IVF Nurse as a New Grad?

[CareBearRN7]

Hi everyone!

I am a fresh nursing graduate looking into work opportunities at IVF clinics. I am excited about the possibility of beginning my career in this specialty but I'm also curious about additional avenues that lay ahead.  Passionate about women's health and obstetric nursing, I aspire to work as a labor and delivery, mother/baby, or postpartum nurse. Yet, despite my efforts and numerous applications, securing a hospital nursing position or new grad program acceptance in the bay area has been challenging since I recently moved here.

Has anyone here started their nursing career at an IVF clinic and later transitioned to working in a hospital setting? 
If you hire for a hospital, what are your thoughts on hiring nurses who come from a non-hospital background?

I'd love to hear about your experiences and any advice you may have on making such a move in the future. Your insights would be greatly appreciated! ??

[CookieRoo9413, ASN, RN]

I am sorry you never received a response as I would love to hear what others have to say! I am curious if you ended up taking the position in the fertility clinic, or if you found a position elsewhere. 

While I do not work in a fertility clinic (I am interested in this specialty, however, as my daughter was conceived via IVF), I did not start out in a hospital as a new grad. In my area, it would have been easy at the time to get a hospital job since hospitals are so desperate for nurses here (and most of my classmates were able to get hospital jobs). But I went to nursing school during COVID and felt ill-prepared and honestly too scared to work in one. I also feared I would not do well in that type of environment. 

But now that I've gotten some nursing experience (first in home health and now urgent care and a pediatric facility), I wonder if I could still get hired in a hospital down the road. It does seem possible as hospitals need nurses. I think it might depend on where you live and what shift/specialty you'd be willing to work. L&D and postpartum are harder specialties to get into. Med/surg, telemetry, ortho, etc would be easier to break into, I'm sure. But if you don't think you'd like to work there, why not do the IVF clinic? It would be closer in line to where you want to work and could potentially open doors in the future, even if you have to move (not sure if that's a possibility for you). 

Anyway, hopefully you've found a job you're happy with! Would love to connect if you have the time. ?