new-ishRN5

Hi everyone, I would love some tips/advice on my current job search. As a new grad I applied to acute care jobs in all of southern California for a year and never got anything. I refused to do clinic/hospice/nursing home because I was afraid I'd get stuck and never land an acute care position after that. I was tired of it and ended up moving to NYC where I very quickly got a job in postpartum at one of the best hospitals here. I dreamed of working in OB and so obviously I love this job. But I'm struggling with two things now; extreme homesickness to the point where I wanna quit and run back home to be with family; and feeling "unskilled" working postpartum. As a result I started applying to jobs back home (San Diego) at my 6 month mark, but have had no luck. I'm now almost at 9 months experience but I know it'll continue being hard till I have at least 1 year. The problem is I'm having such a hard time with being completely alone here in NY with no family, I can't even imagine spending the holidays here alone. My hope is to find a job in SD so that I can move before December. During the peak of COVID I floated to med/surg floors which were really just COVID floors. It made me realize that I have almost no skills in Postpartum and it got me very excited about moving to med/surg. Obviously with only postpartum experience, and only 9 months, the job hunt is VERY rough. I am such a people person and I love my patients, and I don't even see myself getting burnt out the way some of my colleagues are. I will NEVER be rude to a patient, talk down to them, I never complain about my assignment even if it's a tough one (I would complain, however, if it was an unsafe assignment that was putting patients at risk). I feel like overall I'm honestly a really good nurse but it's hard for me to describe that in an application. If I had connections and knew nurse managers I feel like they'd be able to see these qualities in me and would give me a chance, but I have little to show in a resume and cover letter. I've had friends suggest I start calling HR departments directly so that I stand out and look interested, but I feel like that would make me look bad instead--seems too desperate. I have BLS, NRP, and just got ACLS. I also have a small bit in my resume that talks about my experience working in the COVID units. What else can I do to make myself look better on paper? I would so appreciate any advice anyone might have for me.