Newly licensed, job hunt advice

[the nurse who lived]

Hello everyone!

I have finally created an account after religiously reading threads while prepping for NCLEX.

I graduated in July of 2015 and passed my boards on September 28th . I know it hasn't been long, but I am curious as to how long I should expect it to take to land my first job. I have been applying throughout the state of Connecticut. Ideally I want to land a job in labor and delivery but I know those are hard to find as a newly licensed nurse with no nursing experience.

Should I be following up wth my applications? Calling to ask, or should I go in there and ask to speak with HR?

Also, should I provide any letters of recommendations even if they do not ask for them?

I need all the advice I can get! I would love to get a job before the holidays and need some pointers.

Interview advice would also be greatly appreciated! I have never interviewed for a professional job before and I am quite nervous!!

Thank you in advance :)

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

I'm on the other side of the US from you... It's tough everywhere. First off, do as you're doing - apply everywhere. Second, if you are trying to land a job in a highly coveted specialty, apply everywhere and then some. You may have to apply out of state. Otherwise, apply everywhere for just about every job that you might have an interest in. Once you've landed a job, any job, keep it for a while. You want to show that you've learned the basic nursing process and how it actually works. Once you know that, it should be easier to orient you to another nursing field than to orient a new grad to the same job.

It took me 8 months to land a job and I applied to basically every position except for L&D (I'm male) that I was even remotely qualified for. Fortunately for me, my first job was one of 2 positions I really wanted. I wanted either ED or ICU... or any position that would ultimately qualify me for one of those positions. I work in an ED now and the learning curve was pretty steep. It's not as steep now, but trust me, there's still a lot for me to learn before I would consider myself competent.

Am I competent as a Paramedic? Yes. I know what it's like to function at a very high level of competence and I know where I'm at now (not there). My advice to you remains so very simple: apply everywhere, for darned near anything, and the more specialized or coveted the job you want, the more applications to more places further away you have to do. If you have the means, seek out further education. While your job may pay for such stuff, seeking out education that maintains or enhances your knowledge or skills may just be seen as a positive thing.

[MKRN00]

Congrats on passing the NCLEX! I too am a newly licensed RN and have been job hunting since the beginning of August. Unfortunately, I hear that the demand for nurses right now is not what it used to be, making it quite difficult for us as newly graduates to land a job post graduation. Therefore, wanting to work in a specialty making it even more difficult. The advice that I was given is to really have an open mind when job hunting. This includes being open to looking at RN openings in other departments as well as the possibility of working in a long term care environment. As well as being open to the location of work that may be out of your area. Building the right connections and networking also helps the process along.

Best of luck to you, and hope we can both find ourselves doing what we love most soon!

[YumCookies, BSN, RN]

Congrats on passing your boards! Yes - definitely follow up on all applications ~1 week after submitting them. Apply everywhere and anywhere, even if you don't necessarily meet the requirements of the position. To get an idea - I applied to 120 positions in two months and got 8 interviews - 2 of them were job offers. Wear a suit (or business casual at the least) to the interview. Bring your resume, cover letter, and letter of recommendation to the interview and offer it to them. Continue to follow up after the interview. I actually really enjoyed the process - you get to learn a lot about different facilities/types of nursing. I got a job offer in a little under two months which I accepted. Best of luck to you!