How To Find A Office Position As A Rn

Ayonti · Oct 11, 2006

I graduated Dec, 2005. I passed boards in March and immediately went into Med/Surg -- lasted 3 months and hated it. I've since quit nursing and its taken 2 month to start feeling like a normal human being. The thought of going back to hospital is very depressing.
My question to all of you is, how did you find your office position?
I'm working on a resume that will accentuate my attributes (100% attendance in school, willingness to learn, excellent patient relations, etc.) that will reflect the possibilities if I am given a chance even though I do not have the med/surg one-year experience. Then I thought I would take it to the different doctor offices in the area.
Any advice would be very greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Dear Csiln,

I too graduated as an RN, went into med surg for 3 months, hated it, and resigned. I have been home for three months now wondering what am I going to do. I just applied for an ambulatory position. I do not have an experience but I am taking a shot at it. I found it by going on the district hospitals websites in my area. These hospital systems have ambulatory facilities and doctors offices affiliated with the hospital. Good Luck..........

indynurse#2 · Oct 11, 2006

I found my previous job as a RN at a Peds office online at careerbuilder.com - also look in your local newspaper, especially on Sundays for job listings. And as already mentioned, go to your local hospital websites and do a job search.

dacryocystitis · Oct 12, 2006

I also did not care for hospital nursing. I think finding an office job is more difficult because many nurses want holidays/evenings/weekends off.

Sometimes jobs are not posted online or in the newspaper. Many offices do a "word of mouth" type advertising (i.e., friends of nurses or other staff who work there) to avoid advertising costs and receiving an abundance of resumes. What I did was pull out the phone book and just started sending my CV and cover letter to the specialities in which I was interested. Although a particular office may not have a position opening at the time you apply, they will most likely keep your resume or CV on file. Anyway....fter a few months, a position in a neurology office was available, and I was offered a job!

An eye-catching CV or resume is key to getting your foot in the door. I prefer using a CV as opposed to a resume because the CV allows you to give more details about yourself. It is not limited to one page. If you have done any research, presented in the community or at a conference, volunteered, written any nsg journal articles, etc etc , a CV will give you room to list these.

When you finally get an interview you must make yourself stand out amongst all the other applicants. I had presented at a nursing conference, so I brought in a few sections of the material to show and explain. My employer said he was impressed with that because it (A) showed my motivation and creativity and (B) set me apart from the other nurses who applied.

Good recommendations from previous employers help significantly as well.

good luck!! it'll happen....sometimes you just have to give it a little bit of time!

csiln · Oct 12, 2006

Thanks for the replies. I have thought about doing just what you suggested dacry... I do have one question, what are you referring to when you say you used a CV?

groovetta · Oct 19, 2006

I just printed out a stack of resumes and passed them out at places that seemed like somewhere I'd like to work whether they were hiring or not. Believe me, no one seemed to be in a hurry either. Some called me back after three months. I had already found a job by then. Many times, I'd be told that "I think doctor so and so is hiring" Then I'd go to that place and say, "so and so suggested I contact you regarding a possible position you may be hiring for" The job I did get though, they just called me from having received my resume. Since I've been working there, another nurse came around passing out her resume. My impression there was that she took the time to actively seek employment and also dressed professionally. Another time, someone just faxed theirs, which I thought was sort of weird. I pulled it off the fax machine thinking someone had faxed their resume to us in error. So, I called her, but as it turned out, we didn't receive the fax in error. I thought that was sort of a tacky way to do it. Easy, but tacky.

In an interview, I'd ask some good questions about the practice and perhaps already know a little bit about the docs and what they do. Do a little research.

dacryocystitis · Oct 19, 2006

cv is short for curriculum vitae.

Essentially it is another form of a a resume, but it allows you to go into more detail and doesn't have the typical "one page limit" as is the rule for resumes. It is a summary of your academic background, teaching/research experience, publications, awards and honors, presentations, affiliations, etc...

A CV is usually used by "professionals" ...MD's, lawyers, professors, etc...but really anyone can use it as long as you aren't filling the categories will useless information. It really allows the employer to learn more about you before even meeting you. If you haven't had opportunities yet in your nursing career that would apply to these categories, you may be better off using a resume.

Typically these are the categories listed:

Contact Information

--name

--address

--phone

--email

Employment History

--listed in chronological order including position details and dates

--academic positions

--research and/or training

Education

--include dates, majors, details of degrees, certifications

--undergrad, grad, post-masters cert, doctoral, post-doctolra

Professional Qualifications

--certifications (such as IL Board of Nursing + License number or ACLS certified or CCRN or whatever...)

Awards/Honors

--Who's Who Among America's Top Nurses (is an example)

--if you were given nurse of the year award or something like that

--summa cum laude for graduation....etc etc

Publications/Research

--i think that is self explanatory

Professional Affiliations

--American Nurses Association

--Oncology Nursing Society

--etc, etc etc

Community Involvement

--American Cancer Society

--Habitat for humanity, etc etc etc

Interests

--tell them some personal things you enjoy

--exercising, spending time with family, reading, scrapbooking, etc etc

hope that helps....

csiln · Oct 20, 2006

Wow, thanks!! Family situations right now are keeping me from looking, but after next week I am going to at least get a CV written up.

Again, thanks all of you for taking the time to post!