How to get a first Nursing job

Wyse'nUp · May 20, 2015

I know this can be frustrating....I feel your pain.

You could try calling the places you applied to to get a status on your application and to put your name out there and show intrest. Also, try Indeed.com and search using your city and job title. There are active job listings on there.

I wish you the best.

Lev, MSN, RN, NP · May 20, 2015

What makes you a competitive candidate over the hundreds of other new graduates?

That is what you need to emphasize on your resume.

And if you aren't competitive enough, make yourself more competitive.

Also, consider applying out of your county/state.

Best of luck!

Adele_Michal7, ASN, RN · May 20, 2015

It sounds crazy, but have someone else look at your resume. I had been applying to this one place, with no response from them whatsoever. Not too long ago, my boyfriend redid my resume with an objective eye. I re-applied and they called! I would try that. You can use an online resume consulting service; but I'm sure you can network with a seasoned nurse, college professor, or even family member to help you. :)

~Shrek~ · May 20, 2015

Experiment with your resume. See what resumes get interviews and what resumes don't. Take note of styles and formatting and content that get phone calls and that don't./ I started getting phone calls after I changed my resume.

Mavrick, BSN, RN · May 20, 2015

Absolutely! Have someone proficient in English to review your resume. Don't get eliminated from the get go for typos and grammatical errors when there is so much competition.

turtlesRcool · May 22, 2015

Your school should have someone on staff whose job includes looking over resumes. Try calling career services (or whatever name your school has for that department), and ask if you can meet with a counselor to go over your cover letter and resume.

My school had a couple of resume/cover letter workshops. One was pretty generic with powerpoints and the like. The next was a smaller one, and the career coordinator actually went around the room and met with people individually to critique resumes that people brought in. She was also available for students to make individual appointments.

If you have already moved away from where your university is located, you can still call up career services, and get the contact information from someone in that office. My guess is that you can also do a long-distance consultation. Just make sure it's okay to email your drafts and then arrange a time for a phone consultation. Google Docs might be a good way for the career services person to make notes or corrections to your materials.

Remember that even though you have graduated, your school still has an interest in making sure you get a good job.

MKIVSupraRN · May 29, 2015

I am in the same boat as you my friend. In fact I'm sitting next to you on this journey to find a job lol.

I actually ended up redoing my resume as it was advised after I made a thread about why I can't get a job. You may have read it lol, has about 5k views lol. Anyway, what I ended up doing was getting help from one of my professors at my program to help me re-write my resume. I suggest you do the same as your professors more than likely have worked in your area where you live and know what HR and unit managers are looking for on resumes in your area.

Just as my professor told me when we were redoing my resume, every hospital looks at different things on resumes, same thing goes for where you live and what job your applying for. So she helped me tailor my resume to the 3 main hospitals in town, as she has worked at all of them over her 27 years of nursing. It is certainly a great place to start, getting help from one of your professors.

Good luck !