Most new-grad GN/RN jobs filled by techs in St. Louis (2010)

Nursing Students General Students

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Specializes in MICU, SICU, and transplants.

Hi - I am a nursing student in my last semester of school in St. Louis, MO (BSN graduation in September). I have been a tech for a little over 1 year working for a major area hospital. Luckily I have landed a job in the unit where I work, but many of my peers are not so fortunate.

Sometimes in nursing school the administration frowns on students working - saying that they need to focus on their studies. Well, this is going to lead to no experience and no job! I know a person in the HR department at my hospital and was told that they mostly hire from within - and experience is the #1 factor to at least be considered for a position. The majority of new grad nurses worked as techs for the hospital - so they were already "in the system" and knew the ins and outs of the workplace. At my hospital, I was told that number is around 75% (GN positions filled by techs who currently work there).

My advice to all of you nursing students in St. Louis - get a hospital job! Even if you have to start out as a unit secretary (which would be great, by the way) before you start nursing school (during pre-reqs), then you could switch to a PCT/SNT or PCA once you finish your first clinical semester. I hope this helps some of you make a critical decision that will put things in your favor when applying as a new grad! Good luck!

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I disagree with your advice. Getting a job will make it much harder to get through NS. Concentrate on your studies.

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Specializes in MICU, SICU, and transplants.

Hi Donald11 -

I didn't say that getting a job would make NS easier - it is hard no matter which way you do it. Nursing school is a life-altering experience and tends to take over everything. That being said, working during NS has been fantastic for me and for several of my school friends - we understand so much more in class because we've seen those things happen at the hospital. We still have to attend class and study hard, but "getting" the concepts is easier for us because they are less abstract. Often we would cover a topic in class, then I would go to work and see it first hand. That type of experience has made a world of difference.

I have a 4.0 GPA and more than half of the Dean's List (3.75 or above) students also work at a hospital, so it is definitely doable.

By the way, I work a limited part-time schedule and pick up more shifts when school is winding down and on breaks. School always comes first!

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

I agree with you - work during NS. Its not that hard. Believe me, being a nurse is much harder than any NS could ever be and this will give you time management skills.

I live in central IL and its the same situation here.

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If a student or teacher advises you not to work, don't take that stupid piece of advice. Anything that gives you a leg up, just do what you have to.

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Specializes in Perinatal.

The hospital where I work has a new grad program. Over 600 people applied for 12 spots. Of those 12 spots, 8 of the nurses hired were internals that already worked for the hospital. That is why I am keeping my position once I start school next month ;)

BTW~My position is per diem, so I am only required to work a few days a month.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
I disagree with your advice. Getting a job will make it much harder to get through NS. Concentrate on your studies.

A full-time job would make it more difficult to get through nursing school, but a job as a tech or nursing intern/extern is extremely valuable. At the moment, this is the only way that many, many new grads are getting jobs. And, as I recall from your posts, you have not yet started NS -- when you get there, you'll see what I mean!

The OP's advice is excellent, and not just for students in STL, but everywhere.

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No, I have not atrated NS yet, but I don't need to go to NS to know that it is hard and not a piece of cake like many other college majors are. I actually have substantial contacts in the health care industry through my family (3 RNs and 6 doctors) so I am hoping to land a job that way. Plus I have a good relationship with one of the supervisors at my mother's home care agency since I did an internship back when I was in high school at a different company he worked at. I guess I should strengthen that relationship right before I graduate and need a job...

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Hey Donald11,

Good for you for knowing sooooo many people in healthcare that can ultimately land you a job. However, for most of us a job at a hospital during NS can mean more experience and a better chance in getting hired after NS.

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I disagree with your advice. Getting a job will make it much harder to get through NS. Concentrate on your studies.

Not only that, but it could spell end of WIA or TAA money for an adult. For example, there was on job for me (my skill set) in the town that I reside in, and a buyout-merger-RIF eliminated my job. Since my job was lost to foreign competition, and I was a RIF with no possibility of recall, and that company's job elimination was granted a Trade Act petition, I get TAA for education, but I'll lose my TRA extended unemployment portion because it takes to dam long to start a RN program and I could not stay on waiver that long. LPN or trade school retraining didn't make any sense given my intellect and educational background. So long as I can't get a job at 80% of my former pay, AND I don't use that TAA for any namby-pamby lil' retraining, I have $20,000-something to use toward RN.

So, to get "a" job fast, I could go get a CNA, or I could become a truck driver (get a CDL.) Okay, then I have employable skills, and there are jobs for that in my area. So, time to start RN school rolls around, we submit the paperwork, and the State says "Oops, you can work as a CNA for $8/hr, or you can go get an OTR truck driver job, and we DENY you that $20k-something that you planned to use for RN. Additionally, you have employable skills, AND you were covered by a Trade Act petition, so we won't give you any WIA money, either."

Getting experience is a great thing, but the displaced worker adult students sometimes have to walk a tightrope and choose whether getting some irrelevant (so far as nursing goes) experience but for a health care provider is worth giving up $8000 or $27,000 in retraining dollars.

I have loads of experience in science and technology with a major corporation, and a resume that says I have a brain and am a self-starter. I hope that experience will count for something in a career change. Much of the problem I have encountered is that nursing and hospital admins often do not have a very broad educational background outside of nursing or health, and many have no freakin' idea what they see when they look at my transcript and resume. Yet, they'd better get up to speed, b/c men entering nursing might have some manufacturing or trades or business background. Not spending one's entire life in child rearing and nursing does NOT make one stupid or incompetent. I found, with my background, I was well-received at the more urban programs, and the little country mamma schools like Sharon didn't have the slightest clue about my abilities, because they only know hospital, school, or mill laborer types of careers.

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Why are you limiting yourself to hospitals when you apply for jobs? Apply to homecare, you make more and do half the work. Hospitals are nothing more than sweat shops. All of the nurses and doctors in my family avoid them like the plague.

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When you start as a new employee in homecare, do they send a "trainer" out with you for a while, or are you just on your own?

And you must generally supply your own transportation, is that right?

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