New Grad May 2011

I just experienced everything you wrote about! Now I am just waiting (and studying) to take the nclex. Don't worry, there is light at the end of the tunnel!

This is my best advice: Just take a weekend soon and get your resume, cover letter if wanted (i still don't know whether those make a difference or not), and letters of rec together. It hard on the resume to build yourself up competitively if you don't have any non school related clinical experience, but some good advice I got was to use nursing related words when describing other work experience (ex: prioritize, confidential, delegating, etc). Ask for your letters of recommendation early and make copies so those will be ready to and scan them onto your computer. I did all of this because its the last thing you want to worry about once the semester is rolling and you are trying to keep up with the job search!

Also, a lot of the hosp. websites are not that helpful. But make a list of all the systems/hospitals so that each time you check you can make sure to hit all of them. Most of them you can search across all the hospitals that belong to the system (like THR for example). Make an account and with some you can set it to email you when jobs you are interested in are posted. But still check at least every few days. If you write a cover letter, be sure to edit it before you send it to make sure it has the correct hospital on there lol. I would prob start looking for jobs in march. I graduated in december and the first jobs started getting posted at the very end of september. Each job I applied to I submitted my resume, a copy of rec letters, and an applicable cover letter.

Sorry to drag on so much, lol hope it helps good luck!!

Oh, and one more thing. Don't be picky, apply to everything and don't wait long after you see something because some places only keep jobs posted for a week because they get such a big response! And follow up too =]

ksRgonnabN19 I competely understand how you feel. I also go to a BS program in Houston and want to go back to Dallas. I still am not sure what I should inculde in my resume and how I can make it stand out. I feel overwhelemed everyday about finding a job. It was very discouraging that a lot of new grads from Dec and May still don't have jobs so we have to compete with them as well. I'm looking on all the hospitals websites once a week to see if any jobs get posted. I know once they are 1000s of people will be applying to every post they can.

Thanks to both of you for replying! It's nice to know I'm not the only one who feels this way! I think I'm getting a little more confident about it. Gobananas15: I think I saw you talking about the internship at Parkland am I wrong? I have been looking around at posts about it and thought you were one of the ones talking about interviewing with them. How did it go? (If I am correct that is)

They were both different, I had two different interviews. One of them was more structured with two managers and she had a list of situational questions that she asked me. The second one was more laid back and way more comfortable. The best thing to do is be prepared for any kind of interview. Know how you will answer the situational questions (tell me about a time when...) but also don't forget about the typical questions like goals, about yourself, etc. You want to be prepared for whatever they throw at you and be comfortable in your responses.