How To Be A Competitive Nurse Residency Candidate

Nurses Career Support

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Hi everyone, 

 

I am currently in my second to last semester of nursing school and am looking into applying for nurse residency programs. I would like to know what would be the best way(s) to make myself a competitive applicant for these programs? 

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

Get good grades. Work your connections. Apply to anything and everything rather than being hard and firm on your specialty of choice. If you are able to swing it, get a PRN position as a CNA/PCT in the hospital you hope to work for.

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Specializes in Progressive care.

PCT experience for sure! My major regret in nursing school was focusing so hard on my grades that I didn’t want to have a job to drop my grades. I wanted to achieve summa cum Laude and truth is, hospitals care more about experience than anything. Experience will also help you interview well. 

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
18 hours ago, ERWnurse said:

PCT experience for sure! My major regret in nursing school was focusing so hard on my grades that I didn’t want to have a job to drop my grades. I wanted to achieve summa cum Laude and truth is, hospitals care more about experience than anything. Experience will also help you interview well. 

Exactly. 

The other part is to be likable in your interview. A new grad is a new grad is a new grad until they get to interact with you. The interview is a big inquiry into "Is this person likeable, teachable, intelligent, steady?" and "Do I want to work with him/her?"

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