New graduate NICU nurse?

[ana97]

Hello,

I am a 22 year old RN BSN student in Texas and I'm about to graduate in December. Throughout my clinical rotations I have discovered that I love NICU nursing and I feel like it will be a great fit for me. I do not have much hands on experience with infants besides what I've done in my clinical rotations. When I was younger I used to volunteer at a nursery, but it was nothing too complicated. However, I do work as a milk technician/unit clerk in a Level IV NICU, but I am not allowed to do any hands on care on the infants. At my job I make the prolacta feedings for a 24 hour period, stock the formula room with supplies, run samples down to the lab, and I also sit as a unit clerk sometimes so I have experience talking to doctors, nurses, RT, pharmacy, radiology, nutrition, etc. I am praying that I get hired on to the unit as a RN when I graduate. I know that NICU is a very competitive area to get hired on to as new graduate RN but I am willing to do whatever I can to get hired. What are my chances and what else can I do to increase my chances?

[babyNP., APRN]

Well, I can't tell you what your chances are because I'm not the hiring manager at that hospital. I would make sure that you have a great attitude at work, friendly, willing to jump in and help. It would probably be a good idea to sit down with your supervisor or the nurse manager to put out feelers about you being hired. Do they have a new grad program?

If it doesn't work out the best advice I can give is to be flexible on where you want to work. If you are willing to move to any state and put in the work, your chances of being hired into a NICU are good.

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

Be the best employee you can be in the eyes of management. Have a conversation with the NICU manager to see what are your chances of getting hired after graduation. I also work at a Level IV (started as a new grad) and our main source of new nurses is our PCAs, summer externs, Capstone students, and formula techs. They are easy choices because management knows personally how good an employee they are and if they would be a good fit as a nurse.

If your unit doesn't hire new grads and you are willing to relocate, even for 2-3 yrs, apply nationwide. I applied to 50-100 NICU job openings and was able to get 2 offers (Level III and Level IV).

[neyya15]

I got hired into a NICU residency a couple of months ago, you should search for residency programs in your area because they usually hire mainly new grads. This goes without saying but make sure your resume really stands out. Tailor all your experience to the NICU or infant care as much as possible. If you get an interview, the best thing you can do is PREPARE. I studied for my interview as if it were the NCLEX. I found out recently that many current employees of the hospital had applied to the NICU but they ended up giving the position to all new grads because they could tell how much more passionate we were. Good luck!