How long did it take you to get your first RN job?

[coffeemama0112]

Hi everyone! Just curious about the timeline I can expect here, and about other people's experiences. How long did it take you to get an interview after first applying, and how long after your interview did you finally get a job offer? I'm a new grad RN (ADN) with no previous experience, and I am currently in southern CA but willing to move to a nearby state if I can get a job offer. I have applied both for local hospitals, other hospitals in CA, and hospitals in AZ, NV, and NM. I have applied online for over a hundred different positions in the past two weeks, but so far I haven't gotten any calls for interviews (lots and lots of rejection emails, though). I'm wondering how long it might take for me to actually get a job in a hospital, because financially speaking I can't really wait that much longer before I need to start earning money. Thanks!

[RunBabyRN]

I graduated Saturday, was offered one job in March to start once I'm licensed (per diem, in my desired area of nursing), and was offered another today to work as a tech then as an RN once I'm licensed (full time, in an interesting area, but not my long term goal, and for less pay per hour than position 1). I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area.

[schnookimz]

2.5 months after nclex. Hospital.

[Nonetheless]

It's been 2 weeks, some places take over a month to contact you. Keep applying.

[hope3456, ASN, RN]

I am in Wyoming and my local rural facility has hired several new grads over the past few years from CA/AZ They leave as soon as they get as much experience as it takes to get a job back home. If I were you I would try to disguise the fact you are from CA.

[runsalot]

Before I graduated. Adn. Georgia. Hospital. Floor I wanted.

[andrea13rn]

Welcome to the world of unemployment! Take whatever you can get. Once you have experience, you'll have a little more leverage. In the metropolitan areas of SoCal, an ADN gets your application stashed eternally on hold. Try Bakersfield, Modesto, Victorville, etc. or even Washington state and see if you can get into an ADN to BSN bridge program, depending on your ultimate career goal. Best of luck to you.

[I Am ReadyRN, BSN]

I graduated with honors with a BSN way back in mid-2009. Finally landed the job last year. So that took me almost four years.

Nobody wanted new grads and I was volunteering at a hospital which luckily turned into a non-nursing job (I so badly needed the cash) didn't have anything for me as an RN while everyone was asking me over and over again why I wasn't hired and questioning the validity of my degree and qualifications.

Job fairs were a bust, long lines of newly minted RNs all applying to hospitals that weren't hiring new grads and I was practically hissed and spit at because I was out for so long.

Long story short, terrible experience. Through that time, the years of student loans racked up so high to almost $20,000 of interest. Don't know if I would do it all over again if I had known how hard it actually was to get work. Probably would have went the OT route. I was told at the job fairs that they would hire me if I had it

[WannaBNursey, ADN, ASN, RN]

I just received and accepted my first serious job offer, 12 days after taking the NCLEX-RN. I worked as an aide at a sister hospital and my supervisor highly recommended me for this position.

[FutureCRNA?, BSN, RN]

I applied in January of my last semester, interviewed in March, got the job offer two days later. I graduated in May (and took the NCLEX a few days before that) and will start my new position the first week of June. I was a tech there for over a year first though.

[gassy2be]

I applied at the end of March before graduation, interviewed mid April, and got my official offer at the end of April. I'll start working as soon as I pass NCLEX.

[mo16]

About 1.5 months after NCLEX I was offered a position

[livelifeloveRN]

Southern California - Took 10 months after NCLEX for a job offer