Less than a year of experience and don't know what to do...helpppp!!

VANurse2010 · May 18, 2014

Why don't you consider staying in your job for at least a year instead of following someone who is not your husband... Just a thought.

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · May 18, 2014

Why don't you consider staying in your job for at least a year instead of following someone who is not your husband... Just a thought.

To add: your first priority should be honing your practice and getting your experience before going anywhere when it will be tough to find a job...just my thoughts...

bisson · May 18, 2014

I don't know where you are transferring from, but CA pays great money and san diego is a gorgeous place. My brother is a marine and lives there too.

Experience is experience. Even though it might not be acute care experience, med surg experience is the bare minimum. New Grads get hired into med surg. It's not like you're applying into a specialty ICU. Get your CA license and apply.

If anything might look bad, is the fact that you will have 3 jobs in under 1 year. But it all comes down to how you are in the interviews and how well you sell yourself. As a perspective, in NY, you won't get a job right now unless you know someone and in Virginia, you'll get hired into an ICU as a new grad. California is somewhere in the middle of those 2 extremes. Yes it's saturated with nurses, but you have a lot of hospitals. ( ny has a lot of nurses and no hospitals, VA has a lot of hospitals and no nurses).

all you can do is apply and pray for the best. I'd move to san diego in a heart beat if it wasn't for a stubborn southern husband >

RunBabyRN · May 18, 2014

I say apply for jobs and see what happens. If you get something, go for it. You don't know until you apply. But don't move or quit your job until you have something lined up. It's not worth the risk, especially, as VANurse2010 said, when it's your boyfriend, not your husband.

Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN · May 19, 2014

Nurses with little to no acute care experience get hired into acute care positions all the time. Think about how your experience in the plasma center can transfer over to acute care. I'm certain that if you think about it, you did learn some valuable skills that helped prepare you for acute care nursing. Those skills don't have to be technical skills like starting IVs, but the soft skills of communication and building rapport count, too- especially in this day and age of patient satisfaction. Being able to work as a team with your coworkers is huge, too. Demonstrate that you have what it takes to be a valuable asset to the team. Polish your interview skills and buy yourself a nice new interview outfit to help you feel the part. I think you'll do just fine. But as previously mentioned, don't give notice at your current job until you have something else lined up, even if you have to join your boyfriend later on.

CharlieTaco · May 19, 2014

You should not move until you have gotten a job which probably won't happen without at least 1 year of acute care experience. The plasma stuff won't count. The job market in San Diego is really bad, new grad positions get 2000 apps for 10 spots. Your current experience which is only in med surg won't get you a job. If you move there now you might not get a job at all and have to move back home where you might also have trouble getting employed because you dont have much experience. And you bf might get deployed. Do not move to San Diego without a job offer.

applesxoranges, BSN, RN · May 20, 2014

I would make sure to write down you were relocating due to boyfriend's military obligation.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · May 20, 2014

The bad news: yes, your plasma experience will place you out of a lot of new grad residency programs. Both facilities I work for only consider candidates for their new grad programs who have less than 6 months' RN experience--not specifically med-surg experience, but ANY RN experience. So you would be ineligible for either.

You are currently in the new grad black hole: you have too much experience to qualify for a lot of new grad programs, but not the minimum year so you can be considered for experienced positions. This is a very bad position to be in, especially if you are moving to an over-saturated market such as SD.

And consider that as a girlfriend, you do not qualify for military spouse hiring preference, career assistance, relocation assistance, or any other military dependent benefits whatsoever. Those benefits are only available once a marriage license is in your hand.

Moving out here in your current situation is big risk.

If you are currently working, stay there until you have year of experience, and get used to checking the Southwest.com website for deals on flights to SD in the meantime. This will serve you better in the long run.

Best of luck whatever you decide.

Hannah_PsychRN · May 21, 2014

I'm in a similar situation... I have 5 months experience in Oncology, and now almost 4 months experience in Psych. I just applied to an OB job and then walked into the Human Resources department. I know for sure I would not have been called back about the OB job given my experience (or lack of), but the recruiter liked me in person and I'm interviewing tomorrow. My advice is to apply a bunch of places, and walk into the human resources in a cute professional outfit and sell yourself. If they like you in person it may not matter what's on paper :) Good luck!