New internal grad-Looking for recommendations

Inori, BSN, RN · Aug 15, 2012

apply to all units in abbot AND other facilities. Abbot may be your dream job BUT its more important that you get your nursing exp than to wait, losing opportunities. Many new grad residency hyou have 12 months after you graduate to get in it otherwise you'rea stale grad which soon becomes almost unhirable because now no experience, aged out of new grad programs, nursing skills now rusty if not forgotten. SO get your 1-2 years nursing exp wherever you can and then plan to transfer back to Abbot at a later time.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Aug 26, 2012

Unfortunately, being an internal employee is no longer the guaranteed lock for a nursing job that it used to be. It does help, but it's no guarantee. Many internal applicants at my hospital were turned down for the new grad residencies because there's too few positions available and just too many very qualified applicants period.

I agree with Inori: it sounds like you really need to expand your search outside of Abbot. You can't change the fact that they don't have any new grad openings right now. Also keep in mind that if they do have an opening come up, you are probably not the only new grad internal employee that will be applying for it. So search elsewhere as well.

Best of luck.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Aug 27, 2012

If they're not hiring new grads, they're not hiring new grads. Nursing experience elsewhere is going to serve you better in the long run than dietary aide experience there. If you cannot find a NURSING position at this hospital, my suggestion would be to look elsewhere and return after you have experience.

esunada · Aug 29, 2012

it is their job to save lives - they get paid for it like any other hospital, hehe. Have you looked at other hospitals? Look at TCU/LTC too, you dont want to be a stale new grad with no RN job which is around the one year mark. Then people wonder why you dont have an RN job and that doesn't look too good either. Might not hurt to stay casual at Abbott at least until January just to keep the door open. And ALWAYS ALWAYS maintain your contacts.

Jleech88, MSN, APRN, CRNA · Oct 7, 2016

Hi everyone,

Not to resurrect an old thread without any good information, so I figured I will share how my career path has developed since my initial post.

One week after my initial post, I got in contact with the Director of Nursing at Abbott. I shared my enthusiasm and reasons for wanting to start my nursing career at Abbott as well as my qualifications. During my meeting, I was informed that there were roughly 800 new-grad applications in circulation within the hospital at a given time (2012). It was my initiative and persistent which allowed me to stand out. My application was recommended to the nursing managers at the hospital and within a week I was setting up multiple interviews within the hospital. I was fortunate to receive a job offer on the exact telemetry floor I wished to start my career and transferred to the Cardiovascular ICU after one year, where I have been practicing since.

I'm in the process of pursuing my career goal to enter advanced practice nursing in the field of anesthesia (CRNA) and just interviewed this past week at the one program I wish to attend. The process of attaining my first position as a new graduate nurse taught me a valuable lesson in perseverance. I understand my experience is not exactly common and the job market has changed quite a bit since 2012. I just wanted to share my thoughts and encourage anyone in a similar situation to truly seek out their goals and exhaust every possible option before considering less desirable outcomes.

Thank you.