How do I get started

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Feb 26, 2007

you put together a resume and you start contacting the nurse recruiters at the hospitals around you that you think you might be interested in working in. you find a list of hospitals in the phone book, or you can go to the website of your state public health department and look for a listing of all the currently licensed hospitals in your state. you might be surprised to find a few near you that you didn't know about. there are also a couple of large nursing job papers that are online that you might want to check out for hospitals from your area that might be advertising. the nurse recruiters are accustomed to talking with and taking applications from new graduate nurses. they are usually a good source of information for you about the job hunting process. they can tell you if their hospital hires new grads, if they have special orientation programs for them and when they start. you won't know this information until you call.

you should also be on the lookout for nursing job fairs. often, hospitals in an area will get together and sponsor job fairs where they are specifically looking for new grads. they want to "sell" their hospital to prospective employees.

with may 12th coming up, you should be starting to do this now. you are going to find that rn jobs are generally not published in the newspapers. this is because most rns know where the jobs are. also, it is because we are specially trained and employers only want those who are trained to be applying. i'm surprised your nursing program hasn't had any kind of focus on how to find employment.

all the big job websites have information on them to help you write a resume. your first one won't be very elaborate or long because you don't have any experience in nursing. however, it is very important that you have chosen several of your nursing instructors to use as references. what they have to say about you to potential employers is what is going to get you hired at your first job. you need to get working on this as it often takes time for a facility to set up interviews. you will most likely have to interview with a nurse manager as well as someone within the human resources department. try to have an idea of what kind of nursing unit you would like to work on because you will be asked this. if you sound indecisive you may get left by the side of the road in favor of other applicants who do know what kind of unit they want to work on. you don't want all the good jobs to be taken up by other graduates by the time you are getting your diploma.

here are some links for you. i think there are also some informational links on the nursing career advice forum.

http://nursingspectrum.com/ - search for nursing ads and jobs by the area in which you live

http://www.workingworld.com/ - another site of nursing ads and jobs

https://allnurses.com/forums/f87/wondering-why-you-cant-get-hired-resume-hints-84387.html

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/high-school/36957.html - "resume-writing 101". includes a set of links at the bottom of the article to the resume information at the major job seeker sites.

http://www.nurseweek.com/features/99-8/resume.html - "looking good on paper: professional advice for building powerful resumes" from nurseweek. a short article on the critical basics to incorporate into your resume.

http://www.wetfeet.com/article%20types/resumes.aspx - a listing of links to articles on writing up a resume as well as some information on cover letters from wetfeet.com

http://resume.monster.com/articles/donot/ - "ten cover letter don'ts"

http://resume.monster.com/articles/recruiter%5fletters/ - "cover letters to recruiters: what they're looking for". must read.

http://www.wetfeet.com/article%20types/interviewing.aspx - a list of links to a lot of articles on the interviewing process from wetfeet.com

http://www.wetfeet.com/employer/articles/article.asp?aid=582&atype=screen - "getting your managers interview-ready"

http://www.wetfeet.com/employer/screening.asp - this is a list of articles for the preparation of people of will be doing hiring interviews from wetfeet.com.

http://www.hospitalsoup.com/interview-questions.asp - questions you'll be asked

http://www.hospitalsoup.com/employerquestions.asp - questions for nurses to ask employers during interviews

http://www.hospitalsoup.com/inappropriate-interview-questions.asp - inappropriate or unacceptable interview questions and what you should do if you are asked one of these