New Grad First Job Question

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Hi guys, I'm a new grad and have read along the way how important it is to career plan and to make smart career choices that'll help me to advance in my speciality of interest. Well, with as competitive as the job market is for new grads but also wanting to keep a career plan in mind, would you, as a new grad, accept any job offer in any field or speciality just to get to work and to gain some experience and start paying the bills? Or by doing so will I find myself in a rut and only marketable in that speciality area and still find it difficult to break into the speciality I'm ultimately interested in when I'm no longer a "new grad"?

Would love the opinions and advice from seasoned nurses who have had experience with changing specialities.

I am a new grad that graduated in May of 2011. I had a paid externship last summer on an oncology floor, and my senior preceptorship was on an oncology floor. While I loved both of these experiences, and I had a job offer at the floor I had an externship on, I risked it by not accepting. I thought for my own personal goals, I want to obtain the clinical and time management skills on a med-surg floor before obtaining my dream job as an oncology nurse. The nurse/pt ratio was 1:3, there was a computer to chart in each room, each room was private, and no one had peripheral IVs or any other major complications other than receiving chemotherapy and neutropenic precautions. I definitely learned a lot on my externship floor, but I know that I wanted to gain more than what I was learning there. Even my preceptor suggested I start out as a med-surg, supporting my decision in the end.

I have to say, it was scary not having a job right out of college, but patience and persistence paid off and just yesterday got a job offer on a busy and very high acuity med-surg floor at a local hospital (I even moved back home, away from where I originally went to school). I was getting anxious and nervous, but I definitely know this was the right fit for me.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

IMO, any experience looks better to an employer than no experience. And any nursing job you take will teach you something.

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Take ANY job you can get. If you become licensed after graduation and then don't get a job for a year because you're waiting for the "right" opportunity, then you'll be overlooked and perpetuate your joblessness.

Alissa

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Specializes in OB/GYN, L&D, Postpartum Couplet Care.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond. I guess I'll go ahead and try to get ANY work right now and just hope to work into the speciality I'm interested in later. Who knows, I may love where I end up and it might change my direction professionally. I'll never know if I don't try. :)

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Specializes in Pediatrics.
Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond. I guess I'll go ahead and try to get ANY work right now and just hope to work into the speciality I'm interested in later. Who knows, I may love where I end up and it might change my direction professionally. I'll never know if I don't try. :)

What you think may be your chosen specialty may change, your interest may change. I have read on here over and over from more expereinced nurses who have said " I thought XYZ specialty was my calling, I got there and relized I didn't like it, I then tried ABC specialty and while I didn't like it in school I love it now"

For me I did 3 years as an ED tech and my preceptorship in the ED, a year ago when I was trying to get a job I was all over any ED internship applications I could never see myself working anywhere else as a nurse.

A year later I have done peds home health, and a stint as a camp nurse for 200 8-11 year olds, LOVED IT. I just now got hired to work in a LTC pediatric unit of a large hospital for registry status. The SNF expereince that I have + the peds home health is what got me the job. I am hoping that within a year I am either full time status at the facility or use that expereince to gain employment at the local childrens hospital. Maybe one day I will make it back to the ED or who knows

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Thanks for all the great replies everyone. My long term goal is the OR but I know that's unrealistic right out of school. So, in the meantime, I'd really enjoy doing aesthetic nursing, including Botox injections and laser treatments and in time, work into my employer's OR. At that point, I would probably want to stay put or possibly transfer to a hospital OR after I gain some experience, depending on which schedule I'd prefer at that point when my girls are a little older.

That would be my ideal career path, if I had the luxury to choose, but I don't. So, I'm wondering if I should apply to anything and everything available, even if it's something I don't want to do and won't necessarily help me to break into the aesthetic field of nursing or be patient and hope I can find an opening at a cosmetic surgeons office. I'm not in a huge rush to get to work so I don't want to settle and get stuck in a nursing rut I do not enjoy but at the same time, I want to gain some experience in order to shake off this "new grad" cursed label. So hard to know what to do...

Don't be so quick to believe that new grad can't work in OR. I am new grad (old new grad actually), I got my license in Sep 2010 and unable to find a job for the next 9 month. But I kept applying at OR residency programs at all the regional hospitals. And I was offered a position in OR residency at a major hospital. I will be training in class and hand-on for the next 6 month. Keeping on applying, especially to residency programs.

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I'm still a student, but I would say take ANY job offered. Luckily the job market for new grads is still pretty good where I live, but I know in a lot of places it's tough. Take anything you're offered to get what seems to be the magic "1 year" of experience.

Think of it as, if you turn down a job that you're not really interested in and then wait around for your dream job, you're going to waste time getting experience. I think a nurse that has *some* experience, even if not in the same specialty, will more often look better than one with absolutely zero experience. Good luck though, I hope you make it into what you want!

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guys, especially those who got as far as interviews, how did you apply for those jobs? i'm in front of the computer the whole day, probably have passed 50+ applications, and not a single response. any tips will be appreciated! :)

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I landed two interviews from job fairs (no job though) and my current position was landed by walking in the door and filling out a paper application. The bad thing about electronic applications (which almost everyone uses) is they use the "buzz words" and if you don't have the right key words in your app then you could potentially be thrown out of the system. Good luck!

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I landed two interviews from job fairs (no job though) and my current position was landed by walking in the door and filling out a paper application. The bad thing about electronic applications (which almost everyone uses) is they use the "buzz words" and if you don't have the right key words in your app then you could potentially be thrown out of the system. Good luck!

Thank you poopprincess! That is actually my next move! If you don't mind me asking, what type of job did you get? I'm thinking about walking in at SNFs because I hear some of them accept new grads? Thanks again! :)

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I'm wondering the same thing. At this point ive put in 30+ applications, and have been offered a full time position in dialysis. Am I making a mistake by accepting the position?? How will future employers look at dialysis experience when I'm potentially applying to hospital positions in the future?

Ooooooh, what I would do to have that offered to me! That is what I would love to do if given the opportunity to choose. How did you apply for the job? Thanks gcat626_RN! :)

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NewRNinSD, I got a job at a LTAC facility. SNF is good too though. Anything that will get ya the experience. LTACs in my area do hire new grads and I highly recommend it. If you have any near you, give it a whirl. It is really hard work because a lot of the patients are total care and the ratios can be a bit much (sometimes), but I see it all. We do med-surg, ventilator weaning, wounds that won't heal, and much more. We have a 4 bed ICU too. I would have never thought to apply here, but my uncle almost got sent here for vent weaning when he had pneumonia. That is actually how I learned of the place. I have never worked SNF, but I work with several nurses who have and they are GREAT. I like where I am at for the most part. I may have something else lined up, but even if that comes through I am hoping to stay here PRN. I have learned a lot here and they are pretty good at being patient with me! :)

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