New grad RN in SoCal trying to find a job in a hospital. During school I focused on my studies and volunteer work. Obviously I am getting beat out by applicants to new grad residency programs because others have CNA, tech, or student nurse experience etc etc.
I have heard mixed reviews of working at snf or sub acute/rehab as experience for a hospital job. What are your thoughts on this? I am currently unemployed and debating if I should get a snf job while continuing to apply to new grad programs and get my ACLS. Do you think this will help?
I have a Kaiser recruiter contact who told me that they won't consider it as experience so what do I do? Continue to wait and apply? Or get a job that may or may not help even though I will hate it. Haha.
OP sounds like it would be an incredible long shot to get a new grad residency in SoCal. I would apply anyway, but never rely on a hail Mary. If you are willing to move you might get into a new grad residency in another state.
If your end goal is getting into a hospital period then your current goal is acquire skills/ experience. I would be cautious of long term care (LTC); it can pigeonhole you into just passing meds all day. Long term acute care (LTACH) you will see everything and gain excellent time management. You will also see a lot if you work in a prison infirmary. After you get 1-2 years of that under your belt you're loaded with highly transferrable acute care skills and experience.
As a previous poster said the hospital is not the be all/ end all. You may find since you liked volunteer work that you like working in the community better.
I would be cautious of long term care (LTC); it can pigeonhole you into just passing meds all day.
What's wrong with that? Learn the meds. Consistency is a great way for some people to learn.
It seems like a lot of experienced nurses get into jobs isolated from all of us who are just getting started and forget how little we actually know... until they work with us one day and then remember with anger. No experience is a waste of time right now. And as someone about to start in LTC as my first job, if there's skills I don't use there, after a year of working, my ability at those skills are exactly where it is now: I've done it on a dummy and 1 patient with a teacher directing me through everything. I eventually want to be in acute care, but I'm not going to look down on any experience that I get in a nursing home, because to me, it's something to market myself as a better choice over the new graduate next year who is exactly where I am now with experience (none). Whether I start in a hospital or start in a nursing home, whenever I eventually take a job in a hospital, it's going to come with the same orientation and then same having an experienced nurse teach me and work with me on doing those skills. It's just going to maybe take a short-term pay cut
Specializes in Med Surg, Tele, Geriatrics, home infusion.
6 hours ago, TheDudeWithTheBigDog said:
What's wrong with that? Learn the meds. Consistency is a great way for some people to learn.
It seems like a lot of experienced nurses get into jobs isolated from all of us who are just getting started and forget how little we actually know... until they work with us one day and then remember with anger. No experience is a waste of time right now. And as someone about to start in LTC as my first job, if there's skills I don't use there, after a year of working, my ability at those skills are exactly where it is now: I've done it on a dummy and 1 patient with a teacher directing me through everything. I eventually want to be in acute care, but I'm not going to look down on any experience that I get in a nursing home, because to me, it's something to market myself as a better choice over the new graduate next year who is exactly where I am now with experience (none). Whether I start in a hospital or start in a nursing home, whenever I eventually take a job in a hospital, it's going to come with the same orientation and then same having an experienced nurse teach me and work with me on doing those skills. It's just going to maybe take a short-term pay cut
Actually that's a very valid point. I did spend my first 10 years in LTC, and I learned a ton. What I was frustrated by was hard it was to get hired in a hospital as a not new nurse with non acute experience. IE. I'm more expensive than a new grad and required the same orientation.
Thanks everyone for the responses! I have decided to take the position with a snf/short term rehab center to gain experience. I will continue to apply for new grad residencies as they come up and hope this in addition to getting my acls will give me more of an edge. If not, I will probably try to transition to either LTACH or outpatient surgical center to get more "acute" experience.
New grad RN in SoCal trying to find a job in a hospital. During school I focused on my studies and volunteer work. Obviously I am getting beat out by applicants to new grad residency programs because others have CNA, tech, or student nurse experience etc etc.
I have heard mixed reviews of working at snf or sub acute/rehab as experience for a hospital job. What are your thoughts on this? I am currently unemployed and debating if I should get a snf job while continuing to apply to new grad programs and get my ACLS. Do you think this will help?
I have a Kaiser recruiter contact who told me that they won't consider it as experience so what do I do? Continue to wait and apply? Or get a job that may or may not help even though I will hate it. Haha.
There are plenty of hospital opportunities available-they just may not be in the area/state that you want to get the experience. If you really, really want to work in a hospital this may be your best option. Having said that, the acute care world is not always what it is cracked up to be, especially now.
This totally depends on what you want. Where do you want to be in 5 years, 10 years? A friend of mine took a new grad residency program in Bakersfield. (After nearly a year of dead end applications and interviews in the Bay Area)
She hated it at first, but she cut back on expenses by renting a room, and when her commitment to the hospital was over, she had a fat down payment saved up for a house in Santa Barbara. She’s so glad she got the experience, networking and now she makes her own schedule and is phasing into teaching. (She’s been a nurse for about 7 years now)
Where do you want to work? What is important to you? Venturing about 1 hour outside of the cities can also really increase your chances of being hired without experience.
This totally depends on what you want. Where do you want to be in 5 years, 10 years? A friend of mine took a new grad residency program in Bakersfield. (After nearly a year of dead end applications and interviews in the Bay Area)
She hated it at first, but she cut back on expenses by renting a room, and when her commitment to the hospital was over, she had a fat down payment saved up for a house in Santa Barbara. She’s so glad she got the experience, networking and now she makes her own schedule and is phasing into teaching. (She’s been a nurse for about 7 years now)
Where do you want to work? What is important to you? Venturing about 1 hour outside of the cities can also really increase your chances of being hired without experience.
Yes I do know that traveling somewhere else would probably help. I took the snf job and I'm going to continue to apply to new grad programs and get my acls and see what happens. My dream is to work peds, or even mom/baby inpatient. If I have to do it the long way by maybe getting outpatient surgery clinics or LTACH to get me into the hospital later on, then I will. I guess we'll see what happens... that's what career development is about right? haha. thank you for the advice ?
msstiletto97, BSN, RN
15 Posts
thanks for the advice ?