Not getting interviews :(

Tina2 · Mar 28, 2017

Hi, it is common for May graduates to be getting job offers at this time and accepting prior to graduating. I am a Recruiter for Ascension Health and have been interviewing and making offers to new grads. What type of RN positions are you applying to and where? (Specialty floors, Med/Surg, etc).

em3120 · Mar 28, 2017

I've applied to 2 positions in new nurse grad programs for NICU and psych. Then I applied to 3 positions (2 psych jobs, 1 peds) that said they were new grad friendly. I'm running into the issue of either needing a bachelors or experience.

Tina2 · Mar 29, 2017

Good morning. Do they list BSN preferred in the posting? I know that a lot of healthcare systems are looking to hire BSN prepared nurses, but at the same time will hire ADN's if the candidate is open about continuing on for their BSN relatively quick. What area of Wisconsin are you interested in? Maybe a med/surg unit would be more of a fit to start?

em3120 · Mar 31, 2017

Yes all of them have BSN preferred but willing to hire ADN. I'm actually in VA! I'm not too sure I want to do med-surg. I'm much more interested in psych but I suppose I will look more at med-surg if that is all that is available.

Everline · Apr 1, 2017

Seven application is not a lot. That being said, you may have more response once you've actually graduated. Where I lived/graduated no one would consider us until we'd passed the NCLEX, therefore none of us had jobs before we graduated. There were a few of us that had, "Come see me when you pass the NCLEX" kind of offers. But that was all. New grad residencies, of which none existed at that time in that location, probably would have been different. At any rate, we all had jobs within a couple of months of graduating. I got a job very quickly because I left the area for employment. Some of my classmates had to apply to a lot more than seven jobs to break through, but they did and it didn't take that long. I wouldn't worry at this point. It's only been 7 applications and a couple of weeks and you haven't even graduated yet. Keep applying but don't be disheartened!

WookieeRN, BSN, MSN, RN · Apr 1, 2017

HR departments are notoriously slow. They aren't just hiring for the position you applied for, there could be HUNDREDS of positions open, and for each position there going be hundreds of applications. I think I put in my application in early to mid-January, didn't hear anything about an interview until the beginning of March (that status pretty much read "resume received" until that point), and accepted an offer mid-March. Just this week I received my official written offer. I wouldn't be sweating after 10 days. It also depends on your area. I accepted an offer 5 weeks before graduation to start in July upon passing the NCLEX. Other areas don't look at you until you have a license in hand. If you haven't seen any movement in 3 weeks to a month, you could probably call HR for a status update.

em3120 · Apr 1, 2017

Thanks to both of you!! It's hard not to get down when you haven't heard back from anyone and other people are accepting offers. I'm applying to more positions and trying to keep my hopes up that something will work out as I get closer to graduating.

llg, PhD, RN · Apr 4, 2017

You might want to expand your search to other clinical specialties. You said you are applying to hospitals that say "BSN preferred" and you won't have a BSN. And you seem to be limiting your applications to only specialties that are very popular and for which their is probably a lot of competition from BSN grads. At this point, there is a good chance that those specialty units are only looking at BSN's now -- and they'll only start looking at new ADN grads if they don't fill all their slots with BSN's.

That's how it is at my hospital. It's very rare for a new ADN grad to get the most popular specialty slots -- though they can get some jobs in other specialties.