Hello everyone. I am getting increasingly frustrated because I have been looking for a graduate nurse position since October. I graduated in December and passed the NCLEX last week. I have been on two interviews with no luck. I feel like the interviews go amazing but then I hear that it has been filled with someone else. I work for a hospital for 4 years and I thought that would give me a toe in the door. Florida hospital does not have anything on their website for GN's and Orlando Health has one. When I called about it they said that they have someone for the position and they are just waiting for them to apply. This is ridiculous. Why did I go to nursing school to have such a problem with finding a job? I am starting to look into nursing homes which is a complete 360 on the area I would really like to work which is postpartum. I haven spoken to all the managers of floors for the hospital I currently work for and my manager said they arent taking any new GN's in the pool. What am I suppose to do??
And does anyone know the starting salary in the orlando area for GN's??
Although it's not your desired start, specialties like OB, ER, ICU, usually need a base of Med-Surg experience. Although not for sure, most hospitals will hire new grads into a general med-surg floor. Once there, make some friends on the unit that you want. You can even often times take courses offered to specialty RN's even if your not "required" to by the med surg floor. For example - a great course would be NRP, for most OB units it's required, but you could take it as an elective, meet some faces and get your foot in the door. Then, once you have some experience, you will have a leg up because you will already have some coursework under your belt.
Believe it or not, hospitals that have to "train the green out of you" actually spend alot of money to do so...so just keep at it. Try to make yourself look so good, that it would hard for them to turn you down...
Best of luck to you.
~NJEDRN
thanks so much that is great advice. I would never thought to do that but new grads need to stay ahead of the competition!
No jobs yet. Looking for a GN job is HARD WORK. My nursing school never told me how hard it would be to get my first job! Geez maybe I would have started looking when I was half way done with nursing school if I knew.
Last year at this time, Orlando Health and Florida Hospital had hiring freezes on. However, by summer, they were hiring again. Right now, the patient censuses are low, I'm told they usually come back up in May or June. So perhaps by then, those organizations will be hiring again like they did last year.
By the way, new grads DO get hired into postpartum and other specialties in the Orlando area; one of my best friends got hired as a new grad in postpartum last summer.
I don't know if it's an option for you, but if you can look out-of-state, you can increase your chances. I graduated in May 2009 and could find nothing in Florida, not even med-surg jobs.
It was from reading several posts on allnurses that I decided to apply in Texas. I had seen several posts from new grads asking "where are the jobs!?". Many responses mentioned Texas. I applied to one hospital that is located in the Texas Medical Center to a specialty unit I had my heart set on... I had a phone interview, then traveled to Houston, interviewed, and got the job on the spot. The starting pay is very good, benefits are fantastic and they paid for my relocation expenses. The orientation process has been very positive so far. My orientation class was full of new grads starting in Labor & Delivery, Newborn Nursery, NICU, and Postpartum units.
Again, I don't know if relocation is an option, but thought I would mention it as something to consider.
I don't know if it's an option for you, but if you can look out-of-state, you can increase your chances. I graduated in May 2009 and could find nothing in Florida, not even med-surg jobs.
It was from reading several posts on allnurses that I decided to apply in Texas. I had seen several posts from new grads asking "where are the jobs!?". Many responses mentioned Texas. I applied to one hospital that is located in the Texas Medical Center to a specialty unit I had my heart set on... I had a phone interview, then traveled to Houston, interviewed, and got the job on the spot. The starting pay is very good, benefits are fantastic and they paid for my relocation expenses. The orientation process has been very positive so far. My orientation class was full of new grads starting in Labor & Delivery, Newborn Nursery, NICU, and Postpartum units.
Again, I don't know if relocation is an option, but thought I would mention it as something to consider.
Best of luck to you! :)
If i didnt have a family behind i wouldve done that
Have you ever thought of Hospice nursing? I just resigned from my job at a local hospice (Orllando). The training is great. I visited patients in their homes wokred 9-5. My charting was done at home on my computer. I know that when I began working there 3 years ago they were hiring new grads. It was the best job I ever had the only reason I left was to concentrate on my business. Hope this helps.
Last year at this time, Orlando Health and Florida Hospital had hiring freezes on. However, by summer, they were hiring again. Right now, the patient censuses are low, I'm told they usually come back up in May or June. So perhaps by then, those organizations will be hiring again like they did last year.
By the way, new grads DO get hired into postpartum and other specialties in the Orlando area; one of my best friends got hired as a new grad in postpartum last summer.
New grad pay is between 21-22/hr in Orlando.
Thanks for ur reply. Lots of helpful information. I was recently told that as well about how the hiring usually picks up around the summer time to beginning fall.
Right now, the economy is still in a slump, so what's happening is that a lot of places are still hiring. I don't want to go into the political aspects of this question, just the job related ones, does anyone know how the health care reform bill that just passed will affect nurses? I would imagine that if more people have access to care, then that would increase the amount of overall nurses needed. Any insight?
I was going to suggest looking into the military as well. They pay really well and you'd get amazing training and experience and have them pay off all your loans. Just an idea.
Specializes in SNU/SNF/MedSurg, SPCU Ortho/Neuro/Spine.
I just came across 2 positions for postpartum Mother-Baby unit on FL HOSP south!!! did you go to the job fair? they hired 1 new grad over there and 2 at the peds ER
pmeeksSN
39 Posts
thanks so much that is great advice. I would never thought to do that but new grads need to stay ahead of the competition!