How does the hiring process work? What's is residency?

Interesting. Mine is also a 6 month preceptorship / Periop 101 (2 year commitment), with some service line orientations (CT, Vascular) going longer. All new grads hired into the facility are required to participate in a one year residency program with monthly meetings (most are a 1/2 day, so are all day; about 50 new nurses, then broken into small groups by specialty) and a project to be completed and presented by the end of the year.

Right now our residency days are being held online, and we are currently pulled from the OR indefinitely due to Covid-19/PPE shortages. We've been told within the next week to expect redeployment to other areas of the hospital; but I've also heard rumors that they are going to get it worked out soon to get us back into the OR.

Pay at our facility is on a published scale base on degree (BSN vs ADN) and years of experience. We are a large (> 900 bed) academic medical center affiliated with a land grant university and considered employees of the health care system, the university, and the state. It is actually against written compensation policy to negotiate against other offers. Most of us know that the other major acute care hospitals in the city pay better base (about $6K more for a new grad), but our benefits are better and the experience afforded (whether OR or other specialty) is unmatched.

The only restriction on pay for an intern is that we aren't eligible for shift differentials; but other than having to do a little bit of night, weekend, and call (with our preceptor) to get a feel for what those are like, we are mostly only expected to work M-F 7-3:30 (also, if we get redeployed due to Covid-19 and I'm asked to work nights or weekends, I've told my manager I want differential pay, at least once I'm past the standard 90 days hospital orientation period). You're going to be a licensed degreed professional, I would not expect to work for free during your residency. Even externships for undergrads pay something in my experiene.

Hopefully things will be back to "normal" in time for your residency next year. Definitely sounds like you are committed to the OR. I just wrote a lot about my experience and facility, and yours may be completely different. I was lucky that my wife's brother is a periop RN at a community hospital in our network, and I have a friend who is an RN circulator on weekends where I work now, so I can talk to people I trust and ask questions.

Good luck

As far as the hiring process. Again, this will be different depending on where you apply; but how it worked for me

I was a December 2019 grad. Through nursing school I worked as a nurse aide at a psychiatric hospital that is affiliated with the place I work now*. I knew I didn't want to be a psych RN (not starting out of school, wanted medical nursing experience. So of course I go right into OR LOL) OR was one of my top choices from before I started school, and my brother-in-law (periop nurse) told my wife (his sister) about the internship were he works.

I went on the organization's website and clicked a "get more info" link under nurse recruiting. Filled out my info and specialties that interested me, including OR. The next day I got an email from a nurse recruiter asking if I was interested in their periop internship, and I was invited to come talk to recruiting. This was very informal, mostly informational (as much me asking them questions than the other way around) and a chance for me to get my resume in their hands. I don't recall the timeline, but either before or after meeting with the nurse recruiters, I submitted online applications to the place I work now, and the community hospital where my BIL works,

My brother-in-law was very helpful and follows up on how I'm doing, and wanted me to come work with him; but I knew I wanted the experience working in a major academic medical center. As it happened, the nurse manager who interviewed me at the larger hospital told me right there that she wanted to hire me, though I had to wait about a week for things to be approved higher up. I never got an offer from the hospital where my BIL works (and it turned out one of my classmates from nursing school got that spot.)

* even though I had been 3 years as a "UAP" at our psych hospital, going from part time / provisional / unlicensed to full time / regular / licensed I had to start over like a new hire. I had to do the background check and drug screen, go through hospital / new hire orientation in addition to nursing orientation