I am going to be moving to another city in a couple of months, how do I find a new job

[Kris10amanda]

I have been a charge/skilled nurse at a LTC facility for 2.5 years and this is my first nursing job. I will be moving to a much larger city, Oklahoma City, around August and I am not sure how to go about looking for a new job there. All the job openings I find on job sites are for immediate hire, how do I set it up to start working in a couple of months? Who do I need to speak to?

Also m wanting to go to the hospital. I've had my fill of LTC/SNF to know its not where my passion is.

[Sour Lemon]

Most places are not interested in hiring people who can't start for several months. I would try applying closer to the date that you're actually available.

You should probably apply at hospitals and SNFs for the best chance of getting calls back. Depending on the job market, acute care may be difficult to break into without acute care experience.

Good luck!

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

Do you absolutely have to move out on a set date in August? It will be much easier to plan the move around the timing of the job offer than vice versa. I'm a huge advocate for waiting to move until you have a job in hand if at all possible because I've seen people have to move again after months of unemployment because they couldn't find a job (although that was specifically new grads in highly competitive job markets during the recession, so maybe I'm overly cautious). If you wait until you have a job in hand, you may also be eligible for better relocation benefits.

When I've started new nursing jobs, there's been about a month of lag time between the offer and actually starting orientation, although I've been granted up to two months at a hospital when I asked for it. Between the offer and your start date the hospital needs to run a background check, check your references, complete a physical, ensure your vaccines and TB test are up to date, and perform a drug test, all of which take time. They also need to give you time to give your notice at your current job; the hospitals where I've worked have required two to four weeks notice for nurses. If I were in your shoes, I'd start putting out applications about two months out (~1 month to apply, and ~1 month between the offer and start date).

I don't know anything about the Oklahoma City market, but you may want to plan to apply for a ton of jobs in case the market is competitive. If you don't hear back, then perhaps you'll want to expand your search to LTC (especially if you plan to move before getting an offer). When I'm looking at a new area I always start by googling a list of hospitals in the city/state that interests me, then check their websites for job openings; Wikipedia has a list of hospitals in OK right here: List of hospitals in Oklahoma - Wikipedia

If you're moving from out of state, then one thing you can absolutely start now is the process of getting your OK license; the licensing process itself can take several months in some states, so you'll have one less thing to worry about. Also, note that even though OK is a compact state, many compact states only allow you to be a part of the compact if you live in that state. For instance, if you have an NC license, you can only work in other compact states if your primary residence is in NC (i.e. travel nursing). So if I had an NC license but moved to OK, my compact status would be revoked and I'd be nursing without a license (no good!). I'd have to get my OK license in order to legally practice in OK (even though both are compact states).

There's also an OK forum on AllNurses where you can post questions about the local job market and specific hospitals: https://allnurses.com/oklahoma-nursing/

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