Moving to NH attempting job search?....

[rncc8]

Hello to the NH nursing community!

I am trying to move to NH as soon as I can get a job up there, which I was hoping some people could give feedback on. I currently work full time on a gen med floor in a large urban hospital in CT and have a little over a year of experience now. I applied to various RN jobs at all of the hospitals in Manchester/Nashua and some smaller hospitals in the area.

Am I being impatient to want to hear back already since I applied the first week of September?

What would the expected salary be for someone who is not a new grad anymore/has some experience?

Do you think that I should have gotten a temporary license for NH prior to applying? (I applied to all of the jobs listing my CT licensure)

Do you feel calling HR and asking them about the status of your application to be helpful or useless?

Do you think the layoffs are having a huge impact on the hiring?

Any information is very well appreciated!!

[curiosity123]

Have you tried Dartmouth Hitchcock Outpatient clinics in Manchester or at CMC?

Some of the speciality clinics might be receptive to a nurse with recent med/surg experience.

[rncc8]

I have tried applying to one job at the DHMC Manchester clinic w/ no reply (applied mid Sept.). I have started looking in Massachusetts now as well. At first I was against a longer commute (which I have at my current job) but now am okay with the idea of driving a max of 45 min. each way.

[StudyinginCT]

Hi! I moved from CT to the White Mtns in August. I have cardiac critical care experience. I just got a FT job offer last week. Of course, up here there are far fewer options as far as hospitals are concerned when compared to the southern part of the state.

Be prepared - you will take a major hit in pay. Even though I work in a rural critcal access hospital, my pay is comparable to friends of mine who are RN's in the seacoast region.

Also, the licensing process can take forever. If you are positive that you will eventually move here, start the application process now. Get your fingerprints done and paperwork submitted. That way when you do receive an offer, you can accept without waiting for your license. It took 2 months for my license to come through.

[rncc8]

The problem I face is since we are going to be in Southern NH and so close to the MA border, I didn't want to limit myself to NH hospitals yet. I have applied to nearly all the hospitals within a reasonable driving distance.

Its now been almost three months since I have been applying and hope I hear something soon. Is there anything you did that helped you get the job? Calling HR? Maybe calling the nursing managers? I am trying to be patient here but it seems like such a hard market to get into right now.

Thanks for any info.

[StudyinginCT]

It is a very difficult market. I would consider applying for a per diem position to get your foot in the door. I found that many hospitals did not consider outsiders for FT or PT positions. If you're able to take a per diem job without benefits, the threshold for hire definitely seems lower. I got 2 per diem offers from 2 different hospitals during the 2 months I waited for my license.

I would also consider contacting Core Medical. The handle the majority of the travel assignments in NH. The pay from those gigs is generally in the $40/hr range. I live so far north that I could never make it work for anything they offered me. But that would be another route.

Get going on that license!!! Remember, mine took 2 months! Would suck to get an offer and then have to wait forever (like I did) to actually work. The other thing is that the hospitals couldn't even technically offer me the job until I had a valid license, so all I had from them was a verbal offer, nothing in stone. Both hospitals were very patient while I sorted through the various licensing issues, but some employers may not be as patient. Particularly if they have a staffing need and others waiting to take the job with license in hand.

The nice thing is that NH is part of the compact, so once you have a NH license, you can also work in Maine. Or any of the other 20 states. It's a valuable license to have.

[rncc8]

So you took per diem jobs before you were offered a job elsewhere? They let you work without a NH license? Was your license from CT at the time? I am definitely going to get started on the licensing process now.

I am getting the idea that they are VERY hesitant to hire externally. I will look into the traveling nurse job.

So I literally just received a call from Wentworth Douglass and they told me they are interested in hiring per diem but that is the furthest hospital I applied to and don't think I would be able to work that far.

Sorry for so many questions at once but you have been the only response in a while. I appreciate it!

[nhnurse]

The market is VERY tight right now for any acute care RN jobs here in NH. I would definitely get your NH license as that could be a major HR road block. Also, make yourself stand out from other candidates. Send a few emails to the nurse managers of units you're really interested in. Tell them about your experience, why you're passionate about working on their unit, yada yada yada. This strategy worked beautifully for me after many months of no call backs. My experience is that HR "ditches" many applications for various reasons so it's important to go to the source. After all, what do you have to lose? Good luck!