I have a medsurg stigma and can't get hired in any other specialty

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I've been a nurse for 6 years in medsurg/tele (and 1 first year in peds). 
 

I've applied to psych, nicu, ER, ccu, and ICU. I applied to school nursing. I didn't even get an interview for any of these applications. 2 New grad nurses got the nicu over me. I never gotten written up, never got in trouble, don't call out much (in my 6 years as a nurse), not late, good standing. I've handled 10 patients at a time. We get high acuity on our floor most of the time- acute stemis, acute strokes- and everything in between.

I've heard people say no one wants a medsurg nurse because then they need to be retrained. I'm sadly starting to think it's true? 
 

so my options are:

1. I can be hired immediately at TCU with a 5/hr raise. The manager there knows me from a tech and already said she'd like me there.

2. Take a travel job. Salary isn't as high as it used to be, but maybe it would make me more marketable?

3. Home health? Would give me a flexible schedule but what if I wanted to go back to bedside, would it be even harder to get hired?

Any other ideas please?

I want something different, I am bored in medsurg/tele. Part of my appeal to nursing was the different areas you could I thought segue into. I want to learn a specialty or something new. I feel like I have a medsurg stigma.

And also I'm gonna be honest when I finally wanted to leave ms and applied to these other areas and one at a time never got an interview and just got denied and new grads get it over me, it's made me kinda down and a little bitter.

please advice? Thank you

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Specializes in Critical Care, Capacity/Bed Management.

Have you thought about taking a look at your resume and working on marketing yourself for higher acuity units. 

Have you gotten involved in unit/hospital-wide committees?
Are you certified in your specialty?
Do you have ACLS?
Do you volunteer with a nursing professional organization?

All of these things are being looked at

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Okami_CCRN said:

Have you thought about taking a look at your resume and working on marketing yourself for higher acuity units. 

Have you gotten involved in unit/hospital-wide committees?
Are you certified in your specialty?
Do you have ACLS?
Do you volunteer with a nursing professional organization?

All of these things are being looked at

Oh. No.

so the only thing I've got is ACLS/PALS. (And tele cert but that seems like it goes by hospital)

but I have a good reason why nothing else I thought. Because I work when the floor needs me which means a lot. So if the manager asks me to come in an extra day, I've come in. I've worked at most 10 days in a row. I've cut down a LOT this year on how much I pick up bc I finally burnt out.

And the idea of doing a committee seemed like a waste of my time, I treasure my free time with my bf and things like hiking. 
 

so what can I do with no committee or national certification? How to bolster my resume then? I've won awards for patient care/satisfaction.. I did include that in my resume.

 

thanks

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Specializes in Critical Care, Capacity/Bed Management.

I will be honest, being on hiring panels I look for candidates that have unit involvement in improving processes or EBP projects. I like to see specialty certification and an added bonus is involvement in professional organizations and attending conferences. 

Unfortunately, working overtime and working when they ask you to come in d/t short staffing is not really marketable. When I was staff I never picked up OT and I was still able to rise in the ranks because of my emphasis on professional development. 

You can treasure your free time and work on professional development, one does not have to exist without the other. 

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Okami_CCRN said:

I will be honest, being on hiring panels I look for candidates that have unit involvement in improving processes or EBP projects. I like to see specialty certification and an added bonus is involvement in professional organizations and attending conferences. 

Unfortunately, working overtime and working when they ask you to come in d/t short staffing is not really marketable. When I was staff I never picked up OT and I was still able to rise in the ranks because of my emphasis on professional development. 

You can treasure your free time and work on professional development, one does not have to exist without the other. 

I regret not being involved now. Thanks for explaining to me what you look for.  I can't go back....is there anything I can do for my resume now?  I was involved in one committee (infection control) for about a year and for one year I also was secretary for our unit based council. Honestly I did not participate much in either besides be the note taker for both. I wish I did more, but I guess my OT really did take up my time and effort.

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Okami_CCRN said:

Unfortunately, working overtime and working when they ask you to come in d/t short staffing is not really marketable. 

That seems so strange to me, what with the massive nursing shortage and all. Really hard to believe that someone who "only" has 5+ years experience not causing trouble and coming in extra while being willing to work OT would be that undesirable to any hiring manager. 
 

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Specializes in Critical Care, Capacity/Bed Management.
Nurse4lifewithparrots said:

 I was involved in one committee (infection control) for about a year and for one year I also was secretary for our unit based council. 

You should absolutely put that in your resume, that is involvement. Also remember your resume is a marketing tool, you are trying to sell yourself to a company. Never forget that an interview is a two way street, you are interviewing the employer just as much as they are interviewing you. 

Ask questions about retention, ratios, unit dynamics, weekend/holiday commitment, orientation, etc. 

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Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.

If you've put in for a transfer at your hospital after 6 years of good work you should get it.  A conversation with your manager and with HR is in order. Have you o my been applying outside your hospital?

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

I was going to respond when you first posted, and then I came back to it and see others have said what I was going to say. Med/surg would not pigeonhole you or make you unmarketable. In fact, as a hiring manager in L&D and M/B, I love an experienced med/surg nurse. 

I will echo what others have said that it's probably your resume, and/or your interviewing skills (if you've gotten to an interview yet).

Also, DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE a well-written, TAILORED cover letter. In my current job, I review about a dozen applications a week. Unfortunately, only about 25% of applicants actually have experience in the specialty. For those who don't, the very next thing I look at/look for when reviewing candidates is a cover letter. Generally, if there is no cover letter, or if the cover letter is generic (I can tell they have used the same cover letter to apply to positions in L&D, NICU, SICU, ED) I will set them aside and focus on the ones who actually wrote a cover letter talking about why they want to work in MY unit.

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FolksBtrippin said:

If you've put in for a transfer at your hospital after 6 years of good work you should get it.  A conversation with your manager and with HR is in order. Have you o my been applying outside your hospital?

My hospital is very small (<200 beds). The hospital system I'm in however, just allowed nurses to be able to work at more than one hospital within the system. So I've been applying to other hospitals within the system for per diem or PT. My idea was, I still had my job if it didn't work out, or if I hopefully loved where I went I would eventually get to be FT and leave the other job. At mine I've only applied to the CCU dayshift because there aren't many other specialties to go into (for example, we have no pediatrics, nicu and no official step down units). I wonder what the policy is for being hired at other hospitals, because at mine, I "hear" it's based on seniority but I don't know if that's official. I will talk to HR, good idea! thank you.

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klone said:

I was going to respond when you first posted, and then I came back to it and see others have said what I was going to say. Med/surg would not pigeonhole you or make you unmarketable. In fact, as a hiring manager in L&D and M/B, I love an experienced med/surg nurse. 

I will echo what others have said that it's probably your resume, and/or your interviewing skills (if you've gotten to an interview yet).

Also, DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE a well-written, TAILORED cover letter. In my current job, I review about a dozen applications a week. Unfortunately, only about 25% of applicants actually have experience in the specialty. For those who don't, the very next thing I look at/look for when reviewing candidates is a cover letter. Generally, if there is no cover letter, or if the cover letter is generic (I can tell they have used the same cover letter to apply to positions in L&D, NICU, SICU, ED) I will set them aside and focus on the ones who actually wrote a cover letter talking about why they want to work in MY unit.

Thank you so much for your advice. I sheepishly admit I relied on my 6 years experience for someone to want to hire me and did not have a cover letter either. (Also I did read not to do cover letters anymore but from now on, I sure will!!). In my resume, I never thought to put too many keywords in the skills either, figuring it was too obvious or something? I'm working on it! Thanks again ( I hadn't even gotten any interviews)

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JKL33 said:

That seems so strange to me, what with the massive nursing shortage and all. Really hard to believe that someone who "only" has 5+ years experience not causing trouble and coming in extra while being willing to work OT would be that undesirable to any hiring manager. 
 

I agree, I did think that it would have benefited me more also. I might incorporate it into my cover letter how I've picked up when the unit was short staffed.

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