Non-Nursing Job while in school?

[SheLby'sMom]

Hey

This sounds really funny, but I was wondering if any of you had worked other jobs far far away from the medical field while in school?

I have had my CNA license for 5 years, but struggled so hard when moving to South Florida to find a job in a hospital, nursing home etc...When I finally was able to land something, it paid so little an hour that I just couldnt survive.

I decided to work in finance while I went to school, and I know people are looking at me funny at work when I tell them what I am majoring in.

I have tried to obtain a job at a hospital but it is becoming increasingly difficult, now that I have had more experience in finance and customer service. Even CNA's now are required to have EKG, Phlebotomy and at least a year of experience... I applied for a few "patient financial reps." so I could at least get my foot in the door at a hospital, but they haven't responded and I am at my wits end trying to figure out what to do...My job I have now is so flexible and wonderful for school- I have had no problems....yet I am very concerned that when I finally get my RN, they will look at me like- Are you sure you want to do this? Youve been at a bank for 4 years!!!!!

Ahhggggggggr

Has anyone else struggled with

[sunnyjohn]

Some hospital will snap you up after you graduate. Don't worry.

You've got do waht you must to pay the bills.

[elkpark]

I worked a few evenings a week as receptionist at the city arts center while I was in nursing school (it was a second job that I had before I started school -- I quit my full-time day job but kept that one).

Also, I worked part-time in an attorney's ofice while I was in graduate school (typing and filing). When I first moved to the community where my school was located, I had applied for a prn position at the university medical center, but it took them so long to process my application and get back to me, and I needed money so badly, that I signed up with a local temp secretarial agency and did secretarial work (school hadn't started yet, so I was free during the week). When the medical center finally got around to hiring me and letting me work prn and school started, the law office I had been working at as a temp asked if I would be willing to continue with them on a very part-time basis (they knew I was a full-time grad student and that was my main priority); I had gotten to know and like the other staff in the office and they were really in a bind (understaffed -- see, it's not just hospitals! :) ), and it was nice to do something completely different from school, so I kept doing it.

Once you graduate and get your license, potential employers are going to be interested in you because of your skills and experience as a nurse, not as a CNA, unit secretary, etc. You will not be at a disadvantage, as a graduate RN, because you worked in a different setting during school. Nursing employers looking at you as a new RN will not care what kind of work you were doing before (only whether you were, in general, a responsible employee of good character).

[lovingtheunloved, ASN, RN]

Ya know, ya gotta eat.