Looking for a JOB!!! Advice please...

Nurses LPN/LVN

Published

Please I need some advice.(Just received license) I have dropped off several applications at SNF and LTC and have had no call backs. (Been 3 days) I know that is not a long time but I really need a job! :oShould I call the places (what would I say?) or should I wait for them to call me. Have no idea how to go about this and I need to find a job (living off of financial aid now have to have a REAL income.) thanks for any advice.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I applied at one facility, and waited almost 2 hours to see the DON. She hired me on the spot! (At the lowest wage, and in the toughest job, but still..)

I say - fill out that application and stick around and wait for an interview.

I NEVER heard a single thing from other places I applied online, or in person to, and didn't get a face-to-face interview on the spot.

Wait around.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Call back after about a week. Better yet, visit after about a week. If you haven't been contacted that there are no positions available, then you are only following up. Can't fault you for that. The more often they see you, the more chances you have of getting an interview. After 30 days, if you haven't been offered any work, make the rounds again, and reapply at the places you think you would prefer to work at. Being persistent sometimes means the difference between landing a job and being forgotten. Good luck.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

3 days is nothing. My husband just went through the job search in a different field and even after being in a new job for over a month we are still getting interview calls from other places he sent applications. Sometimes HR takes awhile to act. The higher up the job the longer it will take.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I am in the same boat. I just found out I passed and have no previous medical experience. I don't know if we are supposed to just walk in and ask about employment? Call? I just don't know. Handing in a resume is not really an option for me, as I have no previous experience. I don't even know what to say if I walk in. Do you just ask if they hire new grads? It's kind of disappointing because nobody in my class has been able to find jobs.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Rehab.

I started sending out resume's and doing on-line applications 2 weeks before graduation and didn't hear anything for the longest time!! It got to be very frustrating but just when I thought I was getting nowhere I got a call from the #1 place I wanted to work at! Don't give up, honestly I think everyone in my class has a job now and we graduated May 9th. Like some of the other posts said, if you can apply in person do so because alot of my classmates also got hired on the spot or had an interview at least then and there when they went physically to the location instead of doing it online. Good luck to you!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Just keep applying and don't give up. I applied at one hospital where they told me that they were only hiring lvn with at least one year experience as a "LICENSED NURSE" and he told me I need to get my foot wet with experience "and come back again to reapply when I do. Out of frustration I asked him "and do you have any suggestions on where can I go to get my feet wet and gain my experience since everywhere that I've applied said basically said the same thing you are saying." (It just didn't make sense to me at that time...train me!!!...I will have experience....so then that way I don't have to come back to reapply cause I would be here already!arrrrrrrrrg)He told me go to LTCF they always accept new nurses. Daycare for adults. He said to keep applying and after 1 year come back to him to reapply. He even gave me his card.:banghead: That was my calling to end my job searching. I gave up. I thought the test stressed me out, looking for a job was. I was losing all that was in my head all that I've learned in clinicals....disappearing .... fading fading:crying2:... I've applied in so many places, online, faxed resumes, applied in person even with the ones that I applied online. I was burned out of hearing "the position was filled with someone more experienced." "We have your application on file and when we have an opening we will consider your application." after an interview "I will call you back" ...(but they don't) you end up calling back and they tell you the Quotes above. YOU DON'T HAVE EXPERIENCE. I realized after I've gave into defeat that I'm such an idiot----my friend would tease me saying I'm a lvn card holder...just a member of the nursing club.:chuckle---til one day I get this call. I don't even remember applying for it. Called me for an interview...I say okay why not lets do this again. My friend said "just tell them you no longer want to be a card holder and that you want to up you grade in membership"....hahaha .... i took all my negatives...threw out it out the door...I took all my failed interviews and used it as my learning tool. I reconstructed my resume, added my clinical locations and experience, so instead of work experience I put Educational Experience, cover letter, got reference letters this time from clinical instructor, from the facilities I had clinicals at. Ask questions about their facility, about their staffing procedures, etc. during those long quiet pauses. :yeah:yeah I finally get hired.:yeah: I accepted the pay ... I was happy to get a job at this point. I start tuesday . so do not give up keep applying online, and in person because sometimes they will interview you right away. Call to follow up your app...say you are following up on the resume / application that you just submitted. Be positive and when you do feel frustration take a break ... fix your resume, rethink questions to ask them and how you are going to answer their questions, do research on their facility and community.....don't give up and accept being just a lvn card holder or a member of the nursing club. Keep trying someone will let your feet get wet with experience...:D sorry for the long letter here...I just wanted to let you that it is frustrating, and we just have to be presistant and keep applying. good luck with your search .. All new nurses are in my prayers....

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Day program consultant DD/MR.

Don't give up. Look at it from a different perspective. The "right" job just has not come along. I truely belive in everything happens for a reason. You opportunity will come alon. I passed nclex in march of 2007 applied to ALOT places had a few on the spot interview, but no call backs. I interview at the end of April for a different job interviewed on the spot, had 2 follow up calls 1 by me and 1 by them, and I got the job offere the following week. I have been working over a year. Don't give up you can do this.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Geriatrics/Peds/Alzheimers.
Just keep applying and don't give up. I applied at one hospital where they told me that they were only hiring lvn with at least one year experience as a "LICENSED NURSE" and he told me I need to get my foot wet with experience "and come back again to reapply when I do. Out of frustration I asked him "and do you have any suggestions on where can I go to get my feet wet and gain my experience since everywhere that I've applied said basically said the same thing you are saying." (It just didn't make sense to me at that time...train me!!!...I will have experience....so then that way I don't have to come back to reapply cause I would be here already!arrrrrrrrrg)He told me go to LTCF they always accept new nurses. Daycare for adults. He said to keep applying and after 1 year come back to him to reapply. He even gave me his card.:banghead: That was my calling to end my job searching. I gave up. I thought the test stressed me out, looking for a job was. I was losing all that was in my head all that I've learned in clinicals....disappearing .... fading fading:crying2:... I've applied in so many places, online, faxed resumes, applied in person even with the ones that I applied online. I was burned out of hearing "the position was filled with someone more experienced." "We have your application on file and when we have an opening we will consider your application." after an interview "I will call you back" ...(but they don't) you end up calling back and they tell you the Quotes above. YOU DON'T HAVE EXPERIENCE. I realized after I've gave into defeat that I'm such an idiot----my friend would tease me saying I'm a lvn card holder...just a member of the nursing club.:chuckle---til one day I get this call. I don't even remember applying for it. Called me for an interview...I say okay why not lets do this again. My friend said "just tell them you no longer want to be a card holder and that you want to up you grade in membership"....hahaha .... i took all my negatives...threw out it out the door...I took all my failed interviews and used it as my learning tool. I reconstructed my resume, added my clinical locations and experience, so instead of work experience I put Educational Experience, cover letter, got reference letters this time from clinical instructor, from the facilities I had clinicals at. Ask questions about their facility, about their staffing procedures, etc. during those long quiet pauses. :yeah:yeah I finally get hired.:yeah: I accepted the pay ... I was happy to get a job at this point. I start tuesday . so do not give up keep applying online, and in person because sometimes they will interview you right away. Call to follow up your app...say you are following up on the resume / application that you just submitted. Be positive and when you do feel frustration take a break ... fix your resume, rethink questions to ask them and how you are going to answer their questions, do research on their facility and community.....don't give up and accept being just a lvn card holder or a member of the nursing club. Keep trying someone will let your feet get wet with experience...:D sorry for the long letter here...I just wanted to let you that it is frustrating, and we just have to be presistant and keep applying. good luck with your search .. All new nurses are in my prayers....

I congradulate you on your success. I have been going through the same thing since 2004. I need that one year of acute care experience. I did clinicals at UCLA and that doesn't seem to count for a thing. They'll take a RN-no experience before they take an LVN with 2-5 years experience. I don't understand it at all. Mind you, once you get that 1 year of acute, the doors open wide but in the mean while, what does one do? I refuse to do anything else but acute care at this point because I've wasted 3 years already on the only job I've been able to get (assisted living). I've passed meds to 53 residents with no ID bracelet, accuchecks, ostomy care, injections, catheter care, vitals. I'm really getting bitter and I can't afford to go back to school for my RN. Times are hard for everyone now. If someone has more advice than just rearranging a resume let me know. Cause it aint working for me. Oh, the NOC shift is always the one they'll start you on and working in a doctor's office is another menial job. Med techs are doing what we went to school for, so what's the difference between them and us? I even have my IVBloodwithdrawal and therapy certificate along with vent and A-1 references. Still going no where!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med-Surg, Rehab,Acute LTC ,PCU.

And yet they yell on the mountain top " We have a nursing shortage!" :igtsyt:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Im in the same boat, graduated may 21st, been applying for jobs for about 1 week. i have 2 years of medical assistant experience, but everyone tells me "we need someone with experience" how are we supposed to get that experience if no one will hire us?? even nursing homes around here want experience. Then i'm looking for LPN to RN programs and thats another running in circles, its just so frustrating, why cant they just have 1 set curriculum and 1 set nursing degree that way people can just be nurses without wasting half their life trying to get to the goal. FRUSTRATING!!!! ::sighs::

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I know what you mean. I know its only been two weeks but I have applied at all of the LTC's and SNF's in the area. I talked to a bunch yesterday and the replys I received ranged from "low census" "week to week" and "looking for experience right now". All the hospitals in this area are hiring RN's and the offices are hiring Medical Assistants. Of course I am going to try to keep my hopes up (only 2 weeks after all) but I may have to consider picking up a regular job till I can find a nursing job. (Now that I am out of school I no longer receive VA benefits that worked as a second income in our household.) Oh well its frustrating. :banghead:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment