With me being in my final weeks of nursing school, I definitely needed to start looking into and applying to new graduate programs. I started applying last month, and applied to five facilities with new graduate programs. I've interviewed with three so far, and have been offered two positions.
Interview 1: Department of Public Health – Interviewed with a three panel and was offered the job a week after. I declined the position because I didn't think it would be the best thing to start my nursing career here.
Interview 2: Teaching and Trauma Hospital – Interviewed with a seven panel for ICU, ED, and Tele, and a week later was offered a spot in their ICU New Grad Residency to start in June.
Interview 3: Dignity Health Affiliated Hospital – Interviewed two days ago with a six panel for ICU, ED, and Tele. No job offer yet, but I'm feeling pretty good about how the interview went.
I would really like to get into the Dignity Health Affiliated hospital because they have their Versant Residency, which would be 22 weeks of training for ICU. I honestly think that would be really beneficial for me, but then again I'm happy that I got offered an ICU New Grad position already. The one I was offered includes a three-month training process.
I have two more interviews set up for the first week of April for critical care units as well, but I'm still debating if I should just cancel considering what I have already. Not sure yet. I honestly cannot express how blessed I feel to be in this position. A lot of hard work and determination was definitely involved in these processes.
My advice to anyone in nursing school or pre nursing is it's never too early to start making yourself marketable aka working on your resume. I feel like my experiences and certifications helped a lot.
A little summary – Took a CNA elective class in high school. Got my certification and started working while doing my pre reqs. Before my Advanced Medical Surgical rotation I got a bunch of certs (ACLS, NIHSS Stroke, ECG/Pharm, IV Therapy and Blood Withdrawal, etc.) because I thought it would be beneficial for that rotation, and it definitely was! I knew I wanted to go into critical care, so I also got an emergency department internship get experience and fluff up my resume. Also I chose to do my Preceptorship in ICU/SICU/CICU. If you know what specialty you want in the future, you should start making your resume look like it in a way.
Another big thing for New Graduate positions is to practice for your interviews! I honestly looked up a lot of questions, and was pretty much talking to myself for hours preparing lol
Keep pursuing the second ICU position and just see what happens. If you need to respond soon to the first offer, you may have to accept before you have an answer from the second hospital. If you are in that situation and then get an offer from the second hospital, you can consider your options. Many new grads face a similar situation. You want to be respectful and notify hospitals as soon as possible when you make a decision, but the bottom line is that you need to pursue what is best for you and your career.
I work in an ICU in a teaching hospital and I think it is an outstanding place to develop your skills and grow in your medical knowledge. Some of the medical/surgical content being taught in nursing school today is what was current in the medical and surgical world 20 to 30 years ago. There is no better place to learn about current practice than a teaching hospital where you will be around residents, medical students, and the attendings who will be teaching them during rounds. The ICU is a great place to develop close working relationships across all disciplines.
I would definitely take the job in the teaching hospital.
The very nature of these institutions mean that you will have learning opportunities simply not available at other facilities. The collegial relationship between the docs and the nurses provide so much opportunity for growth.
There are easier jobs and better paying jobs but there is no better place to launch one's nursing career than in a large teaching hospital.
Really happy for you- it sounds like you really deserve these opportunities. Thank you for sharing your experiences and recommendations and thanks to others for giving insight. Learned a lot in this thread.
I think it takes a special type of nurse to work in the ICU. I was almost offered an ICU position but due to not having my BSN I didn't get it. It ended up being a blessing in end because I ended up getting hired at a major city hospital to work on the oncology medicine floor (teaching hospital). I am fortunate to get this job as my background involves working with rehab patients in LTC/inpatient rehab hosp. Honestly I don't think I would like working with that population of people as they are in "critical condition", so your assessment skills have to be on point and I would think that you can't miss much of anything or get to behind on certain things. I am glad that there are nurses that are brave enough to do it.
Hello and congrats on all your success!! I was wondering if you could offer me any advice on how to go about getting the certifications you listed? I'm hopefully starting nursing school in a few months in an accelerated program and trying to do as much research as I can now to make myself more marketable in the future as you suggested! I've of course google searched it but a million different things pop up and I don't want to do the wrong thing. Any guidance would be much appreciated!
I have two more interviews set up for the first week of April for critical care units as well, but I'm still debating if I should just cancel considering what I have already. Not sure yet.
Congrats on all of your accomplishments!!! My only piece of advice would be to NOT cancel your other interviews. Even if you accept one of the other jobs and don't have any intention of taking these last 2, any interview experience is good experience. And who knows, something might change your mind, but I really think interviewing is invaluable experience and it can be a nice/more relaxing experience when you don't feel the pressure of NEEDINg the job.. if that makes sense? Anyway, best of luck on your future endeavors and congrats again!!
AJPV
366 Posts
Keep pursuing the second ICU position and just see what happens. If you need to respond soon to the first offer, you may have to accept before you have an answer from the second hospital. If you are in that situation and then get an offer from the second hospital, you can consider your options. Many new grads face a similar situation. You want to be respectful and notify hospitals as soon as possible when you make a decision, but the bottom line is that you need to pursue what is best for you and your career.
I work in an ICU in a teaching hospital and I think it is an outstanding place to develop your skills and grow in your medical knowledge. Some of the medical/surgical content being taught in nursing school today is what was current in the medical and surgical world 20 to 30 years ago. There is no better place to learn about current practice than a teaching hospital where you will be around residents, medical students, and the attendings who will be teaching them during rounds. The ICU is a great place to develop close working relationships across all disciplines.