Krystan

Hi, I start Monday too! I'm a bit panicky. Good luck to everyone starting soon!

It seems like it might depend on where you are, geographically. I know here, south of Boston, things are very bad for new nurses generally. Many hospitals have hiring freezes right now and some have even laid nurses off. Two and three years ago, graduates from my school would all have jobs by graduation - the whole class! This year, not ONE person had a job at graduation. Some were promised jobs by their current employers, some worked out, and some fell through because they just didn't have openings. So, I did try, along with most of my class, to apply in January, February, etc, but no one would look at us. They took my resume, but most said to "check openings on the website once you've graduated/passed boards." So I would definitely try - it can't hurt to make those connections, but again, I think it depends on the economy in your area as to whether they will hire you early.

Things are rough here, south of Boston, MA. It's tough if you don't have health care experience and you don't have an "in". Even people who were promised jobs by their current employers are not getting them! I graduated in May '09, passed the boards in June, and have been seriously job hunting since February (well before graduation). Several hospitals in the area have hiring freezes (one even laid nurses off), and some are only hiring internally. After months of going after hospital jobs, I've just been hired at a LTC facility. That's pretty much been the way with most of my class (at least the ones who have jobs, and that's maybe half so far). The ones who got hospital jobs are the ones who either already worked there or had very good connections. Good luck!