How the heck am i supposed to get one years experience if no one will hire me?

[mrf0609]

Hi everyone,

I am a very newly licensed (last week)LPN actively looking for a job. I am not young anymore(43)and decided to get into nursing after a very fulfilling and satisfying career with horses. I managed and cared for the top show horses in the world. I have already enrolled in classes necessary for me to attain my RN/ BSN. I start next month, right after graduation. I have many life's experiences and have worked in a variety of fields over the years, successful in each. I have never been turned away from an interview. I am not big headed, just being honest. I do not know if it is the market -economy, but I have found it virtually impossible to even get an interview. So my question is - what am I supposed to do to get experience if I can't get a job to gain experience? Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions that may help me? I really miss working as I took time off to "do school right", but I am chomping at the bit - so to say- and can't get my feet off the ground.

Thank you in advance for you thoughts - any and all will be appreciated!

[MattiesMama]

Not sure if this is an option for you, but I just landed an interview as a nurse tech with a hospital in my area...It's actually a job for nursing students. It was not advertised anywhere, I found it by calling HR directly and asking if they had any programs for nursing students.

Another thing that has worked for me is going to the nursing home compare website (www.medicare.gov/nhcompare) and searching for all the LTC facilities within a 50 mile radius. I weeded out the ones with less than 3 stars (figure those are not safe places to work) and printed out a list of about 100 different facilities and spent a whole day calling and asking if they had any openings for LPN's. I actually found quite a few that did, and most of them were not advertising for it either. Actually, one of the places I called told me one of their nurses had just quit that same day-I have an interview there Friday!

One more thing I did was take a day to get dressed up in interview attire and go around to different facilities to fill out an application or drop off a resume. If your lucky you might run into a nurse manager and land an interview that same day-at the very least, you will stand out more than if you just sent an email or filled out a form online. That didn't happen for me but it did for one of my classmates.

Good luck!

[MattiesMama]

What I did that helped me a lot was, I kept track of all the applications I sent out. When they replied on email saying that I didn't qualify or if the position had already been filled, I would update on my spreadsheet. If I didn't hear from them in 2 weeks or so, I would give HR or the unit manager a call to see if they had looked over my application or not. Because of those followup phone calls, I really believe it helped me get the 3 interviews I had.

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lol...I thought I was the only one OCD enough to do this!

[violet_violet]

lol...I thought I was the only one OCD enough to do this!

LOL, it's being ORGANIZED :)

pssst...and hey, on another spreadsheet, i had the hospital's website listed and the user account login and password as well so I can get back in... bc you know, every website has different requirement.

[MattiesMama]

.....and if you are really a nerd, create a spreadsheet with all of the information they ask you on the online job apps over...and over...and over again! I got it down to a science...ctrl c, alt/tab, ctrl v, alt/tab, ctrl c, alt/tab, ctrl v...I'm at the point where I can do a full online application in under a minute.

I also made "personalized" cover letters for each company using mail merge, and I have one cover letter template for each type of facility I apply to (i.e. for LTC it highlights my gerontology certification, for dr's office it highlights my customer service experience, and so on) All I had to do is sign them and it looks like I made a special letter, just for their company! (although for places I'm really interested in, I do take the time to research the facility and integrate that into the letter)

It's all a numbers game, so you have to make it your full time job. Make a schedule and follow it. You will be more efficient, have a better chance at landing a job, AND you will avoid the black hole known as the sofa and daytime TV!