How'd you get your job?

Nurses New Nurse

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Just out of curiosity?? HOw'd you land your first job as a GN/New RN

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Specializes in Ortho/trauma acute care/med surg.

I applied for well over a hundred jobs in southern California and that didn't work out so on a whim I applied in the town my mom lives in and was called for three interviews and was offered all three jobs, the thing is you might have to relocate if you can, you can always go back with your experience. I will be working for Mountain States Health Alliance @ Johnson City Medical Center.

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Specializes in Professional Development Specialist.

I put on my best suit, had my resume evaluated by someone who made it sound truly professional (while still being very factual and honest,) then I walked in to every nursing home within driving distance. I found that every place said yes, they were hiring RNs. But where I was hired the census in the entire building was less than 1/3 of current and they most certainly were not hiring. However 6 weeks later they were, and I got 2 calls that week from different facilities after having not a single call off hundreds of applications. Walking in made all the difference in the world for me.

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You could have all the education in the world, but if you don't know the right people to open the right doors, you won't get very far . . . so basically you got to know people.

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Specializes in Oncology, Hospice, Med-Surg.

I did a summer internship all over the hospital the summer before I graduated. I than worked as a PRN student nurse/tech on a floor that I knew hired new grads the previous year and I made sure I was professional and stayed busy over that last school year and beat out some other new grads with more experience on that floor. I was willing to work what shift I had to and the other new grads were dictating what shift they wanted to work. Flexibility was my edge.

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Specializes in Sub acute (ortho/rehab).

i spent 6 months looking for a job in san diego ( i had been accepted into sdsu for my rn - bsn) but i am originally from the bay area. after career fairs, talking with friends who live and work in hospitals down there and hundreds of applications to new grad programs and skilled nursing facilities online, I tried looking for jobs north of san francisco. I then decided to look at a map and look up cities up to an hour away from where i live. After googling the hospitals in those individual cities I called a convalescent hospital that was hiring, asked if i could come in and speak with the DON and the next day, drove an hour away to sonoma where i was hired on the spot pending background check. Pay sucks and I am commuting over an hour for now until we move closer but its a job as a nurse and some much needed experience until i can get into a hospital and do what i really want to do... work in the ER.

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Specializes in New Grad in Cardiac.

Applied, applied, applied!! I put in close to 100 applications and talked to numerous HR departments before landing my first interview and job offer. I also have licenses in 2 states since I live so close to the state line, I have taken classes at hospital close to my house to further my certifications, and started my RN-BSN in August. The hiring manager seemed impressed with the fact that I wasn't sitting around doing nothing. I am a new grad with NO experience it the health field. The hospital that hired me was one I was super interested in and I began talking with the recruiter back in April before I graduated. I made sure to talk to her a couple of times a month and keep her updated on what I was doing. I credit her a lot with landing my job.

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As another poster said, it's who you know. I have put in a ton of Apps, got my ACLS cert. and I didn't land the job that I am starting on the 25th until my fiance (who is a roofer) put a roof on a man's house that knew the director of patient care at the hospital I am now employed at. It took about a month but she called the recruiter and asked them to pull my application (that I put in 3 months ago) and I got a call a week after they pulled it and hired in 5 days after interview. If it weren't for her, I'd still be looking, because I still haven't received a call yet from anywhere else.

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Specializes in ER.

I looked outside the box.

After sending in hundreds of resumes online to corporate hospital websites, and receiving only one call back, I resorted to Craigslist.

It took a lot of searching through a lot of nonsense, but I applied to a handful of jobs and within 1 week had two interviews setup. One was for psych nursing in corrections, and the other one was a clinic nurse.

I am now employed as a clinic nurse, mon-fri, surprisingly competitive pay and I also get to work in surgery 2 days a week.

Not what I thought I would be doing but I'm really loving it :)

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I walked into a place this afternoon like I usually do when I'm job hunting. I should be working as early as next week when the background checks come back. Nothing beats walking in and getting hired just like that.

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I looked outside the box.

After sending in hundreds of resumes online to corporate hospital websites, and receiving only one call back, I resorted to Craigslist.

It took a lot of searching through a lot of nonsense, but I applied to a handful of jobs and within 1 week had two interviews setup. One was for psych nursing in corrections, and the other one was a clinic nurse.

I am now employed as a clinic nurse, mon-fri, surprisingly competitive pay and I also get to work in surgery 2 days a week.

Not what I thought I would be doing but I'm really loving it :)

Yay!!!

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I landed my first job by applying, seriously there was no rocket science. If i met the requirements I applied. I applied online, I applied in person, I looked on jobsites, the newspaper, talked to friends, family, etc. I even just walked in random nursing homes and applied whether they were hiring or not. I asked to speak to the DON, HR, anyone who was responsible for the hiring (dressed nicely business casual). I got a few interviews. What I would strongly suggest is follow up if you are looking for a job, I plan on using this for my next round of job hunting. These methods have all worked to get me interviews, and once I get an interview thats all she wrote, I'm coming home with a job. If people don't call me back as soon as I would like I start calling them.

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