DtownMurse

I have to say that I was impressed with what I saw in the Simulation Lab and the small classrooms. Don't be. The faculty, not the facility make all the difference. I am debating on going here as their pre-reqs are minimal and there is no waiting list Waiting lists are much shorter now than they were even one year ago. The waiting list and the pre req requirement might seem important now, but if you plan on being a career nurse they are not. The quality and marketability of your education are going to determine your future in this business, don't sacrifice excellence for speedy entry. My main reason for interest in NAU is no waiting list, but I am scared for the fact that they are a for profit school. Any advice? Avoid for profit schools, the cost to benefit ratio is just too high. Go to a for EDUCATION school and go the extra mile. Don't rush things. Treat every clinical like a job interview, and most importantly, network network network.

Can it work? Yes Will it work? Depends. I don't have much to go on other than what you indicated in you original post, but my gut says look elsewhere for a career. Nurses have to put up with a LOT of BS, and they are responsible (read that liable for) nearly everything, whilst having comaprively little real power (at least new nurses who follow the rules, new ones who don't follow the rules don't seem to stick around long). As a new nurse, you'll put up with a LOT, not just from man haters (and yeah, they are definitely out there) but from all sides, including your peers, who very likely will be a bunch of hyper-competitive backstabbers. Pts will punch you in the face. They will spit on you. You might even get a taste of pee if you hang around very long. They will definitely verbally abuse you. And you won't be able to do much about it, except possibly complain to a charge who could not care less. Think about that for a minute, and how different that role will be from what you did in law enforcement. I guess what you need to do is ask yourself, honestly, why do you want to be a nurse? If you don't truly care about human beings, if arguing with you boss on behalf a homeless meth addict who pees herself and smells worse than a Texas pig farm in July isn't your bag, or you aren't willing to occasionally skip your breaks and/or lunch to wipe out someone's C-diff infested butt with a stage IV pressure ulcer holding a Whopper sized stash of poo, then, sorry my friend, try being a mall security guard or see if the TSA is hiring. Again, I don't know you at all, but I can tell you that I've seen law enforcement folks go into nursing and from my own experience, it was a trainwreck. They absolutly hated it, and everyone around them felt it. Your mileage may vary. If you really, really want to be a nurse you can make it happen. You just gotta be straight with yourself about who you are and why you want to do this stuff. Unless you have a drive to humbly and non-judgmentally serve people, and advocate for them when your managers and the rest of the health care team wants you to give up on them, and unless you will do this time and time again regardless of the choices your patients have made, how much dope they did, how many people they hurt, or how they treat you, please stay out of my profession.

If there was a hiring freeze, nobody would be hiring anybody. That is clearly not the case. I never suggested monster.com, and I wouldn't because as you pointed out, it's a lot of staffing agencies and their games. I don't think indeed.com is like monster.com, however, because Indeed actually searches employer websites. I would suggest that whenever folks use indeed.com, they set it to return result from employer websites only (its in the advanced search option). Then when you find a job, you can go to the employer's website or, whenever possible, directly to their physical address with your resume and talk to an actual recruiter or HR person. Personally I would never submit a resume to an online job website, unless it was the actual employer and they asked for it. I'm not saying its easy to find a job, or that new grads who have not are not trying. The job application process is tedious, difficult, and sometimes downright humiliating, but it's not hopeless.

Check your resume.... http://www.accountemps.com/PressRoom?id=2491 I'm not trying to be snotty, but this idea of a hiring freeze doesn't jive with what's on Indeed.com, even for new grads...