Nurse2be26

I am planning to relocate to St Louis after graduation and have an interview at Childrens in the NICU. Does anyone have any advice about this? I have done a 6 week preceptorship in a NICU here in Virginia and have had experience as a PCT and a nurse intern (not in the NICU). I also plan on shadowing there before my interview. If anyone else has worked as a new grad in their NICU and has any advice I would appreciate it :-)

St. Johns is hiring new grads, but in limited numbers. I am a Virginia resident who was trying to relocate to Missouri after graduation and I had an interview set up for their L and D fellowship. After I had gotten my plane ticket and made plans to get out there, I received an email that they could only consider internal candidates for the position. 400 people had applied, 370 were external and 30 were internal. Also, I have applied for 16 jobs both in Virginia and Missouri and have only gotten 2 interviews. I just heard back from UVA and they did not accept me even though I completed some of my clinicals there. The job market is tight and in school we are told they always needs nurses, but I am having trouble believing this as of lately. Good luck to all of my fellow May new grads who are seeking jobs!

To get licensing information on another state, check out that state's board of nursing - try googling. I know some states are part of a compact where your license is valid in multiple states (i.e. VA, NC, SC, CO, etc), but Missouri is not part of this compact. From my understanding, you usually have to pay a fee to receive "licensure by endorsement" in that state. You do not need to retake your NCLEX though once you pass and NCLEX is the same for all states. Hope this helps! :-)