Moving to San Francisco

U.S.A. California

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Specializes in LTC.

- I'm a nursing student currently enrolled in an ADN program that I expect to graduate from in December. I have no job experience. Once I have my license, I'm considering moving out of state to San Francisco. I know there will be a lot of paper work to do - applying for a CA license, etc.. - but at this point what I really want to know is how other people have made big out of state moves successfully.

Are any of you planning to relocate to CA?? What are your plans? Where are you going? How are you making it happen?

Have any of you already done this and relocated to CA from somewhere else? How did you do it? Where & why did you go? How were you able to find a job? What advice can you give me about relocating out of state?

:redpinkhe

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If you're planning to move to San Francisco right away, you might as well apply for your initial licensure in California.

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Specializes in SRNA.

I'd suggest applying for new grad positions as soon as they're available. If you read some older threads, it seems new grads in SF have trouble finding jobs due to positions being filled early and quickly.

For example, I toured UCSF for fun and was told new grad positions for Feb/Mar 2008 would be posted this month...be on the lookout.

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I just moved here in Maryland. My husbands job relocated us out here. I have 2 yrs experience and I had trouble finding a job. I think the reason I had so much trouble was because of the time of the year. I applied to a hospital in June got a call back, interviewed end of July and was offered the job. I had also applied to a few other places and not one word back. We moved here in August and I needed to find a job in order to buy our house. I started applying to a bunch of places and then I started getting calls back. I really wanted to switch specialities and of course, with that you are competing with new grads because I need to be retrained for the new specialty. All those slots were filled!!! So the calls I was getting back were for jobs I could do because of my experience. I realized I just needed to stick with my current specialty until the next training programs start.

If your a new grad, I would suggest getting your licence in the state you graduate in first and then obtaining one here. My license came pretty quickly according to other people. I applied in early July and I had my licence in hand in August. It was about 6 wks from start to finish. You also need to apply at least 4 mos in advance for new grad programs. So if your graduating in December you better be applying now. I have also heard from other people that it's harder for an ADN to find a job here than an BSN. I don't know if that is true or not.

I know people from CA don't believe me but the nursing shortage here isn't as bad as other places of the country. Forget sign on bonuses etc. I have a per diem job here at John Muir, Concord and they aren't hiring any permanent full time staff, only per diem. They have a hiring freeze going on because they are losing their Kaiser contract.

I did get really lucky and was able to get accepted into a training program starting in Novemeber. They only hired 3-4 people for it. :) Who knows how many applied but they seemed really pleased that I was not a new grad. They were not interested in new grads.

I'm not trying to discourage you. I'm just giving you what my experience was. I just suggest apply early, have your license in hand. I had that question a number of times when I was called back for my interview. " Do you have a CA license?" One hospital, I said, no and she sounded discouraged and proceeded to tell me I should have just drove to the office and got one same day. Well when I'm in MD! It's kind of hard. I thought the mail in process was easy. It took a while to get all my paperwork together they required but once I mailed it off, no problems.

In other parts of CA, they really need nurses bad. I just think this area, SF Bay Area isn't as hurting as other places.

New grads probably make $40.hr starting. If you go closer to SF, you will most likely get $45/hr. This is what I have heard.

Good luck!!!!

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I'm a nursing student in Sacramento, graduating in Dec. It has become very difficult to get new grad positions in Northern California. If you're not completely set on moving to SF then I would suggest the Los Angeles area. There are tons of new grad jobs there, with new grad programs in great hospitals such as UCLA, Cedars-Sinai, and LA Children's (if you're an aspiring peds nurse).

I used to live in SF and I loved it but you're going to be shocked at how expensive it is to live there. Yes, you will make more money but you will not have more disposable income because of the high cost of living.

I would actually consider moving somewhere else because the job situation here is not that great anymore but I have "California sized" student loans so I have to work here to pay them off!

Good luck!

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