New graduate moving to colorado please help!

U.S.A. Colorado

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Hello all!

I am looking for some help and guidance from those who know about the RN job market in Colorado! I am a soon to be graduate from New York University! I have high expectations and aspirations for my career. I have heard that the job market is not promise out in Colorado and I would like any advice / help / information about what the job market is like for newly graduated RNs. I have grown up in NY my whole life, and I am very much looking forward to this exciting change of scenery. My boyfriend will be going to graduate school, so we are planning on moving at the end of July/beginning of august. I have done very well in my nursing program and although the job market is not great in NYC, but I would undoubtedly be able to get a job here.....and I would be nervous if this is not the case in CO.

We would be living in the Golden area, but I would be willing to travel to Denver, Fort Collins, Boulder, Colorado Springs, and any other area which is an hour / hour and half away. Please let me know ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING you know about RN jobs here, along with any advise you have! I want to move very badly but I need to make smart decisions and make sure there is a job market out there for me, I give myself until the end of September to land a job because my loan repayments start in November. Thank you SO SO SO much!

Specializes in Peri-Op.

Sorry but I have to agree with alot of the other people here, lazy mindless online application processes are a thing of the past.... Dont be lazy, go out and get the job.

I wanted to work in Vail. I found, through facebook, someone that I happened to know up there that I worked with 10 years ago in a non nursing position, I emailed the recruiter and manager of the dept directly. I flew up there to make sure I liked the place, did not bother meeting any of the mangers/HR people because I wanted to snowboard and see the town/area... Never applied.... I sent my resume in when I got back from my trip and was pretty much made an offer immediately. They did send me a skype system for a teleconference interview via fedex overnight though.... I had to submit my application so they could make the formal offer but It was no big thing. I start my job up there in mid july. I cant wait.

I wish you luck.... but get out there and actually do some foot work, not just applications online. network, meet people and visit the place. The people that tell you all the horror stories on here are the people that are not putting the effort into getting a job... If they dont want to put the effort out there then why would a hospital want to put the effort into them... Get off the couch and get it done

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Specializes in Psych.
The people that tell you all the horror stories on here are the people that are not putting the effort into getting a job.

What a lovely, albeit untrue, generalization. I have a job, but I am pragmatic enough to recognize that it was due to a bit of luck along with my hard work. The "horror stories" regarding the job situation in Colorado are an accurate picture that people were kind enough to share with OP. Forewarned is forearmed. I don't see why that's considered a negative.

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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.
I have four years experience and got a job in my previous specialty in a market distant from Denver after an old friend contacted me with inside information.

...

Get off the couch and get it done

Fixed it for you. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

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Specializes in Peri-Op.

Not quite what I posted but fortunately im not one to make excuses for not being able to find a job, I find ine... no need to slay my words in a jacked up remix, I saw the job posting... I contacted him, after some luck in finding him. The market listed in the title of this thread is colorado. Guess since I searched out a nursing job I wanted, that was in colorado.... I don't qualify.. roll your eyes at that...

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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.

I think the bigger point is that your ease in walking into a specialty position in Vail with your previous specialty experience has little to do with what new grads are going through in Denver. ;)

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

Yes, I totally agree with Summit. My husband and I both moved to CO from out of state, my husband with no job. Within weeks of moving here, we both had multiple job offers. The difference - we both had 4+ years of experience in our specialties. To compAre our situation with that of a new grad is ludicrous.

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, M/S.
That's funny, the last check in we had was that majority of the students that graduated last semester (they were a semester ahead of us) majority of them have jobs. They update the director and staff when they pass boards and find jobs. One of the girls worked as an Aide at PVH and now she is a RN there. 10 people in my class are on contracts and interviewing now for positions. 6 UNC students are on contracts also. But they are don't with the contracts. My semester was the last. They said it might take a few months to find jobs, but there ARE jobs out there. Just might have to adjust your list of wills and wont's and network and nail one of them. PVH just had a New Grad job posted that wasn't par of the contract students and they had 3 for the internal postings.

It would be interesting to know where and what kind of employment was found. I pointed out these 2 FRCC grads

did have employment though it may not be exactly what they wanted....a job is a job. just a wild guess but probably about 100+ more new grad RN's are about to hit the market just in northern CO front range??(not including denver) good luck to them.

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SUMMITAP, just out of curiosity, when did you graduate and from where? what was your job-hunting experience? rather than nay-saying everyone else, why don't you share with us what you've been through?

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I'm from Colorado, don't know much about the Denver area, but I have a friend who started working in the ICU in a Denver hospital as a new grad from out of state. She just moved there, took her boards in Colorado, passed, and started working. If you really want to move to Colorado, I would move! I would not suggest commuting from Golden to Colorado Springs...if you do find something in Springs or further south (you could very easily find a job in Pueblo), my suggestion would be to rent a place there and have a semi-long-distance relationship for a few days a week, which would be much better than a long-distance relationship from Colorado to New York. (I'm in a long-distance relationship now and if my boyfriend was only a few hours' drive away, that would be so much better than 12 hours away!!!) The commute may sound doable, but when it snows, you do not want to be driving that!

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Specializes in Telemetry/Cardiac Floor.

please update us on your final decision.

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Hello all,

I want to thank you for all of your comments and advice! It has been very insightful and although the answers are from both spectrums, it has helped hearing from the source what is going on there! Please keep them coming!

So I am still undecided! I graduated from my program and did excpetionally well, which I am very excited about. I still do not know what to do as many different factors are going into this decision. With NYS being slow, the earliest I will be able to take the NCLEX is early July. I will be volunteering in the ICU and actively pursing jobs here in NY. However I will also begin looking in CO. I feel it is best that if I am getting good responses from NY hospitals for the job I want in August then I may just stay here for a year then move out. However, things such as cost of living in NYC is a huge factor as I will have a lot of loans to pay off. Moving to some place that is ridiculously more affordable and living with my boyfriend would be a huge help. I am excited to move some where else for a couple of years as I will end up back in this area later in life. I feel like it would be a great change and this is the perfect time to do it. At the same time, I need to weigh the fact if I do not get a job for a few months or more. I am extremely driven and I will have to search within myself to see if I am okay possibly delaying my career for however long it will take me to find a nursing job ( and I would try to get another meaningless job meanwhile although my boyfriends loans will be more than enough to sustain us comfortably). As the market is not GREAT anywhere, the Norm for May grads here to get A JOB (not nec. the one they wanted) is SEPT/OCT/NOVish, but there are some who do not get jobs until DEC/JAN. What it comes down to is there may not be much of a difference time wise. However I also find myself wondering if the prestige of NYC hospitals is worth staying here for a year.

So it is still up in the air and honestly I probably won't make a final decision until August. I am still very torn for many reasons but very excited to finally begin my professional life and begin my career! But first it is time to study for the NCLEX!! Please keep the discussion going I would love to hear all and anything you have to say! And THANK YOU AGAIN!

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Specializes in Peri-Op.

I don't think anyone outside of NE cares about the prestige of nys hospitals... I would get a job where ever you can get hired to get your first year or two of experience., new york or colorado.

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