New grad needs employment advice

[sunny1973]

I have recently moved to the Northeast, tristate area. I'm not "in the loop" here & I'm having a surprisingly hard time finding a job. I've sent my resume out to several hospitals & have only received a response from a nursing home & 1 hospital that is too far to commute to daily.

What am I doing wrong? Perhaps my resume stinks? I don't have any work experience in the medical field, just volunteer work.

Is is because I am a diploma -RN, instead of a BSN?

Should I be looking other places than employment ads in the papers & on the internet, and HR offices in hospitals?

Should I use a placement agency since I don't know the area?

I've passed my NCLEX, graduated with a 4.0 & am already working on my BSN. I'm hard working, willing to take a night shift in med-surg, for Pete's sake! When I hear people talk about the nursing shortage or how I "will have no problem finding a job" I just want to cry!

Can someone give me advice, please?

[CraigB-RN, MSN, RN]

Find the place you want to work and give them a call. Don't wait for them to call you. Be proactive.

[Y2KRN]

Hello Sunny,

You could also call the hosital that you want to work at, see if they have a nurse recruiter and schedule an appointment with her. I know how it is to be a new grad looking for a job in a new area. I wish you luck! Keep us posted with how things go for you and welcome to the nursing profession. BTW I am in New England and know that we need nurses as bad as the rest of the country! You go for what you want!!

Y2K

[Rileycat]

Have you applied to any jobs online? There are two good sites for job postings: www.nursingspectrum.com and http://www.monster.com. Many hospitals also have web-sites that list their current openings as well as the names and numbers of people to contact. I agree with the person who said to be proactive and call your potential employer. The human resource department gets so many applications and resumes that they might not ever get to yours. Call and ask for an interview. GOOD LUCK!

[RNed]

Despite the shortage of nurses, Human resources seem to have there own schedule of doing things. Although, we are short, it appears it takes approximatley 3 weeks for the human resource department to process anything.

We are frequently surprised when we get a new hire and find out they placed their application 3 weeks prior to getting an interview. One would think with the shortage, human resources would check employment records, recommendations, etc. quicker so they did not lose a qualified candidate to a more timely organization.

Keep trying! The jobs are out there.

[ratchit]

You could try calling the HR rep or nurse recruiter at the hospitals that didn't call you and ask them for advice. They may tell you some off-the-record pointers or they may realize that they should have called you in the first place-