Is this the end?

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I'm getting frustrated with job hunting, one interview for a position that would not have been a good fit for me anyway. But I'm glad to have had a chance to dust off my interviewing cap.

When I was forced to leave my last job I'm sure the thinking by those who did the dirty deed was just 'go get another job" as though it were that easy. Little did they know their act may have meant the end of my career. I have a long resume', never left a job over anything to do with my performance, it was transportation issues, or a truly bad fit, poor patient care or in one case just being overwhelmed at a position and in hindsight I should have stayed.

But having a "diverse" background means its the rare employer who looks beyond dates to even put you in in the "consider" pile.

I love nursing, I truly do. The first time I worked as a nurse I was like "I cannot believe they're paying me to do this!"; and my patients seemed to like me back. I tried to stay out of unit politics, and bickering, and negative gossip because it just wasn't the type of person I am, I go to work to work, (I mean I have fun with people, I talk to them and such), but that attitude has hampered me in that I didn't develop the type of relationships that I felt I could call on to be references, then again I never thought I'd be looking for a job again, I thought I was home.

Now I'm wondering if this is the end of my nursing career. Other than the one,(well two but the second turned out to be just one question) I haven't gotten called for any interviews. I spoke with an HR rep on applications that had been dangling, who told me "if we were interested, we'd call". This call left me so discouraged and disheartened.

I don't really know what else to do? Do I call it quits on nursing, tuck my tail between my legs and walk into the sunset?

It's weird in that I seem to have some block with putting in applications, I already think about the rejection. I'm just venting because I prefer to not keep this inside, and hopefully getting it out will lift some of the haze. My vision of where I thought I'd be in nursing now and the reality are so counterpoint it makes my head spin.

Hopefully 2018 will be a better year.

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Keep in mind there is a difference between a cover letter, resume, and application.

You should be accurate on your application but the resume is a piece of marketing material. Adjust as need for each job you are applying for to include some if not all of the buzzwords in the job description. Use the cover letter to introduce yourself and explain why you are a good fit.

A slump in interviews is not the end of a career. Took me 6 months once.

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Keep in mind there is a difference between a cover letter, resume, and application.

You should be accurate on your application but the resume is a piece of marketing material. Adjust as need for each job you are applying for to include some if not all of the buzzwords in the job description. Use the cover letter to introduce yourself and explain why you are a good fit.

A slump in interviews is not the end of a career. Took me 6 months once.

Thanks, I used resume' as a catch all term. Even with doing all that (and I've tried switching it up different ways, putting all my jobs, half my jobs, blah blah ) still no bites. I get it, they'll take the candidate with the shorter history over one they think might not be as committed.

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Maybe have someone look over your resume and cover letter? That would give you the most specific help. Unless you're asking for high wages right off the bat, I doubt experience would hurt you in a job search.

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No, I'm not looking for big wages. The interview I had was about $15./hr less than I made at my last job. When filling out applications if it has a section for salary expected, I usually put $10./hr less than my last job.

I don't think living in an area where the hospitals get hundreds of apps helps.

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Specializes in NICU.

Unfortunately, you are at the whim of the HR person. You have a better chance if the hospital has a nurse recruiter as the first step instead of general HR screener. The last job I applied to had a general HR assistant as a screener for applications. She called me and asked some basic questions. Then she asked me if I was interested in any other positions in their hospital if this position didn't work out. When I went to the interview, I told the manager about the HR person's question. She told me "Like we have experienced Level IV NICU nurses that work in a large NICU fall in our laps every day." She added that they have had employees leave to go do travel nursing and come back to re-apply for their old position. HR submits resumes 10 at a time regardless of their qualifications to the manager. The manager had to keep rejecting applicants until HR sent the former employees resume. The former employee's resume was in the third set, so she had to reject 20 applicants in order to get the one she intended on hiring back.

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Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.

Depending on where you are and what is your specialty:

- travel,

- local staffing agency,

- private duty, or

- an entirely new field

I was exactly in your situation plus two terminations in my CV. Job search took exactly two days when I signed for staffing agency, and it was the first time when I was treated as a human being after I became RN. Only 1.5 years there full time equaled the money I would earn before PLUS full cost of MSN tuition.

As a field, I highly recommend dialysis, especially acute. One patient/time, one doc at a time, no moving/turning/cleaning if you don't feel like it, you are totally outside of any unit politics, technical, interesting, keeps you visible enough if you would like to settle down somewhere. If you like ICU- type things and thinkings, that's one of sure ways to go. Only one minus is highly unpredictable and long hours, but that's what per diem is for.

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Unfortunately, you are at the whim of the HR person. You have a better chance if the hospital has a nurse recruiter as the first step instead of general HR screener. The last job I applied to had a general HR assistant as a screener for applications. She called me and asked some basic questions. Then she asked me if I was interested in any other positions in their hospital if this position didn't work out. When I went to the interview, I told the manager about the HR person's question. She told me "Like we have experienced Level IV NICU nurses that work in a large NICU fall in our laps every day." She added that they have had employees leave to go do travel nursing and come back to re-apply for their old position. HR submits resumes 10 at a time regardless of their qualifications to the manager. The manager had to keep rejecting applicants until HR sent the former employees resume. The former employee's resume was in the third set, so she had to reject 20 applicants in order to get the one she intended on hiring back.

Thank you for explaining this I don't really understand how HR people think/choose who to move forward and who not to.

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KatieMI thanks for the info, I've done travel in the past and was talking with an agency but one of my references is too old (per them) and the other two I have don't return calls.

Frankly, I'm afraid of dialysis, I could investigate I guess.What do you mean by highly unpredictable?

since I've moved around I don;t think I really have a specialty, I have a couple of years of doing this and a couple doing that. Although I've wanted to get a certification in something didn't have enough hours in, another month or two and I would have.

I won't do private duty or LTC/SNF again ever.

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Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.
KatieMI thanks for the info, I've done travel in the past and was talking with an agency but one of my references is too old (per them) and the other two I have don't return calls.

Frankly, I'm afraid of dialysis, I could investigate I guess.What do you mean by highly unpredictable?

since I've moved around I don;t think I really have a specialty, I have a couple of years of doing this and a couple doing that. Although I've wanted to get a certification in something didn't have enough hours in, another month or two and I would have.

I won't do private duty or LTC/SNF again ever.

Unpredictable means that I routinely saw acute dialysis RN finishing his or her job of the day and then there came a call of K+ of >8 or something and they had to stay for 4 to 6 hours more and dialyze the patient. Sone of them had quite usually 20+ hours days with no help expected. They all also took call.

Since I was working with many of them and I love "acute" and tech stuff, I learned quite a bit.. Acute HD would be my choice shouldn't I graduate from NP school.

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Maybe have someone look over your resume and cover letter? That would give you the most specific help. Unless you're asking for high wages right off the bat, I doubt experience would hurt you in a job search.

This advice is about as old as water and not nearly as helpful.

Listen, it's always great to garner a few reviews/opinions on your resume/cover letter/portfolio, or even hire an expert to write a resume for you. In the end, everyone has a different opinion and there's never one standard or perfectly correct format to follow. I've found in most cases that nurses usually have excellent resumes. The reason most people are struggling to find work right now are because of the economic trend to favor creating precarious employment, and computerized hiring/HR algorithms -- which have created a massive barrier to candidates being offered interviews. The only way to survive right now is to network, AND HARD! knowing the right people will get you a job much quicker than going back to school for your MScN or NP. Most of all OP... be kind to yourself. This is not 100% about you. A lot of people are having a difficult time and a lack of luck. Nurses who graduated around The Great Recession (2007–2012) or afterwards are facing the scariest financial future of any generation since the Great Depression, and still living the effects from it. Keep your chin up and just don't stop trying. Do a little bit every day and in the meantime, maybe try to get a non-nursing job to help tide you over while you search for another nursing job. I'm sorry you're going through this.

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Thank you Caffeine, for the thoughtful response. I'm plugging away at putting in apps. Hopefully something will open up. I think my resume' is fine, its my long job hx thats not, but eventually, hopefully, I'll get another job.

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