I need advice on starting my nursing career

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I just graduated from nursing school in March 2014 with an Associates Degree in Nursing. I am scheduled to take my NCLEX exam May 6th. It has felt like torture waiting to take the exam since I have felt ready since the day of graduation to get it done and passed. I am ready to be a RN.

What I am struggling with is finding my place out there in nursing. I enjoyed each clinical rotation except for labor and delivery. OB just didn't give me that feeling that was where I need to be. Entering nursing school I thought that hospice and geriatrics was where I wanted to nurse, and still think that is a possibility. Then a mental health clinical rotation gave me the feeling that I would do well there too. My precepted clinical right before graduation was in a critical care unit, which to my surprize, I did excellent with. My preceptor felt I was a great candidate for an ICU nurse.

So I like a lot of things in nursing, and don't have a single passion for just one type of job or unit like some of my fellow classmates. They all seem to know exactly what unit they want to work in. My favorite part of nursing is connecting with my patients. Hearing my patients talk about theirs lives is one of the fun parts. My preceptor told me the one skill she noticed about me is my ability to read my patients and be perceptive about the subtle things.

My instructors have told us that our goal should be hospital jobs that allow for us to use all of our new skills and get us experience. Long term care facilities should be last resorts for jobs because we won't be able to find jobs in hospitals after jobs in LTC. Same was said about taking a job in mental health. I was advised to save that for later in my career. I could really use some advice from nurses out there about where to start my nursing career out. Can you choose to start outside of a hospital and still have options later? Anyone start out in somewhere besides a med-surg unit? I would love some honest answers from those of you. Thanks!

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Start applying for jobs and see what shakes out. On the outset, it may be that you are lucky to have any choice at all.

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