New grad positions without NCLEX

allnurses Guide · Mar 21, 2012

I do not think such programs exist. There are internships and residencies that are willing to hire you prior to graduation for a start date after graduation. For some you have to have your RN license before you start. At a few others you can have your GN (general nurse) license and usually those are good for 90 days. The hospital then requires you to have your RN license within that timeframe. Six months to a year is unrealistic. Finding something that isn't competitive is also unrealistic. There are more new nurses than there are new nurse jobs. That is a fact of life right now.

Best of luck.

elkpark · Mar 21, 2012

Many state BONs no longer even permit "graduate nurse" status. In the states that still do, most employers no longer hire people as GNs because it's too hard to keep track of them (who's taken the NCLEX, when, did they pass, etc.) "Back in the day," when the NCLEX was only offered twice a year and it took 6-8 weeks to get results, everyone did this, because a) it was v. easy for hospitals to keep track of who had taken the NCLEX and when they would get their results, and b) depending on when you finished school, it could be as much as six months or more before you had a license and that is a long time to make people wait, forget stuff, get rusty on their skills, etc. Now that people can take the exam any time and get results almost immediately, employers no longer see any reason or advantage to employing individuals before they actually have a license in hand.

tokyoROSE, BSN, RN · Mar 24, 2012

YES they do exist! In fact, I would say at least 10 of my classmates had secured a job prior to graduation and many (perhaps 20) secured a job prior to getting licensed.