Ideas on applying to St Louis Hospitals

U.S.A. Missouri

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I will be starting a nursing program this spring in St Louis and I am also looking for parttime job also. Most of the hospital jobs you apply online for, but i really need to get my foot in the door. Does speaking to someone in HR help? I don't know anyone personally at the various St. Louis hospitals. I am sure they get hundreds of applications a day. Just wanted to get some ideas.

Thanks you

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

I think sometimes it helps to know someone, but as for myself and my daughter, we both just put apps in online for tech or secretary jobs. She's done this with two hospitals and I did mine with another and we both got calls and ultimately interviews fairly quickly. I've obviously moved on since that time and am working for another facility, but in this day and age, it's truly the only way most hospitals will even consider your application.

It helps to have completed your first semester of fundamentals in nursing school also unless you have the time to go through some of their orientation/training courses which can take a month or so.

My personal best suggestion is just to start hitting them hard with applications online and hope for the best. You can always try to follow up with phone calls or a personal visit. I know at least one facility has PCs onsite where you can apply in their HR. I don't know if there's any advantage to that....

Best wishes!!

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i would also just go ahead and fill out the online application. i feel that they reply to you in a timely fashion. word of advice, apply to more places then you think you might want to work at--definietly check out all of the options!

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Specializes in Emergency.

I have had difficulty even getting a phone call from a hospital! And that's with my Fundamentals class being done already....I need a job to gain experience that I feel I will never quite get during clinicals (I have my med/surg clinical at St. Johns, and they don't let students/techs do blood draws :( ) I applied to roughly 7-8 jobs (all as techs/secretary positions) at both St. Luke's and MoBap, and I just got a call for an interview @ St. Luke's (FINALLY)...I will follow-up later with that one. Good luck...just apply to LOTS of jobs, and hope for the best. It's tougher than I thought it would be for sure!

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.
(I have my med/surg clinical at St. Johns, and they don't let students/techs do blood draws :( )

Neither does St. Joe's....but that's because there are lab techs that do that work unless the pt has a Port or Central line for the RN to do the draw. I wouldn't use that criteria to exclude a facility as a potential place for experience!!

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Specializes in Emergency.

St. John's is a great place, but I really do need to get practice with blood draws. They also still require me to take a 6 week training course full time, which I cannot fit in during school. They are definitely on top of my list (along with St. Luke's) for where I'll be applying when I graduate as an RN. :)

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Actually, you can bypass St. John's training program if you have 80 hours of clinical time completed, which you generally do after your first clinical semester. I was told this by the recruiter for the PCA position, she also advised you would just need some form (St.John's provides the form) filled out by your clinical instructor to confirm you have reached the 80 hours. Then, you just have a one or two day hospital orientation. St. John's also has a better starting salary then some of the area hospitals.:nurse:

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Specializes in Emergency.

This is good info to know! Thanks. Unfortunately, I definitely do not have 80 clinical hours done yet, because in the accelerated program, our fundamentals clinical isn't very long. We only did 3 clinical days in July...which adds up to about 24 hours tops. :/ But for future reference it's wonderful to know that over Xmas break I could apply there for sure! I appreciate it very much :) Thanks again

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I was under the impression that clinical hours also include the time spent in the lab... so, I will have to call and check with St. John's because I was planning on getting a job there over winter break too!

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

My daughter just had an interview and job offer as a PCA with St. John's after just a few weeks. So apparently if they see something interesting, they move pretty quickly. She however, is choosing to go the secretary route, so the training class won't apply. She did tech work elsewhere.

I'm not sure I understand the "need" to get practice with blood draws. If I understand correctly, you are in a RN program, and in a lot of facilities (and you mentioned St. John's and St. Luke's) the RNs don't even do blood draws. So why the emphasis on that particular skill instead of things like foleys, etc. that nurses most definately do on a much more regular basis? Just having some sheer comfort level post-graduation from having spent time in a hospital is a plus, never mind getting to know what you do and don't like about working for a particular facility.

Again, I wouldn't use that for exclusionary purposes by any means. As with most skills, if you end up somewhere that requires blood draws, believe me, you'll get plenty of "practice" once you've graduated.

For those midway through their programs, I'd like to highly suggest looking for a winter internship, or if you won't be to this point until the end of spring semester, look for a summer internship. The SSM facilities had some fantastic opportunities that usually parlayed in to tech positions and the $$$ was pretty decent. Additionally, you get the opportunity during this time to do just about everything except pass meds (which I don't think of as a "skill" as much as it is a conscientious activity; you still get to watch and observe med passing so the exposure is still there). You won't necessarily be doing blood draws, but if you end up on a good unit, you will be doing IVs, foleys, coordinationg care, and just about everything else a RN does on a daily basis. Was the BEST thing I did for my schooling and future job hunt....I think there may be other facilites that offer this opportunity also.

Best wishes....

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Specializes in Emergency.

I see where you're coming from WDW, however more factors than just blood draws alone are going into my decision. St. Lukes is much closer to home for me, and on top of the blood draws they can also do the foleys, etc. I really won't be picky where I get a job, the main point is getting experience! I was already considering the Winter Externship at MoBap...I have only heard good things so far about doing that. I appreciate everyone's input thus far! Thanks!

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i have applied to a couple of jobs and called and all they say is that i am under consideration. i cant even get to talk to an actual person but leave voice mails. i am getting frustrated:cry:

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