lperkrn

Thanks for this thread! I also just got my first full-time job as a school nurse.

Reply to mmm333: I posted on this thread "New Grad RN-->No Jobs, Then what?" https://allnurses.com/nursing-career-advice/new-grad-rn-407045.html and have cut and pasted my response below on what happened to me. I am the original poster of this thread and have been following all the great ideas that people have put forward over the past 18 months. I haven't seen much shifting in terms of "old grads" getting into acute care positions. In fact, many around the bay area, where I am located, have strict criteria that may say the applicant must have graduated no earlier than December 2009 and in some very competitive programs, the grad date is even as little as 6 months prior to the application date. With that said, the acute care position for "old grads" has become the elusive dream (if that is what you wanted in the first place). It was what I wanted, but I have always been very open to a wide variety of nursing opportunities, both in and out of acute care. Here is my own experience. I returned part-time to my previous non-health profession so that I could pay the bills and maintain quality of life for my family. I felt lucky that I had something in my back pocket that I loved to do, but also was somewhat disappointed that I wasn't getting my year or more of acute care. I continued applying to openings wherever I could find them, in both acute and non-acute settings and at the same time, diligently looked for volunteer positions since I figured if I can't get paid, at least I want somewhere to practice. In early 2010, I found two places to volunteer: one in a juvenile correctional facility and one in public health. After two months, I was hired per diem for the juvenile facility. I have had consistent scheduling in some months and erratic in others, thus I am not able to rely on it for my primary source of income. I also enhanced my skill set by becoming a Red Cross Volunteer, volunteering with Project Homeless Connect, picking up some per diem agency work in Occupational Health, and getting ACLS certified. Soon I will do a 3 day course on STD/HIV training (the fee was waived since I don't have regular RN employment) and then PALS. All the while I have been applying to jobs when I see them. I also continue to volunteer in public health. I think it is difficult searching and applying to jobs because it is very time consuming, especially when trying to work and keep up and/or gain nursing skills through per diem or volunteer work. Sometimes I found myself wishing that I just had that ONE paid full-time job and then my life would be simplified. However, the trade off has been a lot of freedom and that is something that does not have a price tag. I still hope to find acute care employment some day, but in the meantime I am enjoying what I do and have found myself among patient populations that I never thought I would serve, but they have been the most stellar reward. The downside to all of this is that I am not experienced in acute care. Acute care recruiters have said, "you know, your experience doesn't count for acute care." I know this, but my experience does count for something. Maybe I won't end up in that L&D position that motivated me to be a second career RN, but I have found so many other paths to travel on, and be rewarded by, that acute care isn't the only place to be. postscript: I realize that my non RN part-time employment is what makes it possible for me to be positioned as a per diem and volunteer RN and that most RN new grads are seeking ft employment, but I wanted to share how I have made it work so far.

I am the original poster of this thread and have been following all the great ideas that people have put forward over the past 18 months. I haven't seen much shifting in terms of "old grads" getting into acute care positions. In fact, many around the bay area, where I am located, have strict criteria that may say the applicant must have graduated no earlier than December 2009 and in some very competitive programs, the grad date is even as little as 6 months prior to the application date. With that said, the acute care position for "old grads" has become the elusive dream (if that is what you wanted in the first place). It was what I wanted, but I have always been very open to a wide variety of nursing opportunities, both in and out of acute care. Here is my own experience. I returned part-time to my previous non-health profession so that I could pay the bills and maintain quality of life for my family. I felt lucky that I had something in my back pocket that I loved to do, but also was somewhat disappointed that I wasn't getting my year or more of acute care. I continued applying to openings wherever I could find them, in both acute and non-acute settings and at the same time, diligently looked for volunteer positions since I figured if I can't get paid, at least I want somewhere to practice. In early 2010, I found two places to volunteer: one in a juvenile correctional facility and one in public health. After two months, I was hired per diem for the juvenile facility. I have had consistent scheduling in some months and erratic in others, thus I am not able to rely on it for my primary source of income. I also enhanced my skill set by becoming a Red Cross Volunteer, volunteering with Project Homeless Connect, picking up some per diem agency work in Occupational Health, and getting ACLS certified. Soon I will do a 3 day course on STD/HIV training (the fee was waived since I don't have regular RN employment) and then PALS. All the while I have been applying to jobs when I see them. I also continue to volunteer in public health. I think it is difficult searching and applying to jobs because it is very time consuming, especially when trying to work and keep up and/or gain nursing skills through per diem or volunteer work. Sometimes I found myself wishing that I just had that ONE paid full-time job and then my life would be simplified. However, the trade off has been a lot of freedom and that is something that does not have a price tag. I still hope to find acute care employment some day, but in the meantime I am enjoying what I do and have found myself among patient populations that I never thought I would serve, but they have been the most stellar reward. The downside to all of this is that I am not experienced in acute care. Acute care recruiters have said, "you know, your experience doesn't count for acute care." I know this, but my experience does count for something. Maybe I won't end up in that L&D position that motivated me to be a second career RN, but I have found so many other paths to travel on, and be rewarded by, that acute care isn't the only place to be. postscript: I realize that my non RN part-time employment is what makes it possible for me to be positioned as a per diem and volunteer RN and that most RN new grads are seeking ft employment, but I wanted to share how I have made it work so far.

Now seriously, with those restrictions, how is one supposed to be able to get acute care training? Many of the new grad programs have some type of, dare I use the term, "discriminating" phrase. I have seen restrictions from "can't have graduated prior to xxxx", "must have graduated no earlier than", " can't have had any paid RN work". Why is it acceptable to discriminate against those who graduated during a hiring freeze time? This is very unfortunate and makes me wonder when those who have been unable to get a job in acute care because of factors such as those will ever be able to get that elusive acute care experience.

First of all, a big congratulations to you! Wishing you all the best with your new employment. Also, thank you very much for the mention and for such detailed insight about the current situation. You are so right about "getting in" before the announcements go public. I find in this market the only way to work it is to network. I have had some very good leads this way. My situation is not the norm, however, since I took my boards a full year after graduation and as a result ended up being an old grad as soon as I was licensed. Fortunately, I have found per diem employment through networking. I met a nurse manager in a very unlikely place (at a summer opportunities program for my child) and asked to volunteer at her facility in an ambulatory/urgent care setting. I volunteered, got oriented and trained over two months and am now employed through a registry. I am still applying for that elusive hospital job and am hopeful that something will come along. In the meantime, I have no complaints since I really enjoy the work I am doing and am getting good experience.

This might be of interest to CA job seekers: With a $500,000 grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, CINHC is tackling the difficulty faced by new nursing school grads who cannot find jobs because of the troubled economy. http://www.cinhc.org/2010/03/regional-new-graduate-rn-transition-programs/ Rn-Transition-Program-Grants_release_v8.pdf

I am in your same shoes. I am now volunteering in public health and also for a juvenile hall medical unit (with the hopes of doing per diem work because I don't want full time in either), but I would like a full time new grad hospital training program so I want to keep myself free in case that opportunity arises. It is disheartening being an "old grad" and maybe not looked at for new grad programs, but I am hopeful and will continue networking and applying to them when the opportunity comes.

Sent you a PM. Not sure it went through. Let me know here.

Sorry, I didn't get back here sooner. I called the nurse recruiter office and was sent a document detailing the info. PM me and I can cut and paste and send the info to you or you can phone them.

Kaiser Oakland had 5 or 6 openings in the ED for new grads but I think they filled all the positions before they even posted them. It may pay off to have an internal contact or be volunteering for the hospital in which you want to work so that you can get the inside info.

I posted an upcoming new grad program under the California's 2010 New Grad RN Program thread.

New grad Versant program at Palo Alto VA - application period from July 1-11, 2010. Tentative start date in September. Part of their requirement is that you be a "new RN grad within last year from date of application". I came across this with the Stanford app as well. I think it is rather disappointing that they are not opening the door for those who will have been looking for employment for more than a year. Many of us have not been able to secure hospital employment in the past year because of the extremely limited new grad openings in CA and it seems unfair that this restriction exists. Hopefully, recruiters will recognize this and give "old-new grads" a chance.

Got rejection today!

Thank you for this post. This is gives excellent insight and is very helpful especially for inexperienced nurses to evaluate their ability (or not) to help in the relief effort.

Yes, I applied to Wash Hosp. It sounded like it would be awhile before they get back to anyone since they have 425 applications to go through. My job hunt began 10 months ago and so far, nada.