Kaiser Employees

Hi,

I live and go to school on the Peninsula. I have done a couple of my clinicals at Kaiser Redwood City and know that they do hire new grads. They make a point of having the nursing recruiter come and talk to us, etc. The class from last year I know of about 1/2 dozen students who know work at different Kaisers as new Grads.

What is the new unit in Oakland that you are talking about?? Good Luck.

Yes, Kaiser in San Diego hires new grads as several of my students were hired there straight from their NCLEX passes.

However, I do know of a few situations in which students took training and got experience at another hospital and then moved to Kaiser a few years later. It's only anecdotal evidence, but it seems as is this group felt more secure and in their own terms, 'got a better deal' although this might not mean $$$ as Kaiser is a union based workforce.

I do know that Kaiser managers have some leeway in being creative about hiring - a friend of mine very recently wanted to leave a key position and was kept on with a new prn deal (not the usual terms) in the hope they can woo her back if/when her new position does not work out.

If you look on the http://www.kaiserpermanentejobs.org, and search Oakland, they have many new openings becase they will have a new unit next year. Most of the jobs are OB, L&D, NICU, nursery, etc.. I think I will try to work at Kaiser Santa Clara because they handle high risk mothers; unlike Santa Teresa (so I'm told)..

I talked to kaiser this weekend and they do hire new grads...but you have to start in med/surg and be there for a year!:stone

But the pay is okay and so are the benefits.

Pearl

I just finished my OB rotation at Kaiser Santa Clara and they hire new grads into many units.. L & D, Mother/Baby, NICU, PICU, ICU... I guess some Kaisers are different. Many of the grads from my school went directly into those units and claim that the training programs were in depth enough to start them off.

I am an RN with Kaiser in the Sacramento area. Yes Kaiser does hire new grads. I was hired into the ICU and put through an ICU 6 week course along with ACLS and 3-4 months of preceptor. Kaiser has an excellent new grad program and I would recommend it to all.

Dear readers..

I am currently an employee at Kaiser Redwood City. I, along with 9 other new grads, some who have been waiting for well over 2 years to transition into an RN position have literally BEEN GIVEN THE SHAFT by our employer! As an ancillary employee, I worked tiredlessly to improve my credentials by enrolling into an RN program. Under the encouragement of management, doctors, and many other co-workers; I took the plunge and made tremendous sacrifices by reducing my work hours to return to school full time. I aquired HUGE loans and almost lost my home but doubted that the reward of obtaining my RN liscense would be worth the effort. Afterall, my employer all but goaded me and practically groomed me into, what was to be, a promised position. Anyways, when all of the area Kaiser hospitals began hiring, many positions opened all at once throughout the region. I, as well as the other 8 employees of RWC Kaiser, followed the guidelines by applying to the various nursing positions posted internally. We waited, and waited, and waited for weeks. Then, after hearing no word, we began questioning what was going on. The Managers kept assuring us that they were trying to satisfy politics and that we would be brought into the positions as soon as the processes of interviewing were completed. Then, like a hammer, BOOM! We find out that NONE of us were hired into ANY of the positions. In fact, ALL of the positions were given to OUTSIDE applicants. We were completely passed over :/

Now, some people might question the skill level, reliability, integrity, or even the competence level of those passed over. Well, I'm here to tell you that I'm aware of several of these employees who are already LVNs and have worked for kaiser for years in that capacity; providing nursing care. Another employee is a respiratory care practioner who has over 15 years experience and is considered by a great majority of the RWC staff, including may doctors, to be one of the highest qualified new grads with successful RN potential. Yep, he was passed over too.

So, here we are... 9 Kaiser RWC employees still holding onto our RN liscenses and unable to find a job within Kaiser. We would apply to other Kaisers but the window of opportunity has closed. The positions have all but been filled or pulled. Most of the positions posted by other area Kaisers were filled by their own internal employees. Unlike our hospital, new grads were able to transition into new grad programs. As for us, we keep getting, "Well, hopefully, we will re-open a newgrad program in January of 2011..." Should we stick around and get the shaft twice? Well, as tempting as it is to move on... we all have invested years of our lives to Kaiser RWC. We all find ourselves in the middle of a Union war between SEIU and UHW, therefore, we find ourselves without any union support. So in heinsight, I guess we will all just incur our indifference towards what happened and learn to work with the new nurses that now fill the positions we sought.

i heard some ppl got hired in RWC- Kaiser as new grads very recently. i wonder why they would even pick external over internal. that is strangee!!!! i know its kinda unfair to those whos been told to wait, and the opportunity never comes. i would just apply everywhere else if I were you. if it comes down to it, its whatever competition you're against.

Luckily, there are some new grad programs that will give everyone a fair chance to get the job. RWC seems more like internal connections..

This story is similar to what happened to some of my BSN cohorts who worked at a large regional hospital in the East Bay for years -- all employees in good standing, well performing students with good grades and excellent nurses at clinicals, all with great letters of recommendation from their preceptors....and generally just nice people who I enjoyed working with. Not a lemon in this bunch!

Most of them (the older ones unfortunately) were passed over in favor of external candidates who had connections or just looked brighter and shinny in the interview process. While I can understand wanting to mix up the new grad RN pool, personally, I would have a hard time passing up a well regarded employee over an external candidate. Eventually, a couple of them were picked up in another hiring round months later. But, one of our better grads was left out to dry twice now--so clearly this is nothing about merit, skills or grades as we've all seen it first hand.

So sorry this happened to you. hang in there and look for work elsewhere. It's a tough environment in the Bay Area and while what they did sucks, please know it is not unique to you. Unfortunately my friends have had difficult interviews having to explain why they were not hired by a hospital in which they worked, did clincals and precepted. So it's made it harder for them than the typical candidate. They've had to eat a lot of crow at work as well as they struggle to reinsert themselves into jobs they thought they would be leaving soon.

Hang in there! Hope you find a better job elsewhere soon.

I did most of my clinicals at a Kaiser in San Diego, and if I never have to step inside one of their hospitals again, I'll be very happy!

Their cafeteria does have an excellent salad bar though. I do have to give them that!

So if all these Kaisers do hire new grads, how do we go about applying? Should we look for job postings titled new grad, RN 1, etc? I have seen & applied to positions titled "Staff RN II, Staff RN I, Interim Permittee," but have gotten no responses.

Is that the correct way to go or can I apply to regular Staff RN positions?

My understanding is the only way to get in as a new grad is to percept or to extern--at least that's the case thus far here in the Bay Area. Kaiser is a tough nut to crack. The new grad jobs are not posted on line as far as I can tell--and the online search engine is a bear to use. They've been doing a lot of reorganizing in this area and as yet have not done a lot of new grad hiring. However, when they do decide to open themselves up to new grads in general I hear they may just suck up the excess so am interested to follow this thread.