back on Monday to set it up...They're willing to interview me and they haven't even seen a resume or application?! If my Spidey Sense weren't tingling I would think it was great. Instead, I'm afraid they're just wasting my time because maybe they aren't hiring but they don't want that to get out. I guess I just have to take these places at their word. It wasn't supposed to be like this! When I started the program, it wasn't a matter of whether or not you might get a signing bonus, it was a matter of how much you would get; these days, I'll feel very lucky just to have a job!

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I used to work at Children's in the PICU and ER. The NICU/PICU usually hire about 16-18 new grads several times a year. The NICU manager is very nice, but one thing you should be aware of is that the NICU tends to operate at more than capacity almost all of the time, and the turnover rate in the unit is VERY high. That is not to say that it isn't a good unit. One question to ask regardless of what hospital or unit you interview for, is what their turnover rate is. That will give you an idea of the kind of stress level and working conditions will be there. I believe that each hospital that has a NICU also has a job shadow program. This is a good way to see how the unit functions and talk to the staff about what they like/dislike about the unit and staffing ratios, vacations, schedules etc.

Hope this helps!

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I would not move to st louis unless you have a job. I graduated in sept and have yet to find a job. Hospitals tend to hire from their own floor and most are cutting back.

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I will be a GN in May in the St. Louis area. I am now 45 days away from graduating and I don't even have a promising lead on anything. I have interviewed with a few hospitals, but none of them want to hire external candidates. I have a year of EMT experience in a level one trauma center, and they won't let me get anywhere near an ER. My advice is to start looking for a med/surg type job at a hospital that you would like to stay at for awhile, and hopefully in a few months they will consider letting you move to ED. Good luck!

P.S. Don't sign a contract!!!

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Specializes in Med/Surg ICU, NICU.

I know that the job market is slim in the area but there are jobs out there. I recently changed jobs and it took me a while to find a job that I wanted. Now I was being picky about which hospital and division I went to (already had a job just didn't love the place I was working) and am sure that had a lot to do with it. So basically what I am saying is that you can find a job but may have to be a little less picky. Best of luck in your search.

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.
P.S. Don't sign a contract!!!

Definitely try to avoid that....and be aware that any sign-on bonuses may be subject to being paid back if you stay less than any signed-to timeline that's in your HR paperwork.

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Specializes in PACU, Surgery, Acute Medicine.
I will be a GN in May in the St. Louis area. I am now 45 days away from graduating and I don't even have a promising lead on anything. I have interviewed with a few hospitals, but none of them want to hire external candidates. I have a year of EMT experience in a level one trauma center, and they won't let me get anywhere near an ER. My advice is to start looking for a med/surg type job at a hospital that you would like to stay at for awhile, and hopefully in a few months they will consider letting you move to ED. Good luck!

P.S. Don't sign a contract!!!

Des Peres is interviewing all of their applicants first, then going back and deciding who to bring back for a second, I think some time in May. If you haven't interviewed with them already, give them a call! It's possible they've stopped accepting applications by now but you never know. Also, if there's a facility that you want to target, you can always try going by the unit in business attire with your resume and copies of any letters of reference you have. The worst thing that happens is that the unit manager isn't there or isn't available, but even if you just end up leaving your resume/letters, whoever you leave it with at the nurses' station will remember you and your professionalism!

It's really hard these days to get an interview from just applying on line and waiting. It works better if you can make them recognize your existance somehow, either by something like this or even making a call to HR. I wouldn't call and say "I applied online and want to know when I'll hear back," I would say "I'm graduating in May and have heard great things about your facility, I'd love to find out what opportunities you think you'll have for GNs," that does more to start a conversation, and if it comes up you can always say that you've already taken care of the online application. Also, if you're in clinicals right now and you're making a good impression, that unit may be interested or your clinical instructor may have an "in" on a different unit and can hook you up with the manager. But they won't know you're interested if you don't ask!

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