New to Virginia Beach, VA RN

nakeia · May 24, 2012

This post is very vague. First, I would not recommend moving to an area without finding a position there first. Second, what field of nursing are you looking to get into?

danarooo, BSN, RN · May 24, 2012

I moved here because my husbands job, we recieved orders to be here. I am a new grad, so many areas of nursing won't take new grads without a residency which none of the hospitals here seem to have. I have searched high and low in this area (school nurse positions, prisons, Sentara, CHKD, Chesapeake Regional/General, Octaphrama plasma etc...) and no one seems to want a new grad here. Some of the positions listed actually say "no new grads". I wanted to get my year or two of med/surg but that seems impossible at this point, and everyone else wants you have acute care experience before they will hire you.

al7139, ASN, RN · May 27, 2012

Hi I live in Norfolk, and work in a Bon Secours hospital in Portsmouth in their ED. I know we have fellowship programs in the ED, you might look into that if you are interested in emergency medicine. Keep applying, you will find something!

Amy

danarooo, BSN, RN · May 28, 2012

Thank you for the helpful input Amy! I will look into it. I've applied for a few positions with Bon Secours without luck but I'll keep my eye out!!!!

Thanks much!

RN2be_07 · Jun 23, 2012

I moved here in January. I have 6 months of pediatric experience from 3 years ago and while here I have applied to about 30 positions and only gotten 2 interviews (one for a school nurse and one at Sentara med/surg/onco position). I might be able to do so substitute school nursing next school year but I am too looking to complete my 1-2 years of requisite experience while we are here. It is a tough market here due to the military and the overabundance of nursing schools here (Sentara, BonSecours, Tidewater, etc.). It is also really hard to get a hold of any of the nursing recruiters! I know that CHKD is currently under a hiring freeze due to low census and that is where I really want to work so its frustrating. No one wants to hire newer nurses here so I feel your pain. I have seen some new grad openings in Richmond though so if you dont have kids maybe you could work there. Obviously it is not ideal with your hubby being here but if I didnt have kids I would probably do it.

Palliative Care, DNP · Jul 3, 2012

I work for Chesapeake Regional and they only take New Grads twice a year. Keep watching so you can come through with a group.

smn2010, BSN, RN · Aug 10, 2012

try sending an exploratory cover letter directly to the director of nursing (don) at long term care (ltc) facilities in the area. i know that kindred is always hiring. they have several facilities in hampton roads. you would want to work on their skilled unit in virginia beach or on the 2nd floor acute care unit of their norfolk facility. on these floors: virginia beach--skilled unit--you will learn trach, ng-tubes, g-tubs, iv's, colostomy/ileostomy, etc. norfolk--2nd floor, acute care--you will deal with short stay patients (2-5 days) who are there for rehab (i.e. ortho patients)/step downs from hospital, etc. prior to going home. i would suggest the norfolk facility (harbour pointe in the ghent area) because it is similar to a med-surg/ortho environment of a hospital. new grads start at $24-25 hour ($49,900-$52,000 annually, base pay before adding any shift diff -- 40 hour work week) which is better than the sentara system which starts new grads at only about $20-21 ($37,440-$39,312 annually, base pay before adding shift diff -- 36 hour work week). and it may only be $19 and change, for new grads, i'm not sure... :mad: sentara is a large medical organization; however, they are placing all their funds into new buildings/restructuring and they have not been paying rns what they should. i say this because rns with 3 years of experience at sentara are only making $22.40 hour base pay ($41,932 annually, base pay)!!!yuck!! :banghead:

another option would be westminster canterbury in virginia beach, va. they also start their new grads at $24-25 hour.

both kindred and westminster have websites that display their current vacant positions; but i would "suggest" you send a cover letter with your resume directly to the don as a start; then apply online. a recruiter will call you, if they are interested, after you apply online; however, the don can start the process also. there are other ltc in the area, just call them to find out if they have a skilled or acute care unit---unless you like working strictly geriatric; then, it doesn't matter what ltc facility you apply to.

the state psych facility in williamsburg is hiring (forensics, adult treatment center and geriatric units). they hire new grads and still have positions available. base pay is $45,681+ with no experience (which amounts to about $22.00 base before you add your shift diff. this new nurse starting salary is equivalent to what rns with 3 years experience at sentara are making so you would be starting out ahead.... shift diff for evenings (3p-11p) is $5.72 so that amounts to $27.72 hour!!!

with a state psych job in williamsburg, the base salary goes up from there ($45, 681 with a negotiable end range based upon years of experience/background experience at the psych facility). so, don't let the low starting salary on the website for any rn positions turn you off. if you are a good negotiator, you will not have to start at the minimum starting salary. if you decide to apply online with the commonwealth of virginia to work at the psych facility, please incorporate information about your psych rotation in school. also incorporate what you liked about the rotation and provide information as to why you would like to work at a psych facility and what positive assets you will bring to the environment (hint: search the psych posts and read why nurses love their jobs---the ability to see small improvements over time...working in a field that has much stigma where nurses are truly needed...etc.). as someone else stated, the public health departments are also hiring. search positions using the word "nurse" on the commonwealth of virginia website. commonwealth of va website is: https://jobs.agencies.virginia.gov/applicants/jsp/shared/welcome_css.jsp

if you're okay with working psych, also apply to virginia beach psych (private facility) located near virginia beach general on first colonial road.

check online http://www.usajobs.gov/ and do a search for positions at the v.a. hospital in hampton, virginia (zip code 23667 will make the search easier). some people don't like to travel from virginia beach to hampton; but you get used to the distance in no time and it is really not a big deal. the v.a. hospital (govt. jobs) are slow with their hiring process. you can apply online today and may not hear back for 6 months so get your application/resume/cover letter in and wait it out. it will be beneficial in the long run. since your husband may be military, state and govt. jobs are a better option for you in regards to transferring from job-to-job, within the system, as he moves around.

also, consider large medical practices (cardiology, orthopedic, neurology, etc.). don't wait for a position to be posted in the paper or on a website, call the medical practice and get the first/last name and title of the individual who does the hiring and send your exploratory cover letter and resume.

you really have to think "out of the box" in today's economic state. you may not be able to get a job in nicu, icu, peds, med/surg units right now; but you can get into another area in the meantime.

be patient. a job will come your way before you know it! :up:

sorry for the long post...i get long winded at times... :) :uhoh3:

LunaJune · Oct 12, 2012

Smn, thankfyou so much for your input. I am applying for psych jobs all over tidewater. I am graduating on December 14th and trying to line something up so that I can move back to tidewater and start working as soon as possible. I didn't even know there was a psych hospital in Williamsburg! Great advice :cat:

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Oct 18, 2012

Smn, thankfyou so much for your input. I am applying for psych jobs all over tidewater. I am graduating on December 14th and trying to line something up so that I can move back to tidewater and start working as soon as possible. I didn't even know there was a psych hospital in Williamsburg! Great advice

The psych hospital in Williamsburg is called Eastern State.

As far as psych goes in Tidewater....there's Sentara Norfolk General (has a psych unit), Chesapeake Regional (geropsych unit), Bon Secours (loads of psych units), Va Beach Psych Center (freestanding psych facility), VA Medical Center in Hampton (psych units), Tidewater Psychiatric Institute (freestanding), Kempsville Center (freestanding), Harbor Point (freestanding), Riverside Behavioral Health (not sure if it's a unit or freestanding)...then there are also city/county psych facilities that you can check out. It's not a bad market for psych nurses.

Palliative Care, DNP · Oct 20, 2012

Chesapeake Regional closed the geropsych unit last year. It wasn't a $ maker so bye bye....

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Oct 20, 2012

Chesapeake Regional closed the geropsych unit last year. It wasn't a $ maker so bye bye....

Did not know that...I haven't been there (VA) in a couple of years :)