Priority: Job vs. Board exam

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Hello all. Just graduated from nursing school about 1-2 weeks ago. :nurse: Lately I've been studying for the NCLEX. However, finding a job has also been on my mind. During nursing school I've always heard that there will always be a job for us but lately I've found that others have been saying it's been pretty hard to get a new grad job. Is that really true? :confused: It's really starting to bug me whether I should be applying now and trying to get interviews NOW, even though I haven't taken my NCLEX exam yet. Some of my classmates are already going for interviews and they haven't taken the exam yet. Any thoughts about this? :uhoh21:

I graduate in May. Most of our grads already have job offers. I have been told that it really depends on what area you live in as to the nursing shortage and the area I am in is not included in the shortage area. I also believe that is once you get some experience it will be easier to pick the job you want. The hospital most of us are going to offers a nurse residency program that includes a couple weeks of orientation before we orient of the floor we will be working on. They are cutting back and told that due to the ecomony and Medicare changes they will not be offering Extern Program as they have in the past.

God Bless,

Mary Ann

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Thanks everyone for your feedback on this. I live in the East Bay (union city, fremont, hayward) part of California and there are a lot of nursing schools in the area, so most likely a lot of competition. However, it does seem like most would be going for a med/surg program. As for me, I'm interested in L&D or Postpartum so I don't know how it is going to be like for a specialty. Is it really much easier to get a job after getting your license? Do you think that if I waited until after I took the test or found out I passed to apply for a job, it would make a difference?

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Specializes in NICU.
Is it really much easier to get a job after getting your license? Do you think that if I waited until after I took the test or found out I passed to apply for a job, it would make a difference?

I lived in the area and unfortunatly didnt look for jobs too much before i graduated. So i ended up taking my RN first. It took off a lot of stress. But call all the hospitals you want, your probably looking at Kaiser, Alta Bates, CPMC, and places like those?

Call them, find out about new grad programs, if its better to have your RN first, and if they even hire new grads into L&D. (i think most do depending on if they have training time) But give the hospitals you want to work at a call and see where they stand from the hiring standponit.

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Yeah I got the options of Kaiser, Alta Bates, Washington Hospital, but mainly looking into Kaiser. I looked into CPMC which looked like they do hire new grads but unfortunately seems to be a little far from where I live.. meaning commute time and such. I'll probably take your advice YMM123 and contact them about if it's better to have an RN license first. That way I can get my mind off of worrying a bit and focus a little more on passing that test! :uhoh3:

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.
However, it does seem like most would be going for a med/surg program. As for me, I'm interested in L&D or Postpartum so I don't know how it is going to be like for a specialty. Is it really much easier to get a job after getting your license? Do you think that if I waited until after I took the test or found out I passed to apply for a job, it would make a difference?

The problem seems to be that the positions in the specialty areas are few....they can only have so many graduate nurses in with a mix of experienced RNs.....then if you figure there are 10 of those positions to say, 250 of the med/surg positions, and you can see that the competition can be rough, especially if they have fellowships or internships that you're interested in.

I say it's never too early to start the job hunt.....

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