How far out do you apply for jobs?

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I am a nursing student with a graduation date of 5/2014 and was just wondering if there were some schools of thought on when I should begin applying for jobs. The job market in NE Pennsylvania is pretty decent but I have heard there may be some hoops to jump through in order to land your first job right out of school such as: shadowing, volunteering, unpaid residencies etc. I would truly like to have a start date by the end of 5/2014 so I can stop living like a plebe as a student in debt, living alone, barely meeting my financial obligations. Any advice would be much appreciated.

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Specializes in Pedi.

I started applying in January of my senior year of college. Had a job offer by March contingent upon passing NCLEX. Starting work in the same month you graduate may not be realistic... you need to take NCLEX at some point.

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I am graduating in December and was told to start looking now. I'm glad you asked this I was wondering what other opinions on this were.

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I pasued my career from india as bsc(n) ,but i am from africa, also completing my course on 11/014... was also thinking how to start my life, but i dont know whats next.

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Specializes in Oncology.

I work on a med/surg floor as a tech, so thinking I will apply to the floor on Nov or Dec.

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I am in my last semester and was wondering the same thing. I was going to wait until November. Does anyone think that's too late? Graduate December

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Specializes in LTC, Med-surg.

Good thread

I was thinking the same thing since I graduate 05/2014

as well. I want to start applying in the a

Spring but feel like I should wait until I complete my

board exam.

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I am going to start in November and I graduate in December. We do have a lot of competition but I am already employed in the hospital system. This way, I will have knocked peds and OB and just need to do geriatrics to graduate.

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I wouldn't wait. I started applying well before graduating and passing my boards. I had a job lined up not too long after graduating after spending several months networking at that particular hospital.

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Glad to hear I am on the same page with thinking about Nov for applying.

As per first poster, yes, I do know I need to pass NCLEX, I think we are ALL painfully aware after multiple semesters of nursing instructors beating us up with NCLEX style questions. It is only a test.

Upon speaking with previous grads from our program, a lot of them were hired on as "Graduate Nurses" until they passed their NCLEX and others received offers on condition of successful NCLEX results. One lady I talked to applied for a GN position in the summer before her senior year and ended up with a very good job as a result.

Thank you for your responses and good luck to you all :)

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Specializes in oncology, MS/tele/stepdown.

I graduated this past May in SE PA, and we have a very tough job market right now, so applying early personally didn't do me any good. The hospitals in my area eliminated the GN position because they could always find RNs. Fortunately, I had an externship with a hospital that later hired me, but even they wouldn't dialogue with me at length until after I passed boards.

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Interesting the job market can be so different just a couple of towns away. End result:

I applied to my first hospital mid-January (I graduate 5/14/14) for a GN position and was called within a week by a nurse recruiter who is guiding me through choosing an area of specialty with a tentative start date of the first week in June. This particular hospital requires a temp practice permit upon graduation and will start you immediately. I then have 90 days to pass the NCLEX.

Glad I went with my gut and just applied :-)

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