My ICU/ER job hunt tale of woe....please help!

Nurses Job Hunt

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Hi everyone. Here's my story. I took a job in oncology as a new grad because I graduated mid-year and didn't want to wait for new-grad programs to start in the fall (or count on being selected for one). After spending a year there, tele-certified, ACLS, lots of volunteer experience in ER and ICU, I thought it was time to make my move. After several apps, finally interviewed for ER. Told didn't have enough experience. A week later, up popped 5 openings for new grads....in the ER. Yay.

New tactics. Became military flight nurse on the side, TNCC, PALS, 12-lead class. Interviewed ICU. Did pretty damn well as far as I can tell. I rocked their clinical scenarios! Result: Denied. They said in the interview that they were looking for experienced ICU nurses. Am stilll hoping to get a phone call back to get some feedback from the manager on what I could do better, make myself a better candidate.

Here's the deal: I'm stuck in the proverbial catch-22. If I'm med/surg oncology and want to move into the ICU, I can't very well magic-up ICU experience for myself to sweeten up my resume now can I? Our facility has no career advancement program that allows nurses to try out other units.

After hearing all this, does anybody out there have any advice for me? I'm starting to feel unloved! :) Seriously, I am trying to keep myself surfing the positives, but I'm starting to lose hope.

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Im in the same boat. Its pretty frustrating. What I am trying to do is find a hospital where they are considering nurses with prior hospital experience without ICU/ER experience.

Some smaller hospitals are willing to train. Good Luck!

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It sounds like you do have some ICU critical type experience with the flight nursing. Maybe your

résumé needs to better highlight those experiences?

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Why the focus on ICU nursing?

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Hi -

First and foremost, why do you feel the need to move to ICU? Is that something that you really love? Oncology is one of the biggest "in demand" specialties AND one of the highest paying. It probably (by my rough guestimate!) makes up only 1% of all NPs. As a recruiter, any time I talk to someone who tells me that they specialize in oncology, my eyeballs usually bug out and I know they'll ALWAYS be in demand and you have much more power when you are negotiating.

If you want to get into the ICU, network, network, network! Big hospitals don't always remember that you're a human, and they just see you as another piece of paper with your credentials/experience on it. Find someone who you can bond with, maybe try a smaller facility. Can you pick up part time work to get that experience, that way later on you can bump up into full time? Are there any places you can volunteer to get that experience? Get creative - remind them that it's not always experience that determines the best candidate. There's a popular phrase that common sense isn't so common, and *you* have it!

I hope this helps!

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