It is my dream!

Congratulations on your upcoming graduation!

Your prehospital experience will make you a competitive candidate for an ER nursing position. However, if the departments in your local hospitals have a hard & fast rule about not hiring new grad nurses ... there may not be anything you can do right now to change their minds on that point. Continue to attempt to float your resume in front of ER managers via EMS/ER friends who you know will speak well of you.

In the meantime ... your first year as a nurse will be a tremendous learning & growth experience no matter where you work. Seek out another hospital position, looking for a well-developed orientation program designed to maximize your success.

A year, or even two, will fly by a lot more quickly than you think.

Good luck to you!

It's very difficult to get into an ED fresh out of school as a new nurse. Even my hospital, which is notorious for always hiring new grads, rarely hires new grads straight into the ED. But, I see people here on allnurses state that they did it so it is indeed possible, but if your only going to limit yourself to hospitals "near you" then your chances are probably going to be slim to none.

But if you have the flexibility to move anywhere, then you have the whole United States as your playground to find something. A general rule is that the more rural and/or undesirable a location is, the higher your chances are at being picked up somewhere.

Your next option is to focus on getting into med/surg, for just for sake of getting your foot in the door of a hospital. Once your in, it will be a lot easier to transfer to the ED once you develop a good rapport with the nurse managers and directors.

For me personally, I had to work non-hospital jobs for 2.5 years before I finally made it to the ED.

If you're mobile, you may be able to get into a rural ER with no experience, however the training can be "limited." So to speak. I would look in a large urban area. Congratulations on your accomplishments btw!

How do you start in the ED? Honestly, it's probably more about luck and networking than anything else. It's kind of like fire service... way more qualified candidates looking for spots than there are spots to fill.

If you're mobile, you may be able to get into a rural ER with no experience, however the training can be "limited."

This is precisely how I started... actually med-surg in a rural facility that was so desperate for help that they'd regularly take new grads... who would then leave when they got some time in grade. In my case, after a year on the floor, an opportunity arose in the ED and I went for it... despite being woefully ill-prepared... it was an incredible challenge but I persisted and managed to get enough experience to get hired into a large, urban trauma center... albeit with precisely the experiential limitations that NickiLaughs mentions.

It created some issues early on because I acted like (and was) an experienced nurse but with some big gaps in my experience base.

If you're sold on ED -- and I certainly am -- go anywhere that will hire you. Do be aware, however, that you'll be facing some problems if you start small.

Thank you to everyone for responding. I am on a few sites hunting for jobs(Glassdoor, Indeed) and will take a look at the whole United States. But the only problem would be either staying in a motel for a few months or couch hopping until I can get my feet on the ground, wherever I end up!

See if you can get into a hospital that offers a training program for new nurses in the ICU. With ICU experience, you will be top of the list to get into the ED. The longer track may require you to get some med/surg before transferring to ICU or a critical care unit. Another good place to start would be on a trauma unit at a Level I hospital…and make some nurse friends in the ED :)