Need hope

Not sure what specific advice to offer in your situation, but I wanted to wish you the best of luck.

OP - most all of the hospitals in your area are hiring. One hospital has (too many) ads in the Merc news.

If you have applied online to these, maybe you can follow-up with a telephone call to the nurse recruiter for these places.

Actually, you should follow-up with a phone call if they do not call you. Give them a day or two after applying and then call and introduce yourself.

Don't give up. The career fair in Santa Clara sounds good.

Yes, there is hope. I moved to CA in 2006. I thought that obtaining a job would be a breeze since I had alot of experience. I was wrong. It took me about 6 months to get a job. I also applied to alot of the hospitals and like you, I wasn't hired. I do not understand why your previous experience would not be a huge asset in Med-Surg. It seemed odd to me that they are hiring travel nurses to go to CA to work but when you are there, they don't hire you.

You can probably get an immediate job in Home Health. There was a huge need for that. But I would suggest that you reapply at the hospitals and then be very persistent. I called the nurse recruiter of every hospital that I applied at. If you are applying online you can get lost in the shuffle.

What will happen is that you will soon be bonbarded with offers. Good luck!

You didn't mention how many years experience you have. In my area (not Calif) where there is a nursing shortage, nurses are hired for med/surg that do not have experience in med/surg. I've found that some nurse recruiters don't seem to follow up with on-line applications and so it is best to call them after a couple of days. You might also want to review your cover letter and resume to see if you could make some improvements. Try the websites CareerBuilder.com, Jobs.MySpace.com, and CraigsList.com for job postings, as well as hospital websites. Good luck.