Need some serious new grad advice

[newbienursie, BSN]

Hello!

I seriously would appreciate any insight or advice from any nurse out there. I graduated in May with my BSN and passed my NCLEX in June. This year has been absolutely wild.. I have not had a chance to relax. Job hunting has been extremely hard in New York. There is a huge hiring freeze and most of the hospitals have no money to fund a lot of new grads. There are 4 classmates of mine that have received RN positions so far. 

I received a position at a highly skilled nursing facility. It is long term care and I am on the unit with children who all have trachs, peg tubes, vents and severe medical diagnoses. I am so hesitant to start because it is not a hospital setting. I am afraid I will not get the experience I need to reach my goal of getting into a CV ICU or a step down unit.. heck I am afraid I wouldnt be able to get a med-surg position after a year of staying at this place. I feel like most hospitals want acute care experience. I have no other choice other than to wait but I really want to start to making money along with learning nursing skills. 

I feel like my parents, friends, and boyfriend do not understand my concerns and that if I do not take the job my parents would be disappointed. This long term facility offered me a tremendous salary, but is it worth taking? Will I be able to get a hospital job with this long term critical care experience? Please help ?
 

[Sour Lemon]

That sounds like good experience for getting your foot in the door of acute care. I would take it, especially considering we have no idea how long it will be before things return to "normal".

My last employer abolished their "new grad" program and hired small groups of long term care nurses instead. They were excellent!  ...easiest nurses in the world to orient, and I got paid extra for doing it. ?

Alternately, moving might be a good option if you want a specific type of job that's not available in your area.

 

[EDNURSE20, BSN]

Take it!!!

the whole thing about not being Able to find work in a hospital after working else where is a myth! People work in multiple settings through out there career, it’s OK. Especially during a pandemic, employees will understand. 

[caliotter3]

A nursing job is a nursing job and nursing experience is nursing experience.  If you work at this job for one or more years, you will have one or more years more to put on your resume than a person who sat out that length of time because they were not satisfied with the available job offerings.

[newbienursie, BSN]

OMG guys! thank you so much!! This makes me feel sooo much better. Im so happy and definitely feel more confident with my choice of accepting the job. Thank you again ❤️ 

[newbienursie, BSN]

21 minutes ago, caliotter3 said:

A nursing job is a nursing job and nursing experience is nursing experience.  If you work at this job for one or more years, you will have one or more years more to put on your resume than a person who sat out that length of time because they were not satisfied with the available job offerings.

Wow thank you so much. I never thought about it this way.. all of my friends are waiting around for things to get back to "normal" hoping to get a call back from the NYC hospitals

54 minutes ago, Sour Lemon said:

That sounds like good experience for getting your foot in the door of acute care. I would take it, especially considering we have no idea how long it will be before things return to "normal".

My last employer abolished their "new grad" program and hired small groups of long term care nurses instead. They were excellent!  ...easiest nurses in the world to orient, and I got paid extra for doing it. ?

Alternately, moving might be a good option if you want a specific type of job that's not available in your area.

 

Hi thank you so much for your reply. This makes me feel more at ease. I was thinking about getting my CT license but I might wait and see how I like working at this facility. 

[newbienursie, BSN]

26 minutes ago, caliotter3 said:

A nursing job is a nursing job and nursing experience is nursing experience.  If you work at this job for one or more years, you will have one or more years more to put on your resume than a person who sat out that length of time because they were not satisfied with the available job offerings.

 

31 minutes ago, EDNURSE20 said:

Take it!

the whole thing about not being Able to find work in a hospital after working else where is a myth! People work in multiple settings through out there career, it’s OK. Especially during a pandemic, employees will understand. 

Thank you!! I know I have to keep telling myself my first job might not be my dream job or what I pictured myself in. I really appreciate the advice ❤️ 

 

[llg, PhD, RN]

I agree with the other posters.   Also, I noticed that you will be working with pediatric patients.  Most children's hospitals would greatly value the type of experience that you will be getting.   You may never have thought about being a peds nurse, but if you end up liking the peds population, you should have little trouble getting a future job in a peds hospital.   And believe me, the children in peds hospitals are just as sick and need just has much intensive care as the adults in the adult hospitals!

[JadedCPN, BSN, RN]

4 hours ago, llg said:

I agree with the other posters.   Also, I noticed that you will be working with pediatric patients.  Most children's hospitals would greatly value the type of experience that you will be getting.   You may never have thought about being a peds nurse, but if you end up liking the peds population, you should have little trouble getting a future job in a peds hospital.   And believe me, the children in peds hospitals are just as sick and need just has much intensive care as the adults in the adult hospitals!

This. These were my first thoughts as well; trachs, g-tubes, vents - sounds like more experience than most people get in their first positions.