New grad-need suggestions

[tash14]

Hi! I am a new grad (graduated in May with my BSN), passed NCLEX this month. I have been looking for RN positions & am having a hard time finding anything in my area. I may have to drive an hour away from home just to work. I have been a CNA at our local hospital for 2 years & applied to many new grad positions that the corporation offered & did not get a single one. I truly feel burnt out working at the hospital & would like to not work in a hospital. My passion is pediatrics & there are no pediatric units around here. Unfortunately, my husband & I cannot move yet, but we will be moving once we become more financially stable. I would love to work as a school nurse or in a pediatric clinic. It seems like it is hard to find a RN job in our area because the corporation that I am working for now is taking over every hospital & clinic here & they want you to be trained in their residency program. My question is this: what else can I do or go into while I am waiting to become financially stable to move? Home health/private duty want a year of experience, so that is out of the question as well. Thank you for any suggestions.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

I drive 45+ minutes to work, first job was an hour. I would love to live closer to work, but housing market sucks right now. Consider the drive. I use the time to destress

[ArrowRN, BSN, RN]

1 hour drive is not bad at all. I'd expand my search area. You can apply to the hospital's new grad residency program but hopefully they dont required a contract. Also, more than often you will need to get 1 year med-surg before working on a speciality peds unit. If the other hospital has a peds units I'd do the driving and at least try to get in one of their med-surg floors and sooner or later you would be able to transfer. In the mean time work on getting ACLS and PALS if you have not already.

I'm a PCT, once I pass nclex I'll refuse to work more than 2 weeks as a PCT...I don't care how far I have to drive, I worked too hard for my BSN and I'm already eyeing places as much as 1.5 hours away as a back up if my local area hospital I work at does not hire me.

[scaredsilly, BSN, RN]

If you don't want to be in a hospital then it should be easier for you. Most of us want hospital jobs and get offered opportunities for everything but hospitals! I have no idea where you are, but in my area, out of sheer frustration I applied at a school district and was offered a position right away. I put something in my cover letter about how I did a clinical in a school during community health and loved school nursing and the hiring manager said that made me stand out. I would imagine that (like here) you can go into the school district website and apply online or go in person with your resume.

I turned down the school nurse job for fear it would make it harder to get into a hospital and ended up right where I want to be, but if school nursing is what you want then go for it! In my state you need to be a BSN, and you have that, so shouldn't be too difficult.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

It might actually be to your advantage that you would prefer to not be in a hospital setting as those are usually harder jobs to get. With your eventual goal being peds try the school systems. Public schools, private schools, camp nursing are a few possibilities. These will probably be seasonal jobs, school nurses are off for the summer and in most areas camp nurses only work in the summer. If you find a good fit, you could do both for year round employment.

[RunBabyRN]

I don't even bat an eye at an hour. There's one I'm about to interview for, most likely, that's about 75 minutes away from home, and another that I REALLY hope to get that's 2 hours without traffic (and there is ALWYS traffic). We can't move, either.

Look at agencies. Many of them around here are looking for school nurses, or one-on-one care for children who need nurses while at school, and they'll take new grads for these positions.

[estrellaCR, BSN, RN]

The fact that you Do not want to work in a hospital could help you. Highlight to jobs you apply to how your lifelong passion is ambulatory care, or home care, or pediatric clinic. Employers really like someone that has a commitment and will stick around. Many new grads take non-hospital jobs and leave in a few months or less than a year when they get a hospital job and the employer is back to having to find an employee for the position. Try calling the organizations you are interested in, stopping by (this may work in your favor since you are interested in non-hospital jobs), emailing recruiters/managers. Let them know your interest and commitment to their mission and goals and that you plan to stick around for a while. Your local craigslist jobs healthcare section posts many non-hospital nursing jobs.