New Grad RN that just moved to Calgary... I need advice! :)

joanna73, BSN, RN · Jun 17, 2015

AHS prioritizes their internal applicants first, and there are 50-100 on average for every posted position these days. The internal applicants have been facing challenges for years, related to hiring freezes and restructuring.

You need to apply for anything and everything. It is very possible that it could take another 3-6 months to find even a casual position since you're in Calgary. Good luck!

There are numerous threads if you do a search here re: AHS and the challenges encountered.

Fiona59 · Jun 17, 2015

A couple of thing spring to mind after reading your post (and Joanna covered a few of them)

AHS gives new hires to ICU an awesome orientation and have no problem hiring and mentoring new grads.

You are competing with local new grads who did their placements on the units. They are a known entity. You are not.

Managers will be wondering why it took you six months to look for a job.

Oh, and as a poster in another thread pointed out, New Grads have no skills to lose. They know what they learnt in uni.

LTC is not the end of the world. The skill that you hone there are invaluable in any job.

jennRNmj · Jun 17, 2015

Thank you for the pointers :) both of you. I wonder though if I apply for just anything I have no experience in that I may be setting myself up for a poor interview if I have no related triage or ICU experience..If this is irrelevant than forgive me. I will definatly take a look at some other posts for some enlightenment. I'm also wondering why hiring managers would question how long it took to find work given that with the current state of job opportunities for local new grads and as you pointed out that I am an "outsider" (not by choice I may add, I didn't come here for work), that it seems to take a while for everyone?

Fiona59 · Jun 17, 2015

I moved to Vi and it took me 8 months as an experienced nurse to find work. The managers I interviewed with all wanted to know what I'd been doing for the time even though they knew it was a tough market.

AHS is the main employer of nurses in Alberta. But you need to broaden your search. Covenant/Caritas is the Catholic system that works under the AHS umbrella. Have you tried there? Medical clinics? LTC and Rehab's these days have some pretty medically frail people and the skills they require are wide and varied. Home Care, Respite Agencies?

Any employment is better than no employment.

jennRNmj · Jun 17, 2015

You are absolutely right. Broadening my search is a great idea. I suppose I had been keeping it strictly to where I knew to look. You've given me some great ideas. I'm not so worried about being questioned over my not working as I have very legitimate reasons for it, I was more concerned with loss of information for such things like medications, procedures etc. In any case, any work is better than no work absolutely. Thank you!

joanna73, BSN, RN · Jun 18, 2015

LTC is not what it used to be and the population is more acute than when I started in LTC 5 years ago. LTC has become acute/palliative, meaning that when the patient is admitted, they are medically frail and nearing end of life.

The average length of stay for new admissions is probably 6 months now. You would learn prioritization and time management skills. As Fiona said, any employment is better than nothing.

Try some of the private clinics and private LTC centres as well as AHS.

jennRNmj · Jun 18, 2015

Thanks! That is also extremely good to know.. I have a general interest in palliative/ end of life Care.. I didn't think I would be able to peruse that until later in my career.. LTC here I come lol. Again, thanks for the info. This website is great :)