Job opportunities in a new state for a new grad?

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Hi all 🙂 I'm a pre-nursing major and I have already completed general requirements (sciences, liberal arts, electives) at a community college. My goal is to move out of state in the near future. I would love to go to school out of state, but I think the tuition is too steep: State schools will run me about $32K and private universities are around $50K for a 2 year program. Compared to $16K for 2 years in my home state, where I will most likely stay... My concern is that if I finish my degree in one state and move to another, I won't have proper connections to find a job (especially as a new grad). I know I could stay and work for a while if I made connections during clinicals in my state. However, I don't think another employer would like to see a short-period stint because they may feel that I will do the same to them. Plus, I doubt an employer will want to train a new grad knowing that I don't plan on staying long.

Have any of you went to school in one state and then moved cross country without any work experience? Were you able to secure jobs shortly after? Do you think it's a bad idea? 🤔 I just want to reduce the amount of student loans I'll need.

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Hello! I went to nursing school out of state in Nevada and finished in 18mos. Tuition was 60K plus cost of living. It didn't take long for me to get my license from CA. I'm currently looking around for jobs and it is a little harder because my clinical experience doesn't come from CA, plus the competition here is way more intense than any other state. My friends from my cohort instantly got jobs in the specialty of their desire because the job hunting wasn't as intense. Nevada also has so many new grad programs and hospitals to apply to. I don't think moving out of state is a bad idea at all. I absolutely loved it and learned so much and met so many new people from all over the country, which will for sure help with networking down the road. If you're worried about your loans, I suggest going to a state that has a quick program and low cost of living. The faster you get out the quicker you can find a job! I highly recommend going to Nevada! Hope this helped in any way at all!

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Specializes in NICU.

It is far easier to find and hired by an out of state hospital in the internet era. I applied to positions all over the country and the two interviews that I got were out of state. A recruiter at one of the hospitals I applied to (didn't get an interview) asked if I was committed to moving to the city regardless of the job. One of the their managers would not hire someone that was only going to move for the job. That was the only one that cared that I was out of state, the rest could care less. All they cared about was my ability to get a license in their state and show up for the first day of work.

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It depends on where you wanna move to soon after graduating from nursing program. If you are moving to an area which is desperate for nurses, it will not be hard to get a job. I live in one of those areas, and I have met multiple new graduates who moved to here solely to get nursing experience. They will move to where they wanna go after getting a few years of experience. If you are moving to a nurse saturated area without having nursing experience, it's definitely a bad idea.

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Specializes in MICU, Burn ICU.

Let us know if you find a job out here. I'm still in nursing school (CA) but am wondering if I should go out of state for my first job directly into the specialty I'd like. So far, some RNs said they had difficulty landing their first job, it took almost a year. Seems like the only way to get a job on the floor is having a connection or commuting away from the major cities including central valley.

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Specializes in MICU, Burn ICU.
Hello! I went to nursing school out of state in Nevada and finished in 18mos. Tuition was 60K plus cost of living. It didn't take long for me to get my license from CA. I'm currently looking around for jobs and it is a little harder because my clinical experience doesn't come from CA, plus the competition here is way more intense than any other state. My friends from my cohort instantly got jobs in the specialty of their desire because the job hunting wasn't as intense. Nevada also has so many new grad programs and hospitals to apply to. I don't think moving out of state is a bad idea at all. I absolutely loved it and learned so much and met so many new people from all over the country, which will for sure help with networking down the road. If you're worried about your loans, I suggest going to a state that has a quick program and low cost of living. The faster you get out the quicker you can find a job! I highly recommend going to Nevada! Hope this helped in any way at all!

Let us know if you find a job out here. I'm still in nursing school (CA) but am wondering if I should go out of state for my first job directly into the specialty I'd like. So far, some RNs said they had difficulty landing their first job, it took almost a year. Seems like the only way to get a job on the floor is having a connection or commuting away from the major cities including central valley.

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Specializes in MICU, Burn ICU.
It is far easier to find and hired by an out of state hospital in the internet era. I applied to positions all over the country and the two interviews that I got were out of state. A recruiter at one of the hospitals I applied to (didn't get an interview) asked if I was committed to moving to the city regardless of the job. One of the their managers would not hire someone that was only going to move for the job. That was the only one that cared that I was out of state, the rest could care less. All they cared about was my ability to get a license in their state and show up for the first day of work.

Did you end up taking the out of state job?

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Hi, do you mind sharing what area you live in? I live in Hawaii. We are oversaturated with new grads here. Most of the big hospitals have 100-200 licensed RNs working as CNAs waiting for a new grad slot. Any advice would be much appreciated!!

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Hello! I went to nursing school out of state in Nevada and finished in 18mos. Tuition was 60K plus cost of living. It didn't take long for me to get my license from CA. I'm currently looking around for jobs and it is a little harder because my clinical experience doesn't come from CA, plus the competition here is way more intense than any other state. My friends from my cohort instantly got jobs in the specialty of their desire because the job hunting wasn't as intense. Nevada also has so many new grad programs and hospitals to apply to. I don't think moving out of state is a bad idea at all. I absolutely loved it and learned so much and met so many new people from all over the country, which will for sure help with networking down the road. If you're worried about your loans, I suggest going to a state that has a quick program and low cost of living. The faster you get out the quicker you can find a job! I highly recommend going to Nevada! Hope this helped in any way at all!

Hi! I Nevada is actually one of the places I'm considering moving to! I've heard of many new grads getting into a specialty that they wanted, but when I look online, I'm not seeing many opportunities :( maybe I'm just not looking in the right places. Is this Vegas area or which part of Nevada are you from? Thanks in advance!

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It depends on where you wanna move to soon after graduating from nursing program. If you are moving to an area which is desperate for nurses, it will not be hard to get a job. I live in one of those areas, and I have met multiple new graduates who moved to here solely to get nursing experience. They will move to where they wanna go after getting a few years of experience. If you are moving to a nurse saturated area without having nursing experience, it's definitely a bad idea.

Hi, do you mind sharing what area you live in? I live in Hawaii. We are oversaturated with new grads here. Most of the big hospitals have 100-200 licensed RNs working as CNAs waiting for a new grad slot. Any advice would be much appreciated!!

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in my current state there are a ton of new grad programs but the pay to cost of living is low. So I applied to programs out of state and my plan is to do an accelerated nursing program and work there for about 2 years. I would go to school and work in a state with shortages. They will probably offer you more scholarships and job opportunities. Hope that helps!

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Im from NC and went to school there and of course worked there. I graduated in 2009, when CA had that awful recession. We had CA new grads coming in packs to get a job and gain experience. My particular hospital typically hires about 100 new grads each year. Its a 920 bed level 3 trauma hospital. Cape Fear Valley in Fayetteville,NC. Anyway just throwing it out there for any new grads willing to relocate just for that 1 yr. exp. Its a military town and we know nurses use the hospital as a stepping stone. Also after 6months-1 yr. its soo easy to transfer to a specialty there. I got into Interventional Radiology then cardiac cath. I moved to CA last yr. & with my 8 yrs of exp & IR background I was offered multiple jobs with a solid 6 figure. At one interview I was talking casually with the manager and she said " you see that stack of papers" and points to a HUGE stack the size of a phone book, she says " those are my new grad apps" I said oh man! Glad Im not a new grad here!! She laughed and said we choose about 27.. CRAZY! Not in NC, no way. Just FYI to new grads.. NC is VERY new grad friendly :)

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