ICU RN with 9 Years of experience can't even get an interview...

[MrsWongRN]

Hi everyone! I have 9 years of ICU experience, my BSN, AND speak Spanish and I can't seem to get a job. My husband and I recently moved to the Raleigh area in NC. I started applying for jobs in June and have not had any luck. I emailed a manager directly about a week ago and forwarded her my resume, but I have heard nothing back. I found her address through google, but I am not sure if it is even current. My resume is professional, as is my cover letter (no misspellings, poor grammar, etc.) Currently, I am driving 1 1/2 hrs to work on the weekends. I am very discouraged because I thought that getting a job would be no problem. Is there anyone out there who works in the Raleigh area who can give me some suggestions, contact info, etc? Does anyone else have any suggestions on how to proceed? I have been commuting for almost 3 months now and it's getting really old. I REALLY appreciate any and all help!

[trinnylax0484]

I review hundreds of nursing resumes a day for a prestigious midwestern hospital and I am going to tell you this from my experience.

My assumption is that your resume is not as good as you think it is or that your work preferences do not match the openings you're applying to. Stalking a hiring manager or recruiter is a VERY BAD IDEA and will almost guarantee you do not get interviewed, furthermore they'll probably make notes in whatever HRIS system they use that you have stalked them in the past and to avoid you in the future.

Your best chance of getting hired somewhere is to apply to openings in the area of your expertise (9years in the NICU isn't going to land you a career change to the ED). If the jobs you're applying to are just "general staff nurse" you need to specifiy what youre interested in and how many years experience you have in that area. You'd better research the hospitals youre applyign to as well, if you don't know what specialties a hospital has and you apply anyways theres a good chance you're going to be rejected immediately.

If your work history is very sketchy you may want to clean that up a bit as well or explain it better in your resume. I can't tell you how many travelig nurses I see that fail to mention they were a traveling nurse, it simply looks like they quit their job every year or two years to find something better. No thanks to that.