In Need of Advice...

[princesskarabu]

hello all

i need advice. i finished school 6 months ago and passed the boards 1 month ago. i have been applying for jobs up and down the east coast. i finally received a response from a nurse recruiter at a very prestigous hospital inviting me for an interview. i was soooo excited; i am still excited... but i have a problem. in the interview invite (which i received via email) i was told that, among other things, i would need to bring 2 letters of reference from current clinical instructors, since i am considered a new graduate. the problem is that the last time that i had a clinical instructor was 8 months ago and i've never received letters of reference from any of my clinical instructors.

i'm not sure if it's the same for everyone, but the school that i attended hired clinical instructors who were not employed by the school that i attended. i was able to find business numbers for 2 of my previous clinical instructors (both work at different universities than the one that i attended) and i called and left messages only to remember that it is nearly the end of june and it is very possible that maybe they're not teaching now and even if they are, who's to say that they'll even remember me?

my interview is next week and considering that i now know that it is not so easy to find a job and considering that i know that there are many a nurse who would love the opportunity to work at this facility, i don't want to reschedule or, even worse, show up unprepared without these letters.

what can i do?

[litbitblack, ASN, RN]

I would call the school since most usually have classes and ask the instructors to look over your records and maybe give you based on those. It could be a combo reference based on records. there has to be some kind of notes they keep even if they hired out clinical instructors

[ICRN2008, BSN, RN]

I agree that you should call the school that you graduated from and ask for help in contacting these nursing instructors. It is in the school's best interest, from the point of view of placement rates and reputation, to help their new grads get jobs.

[Texas Tornado]

Contacting the school is a great idea. They want their graduates to succeed and should be able to help you out.

Also if you could get a letter of recommendation from a recent employer that would probably go along way. Ideally if it is medical field, but even if it is not, really what they want to know is what sort of person you are and what sort of employee you will be.

Best of luck to you!

[aphi~gn]

I agree with contacting the school first . . .but if you can't contact your clinical instructors call the HR dept at the hospital you are applying too and explain the situation to them. . . I'm sure discussing the situation with them would be better then having to reschedule and risk loosing the chance at what seems to be a dream job!