Moosey32

okay i tend to ramble so i will try to make this as short as i can... i'm new grad rn and have been looking for work since october 2009. well i was finding nothing in my area. so i considered relocating to a town 2.5 hours away. we'll call it btown. well i applied for a med/surg position and lord and behold, my stuff actually got forwarded, i got a phone interview, and then i got an actual interview! however, hr has been backed up and i was supposed to find out last week if i got the job. well i called and guess what, now they say it will be at least 2-3 weeks before i know anything because they are backed up and still haven't gotten all the interviews done. i really really want to relocate to the area for the job and because i will actually be moving in with my old college roomie. well, this past week i actually got a call back from a nursing home for special needs children that i had applied to months ago. we'll call it sp. i got an interview and got the job if i want it, i just have to let them know. orientation starts tuesday! so after hearing that btown still wont know for 2-3 weeks, i have decided to take the job in my area. however... if btown offers me the position i want to take it. i already know that the next available orientation is like at the end of march for btown. so... i mean, i could work with sp for over a month or more. i could get experience (it is skilled nursing so there is a lot of gtubes and trachs and stuff) and inform btown of this, which may boost my chances of getting hired too. i mean... i feel bad for sp... but at the same time i could really use the money and experience, and obviously if i don't get the btown job i will stay at sp. i wish i could wait the 2-3 weeks to hear from btown, but sp offered the job and would like to start orientation on tuesday, so it didn't give me much time to make a decision. so i mean... what your adive/opinion? does it happen a lot? i just feel bad, and i mean, the job offer may never even happen, but if it does, i would be leaving sp after only being there like 6 weeks.

good luck!!! i will be praying for you!!!

so i finally had an interview feb 2nd!!! i interviewed with human resources and then with the clinical director of the med/surg floor. i will know something this coming week because they have to finish up other interviews. there are 3 positions available. ugh. this has already been the longest weekend of my life... and now it's going to be the longest week of my life lol. i don't know what to think about any of it. at this point i am just crossing my fingers and praying!

My advice is to look at the sites posted above, and just play around on here and google stuff like "interview help" ect. DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!!!!!!! Take the time to look over multiple questions and think of answers you could use. When I had my interview it was strictly a behavorial interview. I did not get a single "easy" answer such as my weakness, my strength, why I became a nurse, ect. It was all questions like "Tell me about a time when you went the extra mile for a patient and what was the outcome?" "Tell me about a time when you experience a demanding patient, family member, or customer, how did you handle the situation?" ^^ Those questions blow :-) However, what they are looking for are SPECIFIC cases, they DON'T want you to generalize like "well typically I do this..." What they are looking for is that you can assess the problem, implent an action, and the outcome of the action in your answer. Lol. Pretty fancy stuff. So be sure to google up some behavorial interview questions so you can kinda get a feel for those too so that you aren't unprepared if they throw some at you! And most important... GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't read through the other comments, but I am in the same position as you are. I have applied to numerous hospitals and LTC in my area, but when I call to check on my applications, they are never forwarded or even reviewed, then a week later I receive a rejection email about persueing another candidate, ect. I finally had to look into relocation and I applied to a hospital 2.5 hours away, ahd my application forwarded, got a phone interview, then an actual interview, and now I will know next week whether or not I got the job. eek!

There's no harm in looking around?? You do have SOME experience, so I wouldn't worry about the jobs that list that you need experience, because you have some. A lot of jobs that say "experience preferred" or whatever will sometimes still hire a new grad w/o any experience. Like I said, there's no harm in looking around for another job because I mean, you may be looking around for a long time anyways because of the job market. So I say at least take a look around.

Thank you everyone for your good wishes! I'm just keeping my fingers crossed at this point and praying!!!

hello, so i'm a nervous wreck and just needed to vent a little and maybe get feedback... or prayers at least! well my background is that i graduated in aug. 09 and passed nclex-rn oct. 09. and have since not been able to find work in my area. i have looked into hospitals and ltc facilities and have not even been able to get an interview, not even a phone one. so relocation became an option. i applied for a ft nights m/s position at a hospital that is 2.5 hours away. the hospital actually recruited from the university i attended, which the university is 4 hours from where i live. i had a phone interview and then got an actual interview. i interviewed with hr and the clinical director for that floor. i felt my interview with hr went really well. i felt i answered all the behavorial questions very well, i was polite, we joked and laughed. she told me about all the benefits, salary, and orientation and when it started and asked me what orientation class i could attend. which thankfully i can attend the next scheduled 1 which is in 3 weeks. and i also got a folder filled with more detailed information on orientation and benefits. and even when i was waiting on the clinical director, the hr lady came out and found me a little book filled with apartments in the area because of my relocation and a city magazine that describes the area. then i had my interview with the cd. she told me up front that i was going to be a guinea pig because she actually had a college student who was interning because she would be doing all the interviews after my interview. so that made me nervous but at the same time it was better because the atmosphere was really light-hearted because the cd would actually stop, and talk to both of us and say to her intern like "see, that was a really good answer because she gave me the assessment, action, and outcome." but i just don't feel it went as great as my hr inteview because the behavorial questions this time were solely nursing related, whereas in hr i could use past non-related jobs or clinicals or whatever. & since i'm a new grad, obviously my only experience is clinicals. it was a good interview, just not a great one ya know? i don't feel i did anything bad, but i don't feel like i was outstanding either. she did talk to me more about my preceptorship, orientation, what colors of scrubs to where and shoes, and she also went through a pretty detailed explanation on how i can expect nights to go and when i'll be busiest, and what not. and she actually said that she doesn't have the final say in who gets hired, it is actually hr who makes the final decision. so that made me feel better because i thought my hr interview went the best. i was actually like 1 of the first interviews, and i interviewed tuesday. the cd said she hopes she can have a decision made by the end of the following week because 1- they have a survey group wed-fri and she couldn't have any interviews and 2- the rest of the interviews will be done next week and i guess there are a lot of applicants and she said hr will contact my references & so forth, which i found out my references were called today. oh, and there are 3 positions available. like, i feel it went good, and they talked most of the time like i had the job ya know?? but i know not to count on that aspect of it, because that is often misleading and just how some interviewers present the job ya know? ugh... just pleaseeeee keep me in your prayers!!! it's going to be a longggg week of waiting lol.

I don't think Feb. is too early. It gets your name out there at least. I say go for it!

I agree with the person above ^^^ Take the time to write out what you might say that way you aren't tripping on your words or sound unprofessional whenever you do get a hold of someone. You can also google "popular interview questions" so you can get an idea of what you may be asked and already have an answer for it. If you are 100% completely stumped on what to say, search around on here or even type something like "calling about a job" in google and it will bring up tips, and all you have to do is relate it to nursing and such. Good luck!!!

Another area you might consider if you want the feeling of making immediate changes in someone's life is maybe like EMT/Paramedic stuff because being first on the scene, you could be the one who saves that person's life. It's more of an immediate gratification. However, I would suggest either maybe finding a different job, or at least staying with it for a year. From what I have heard, new nurses go through a lot of mixed emotions during their first year. So maybe you ARE meant to be a nurse, you just aren't "feeling it" right now. Or maybe you need to try another area of nursing, and after a year, you'd have experience to apply in other areas. But, nonetheless, you are your own best judge of character. If you feel you could put up with a little while longer, go for it, but if you are near your wit's end, find another area. Good luck in your encounters!

I know exactly how you feel. If you can afford it, you should see your doctor and try to get on an anxiety or depression medication temporarily until things ease up. I have become increasingly depressed and am already on a depression medication but I have no insurance to get a new prescription or a higher dose. :-( Secondly, I think having a support system can be the best thing yet. I live with my parents and they have been far from supportive and it's the constant nagging of "did you get a job yet?" "get a job yet?" over and over. They don't realize that the economy has effected nursing as well and they just think I'm not trying. Well 40 applications later, and nothing. However, I do have a couple close friends I talk to about my situation. They aren't actually in nursing, but I met them while I was in school and they saw what I went through then lol. But they are helpful to vent too because they know the effort I have been putting in. And, there's always this site. You can always vent here. But it also is discouraging because sometimes after reading posts on here I can end up feeling even more discouraged. Lastly, venting helps relieve stress, so if you don't have a support system to vent to, you should buy a notebook and start writing your feelings out. It is your journal, so go crazy with it. When you are angry, write a fake letter to a hospital or something venting about how hypocritical it is that you must have experience to get a job, yet how can you get experience if no one will hire you. Vent and wrie it out. I've started keeping a journal because I have had other problems going on besides my hiring woes, but I often find that I'll end up writing about my hiring woes a lot too. It helps some, really. Much love and just try to keep your head high, it is all we can do right now :-)

I graduated school in Aug. 09' and obtained my RN license 0ct. 09' and have not had any luck landing a job in my area. Well long story short, while I was in nursing school there was a hospital that actually came and would recruit from my school. I actually loved the presentations and the hospital, but I was not from that area to begin with so I didn't go after it. Well after no luck in my job hunt I'm willing to relocate to that area to get a job there. I found a girl who I graduated with and she's been working there since May 09'. She said she could put in a good word for me to her boss, the DON of the Med/Surg floor. Well lord and behold, on their website, Jan 8 they had a listing for a FT nights M/S position, no experience required. I applied and told my nursing friend I had applied for the position. Nothing happened for awhile and I thouhgt my nursing contact was ignoring me. Well finally she got back with me last week and said that her boss had been on sick leave for a week so she hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her yet. But she also said that they have had 3 nurses quit and 1 switch to days in the last month, so there should be more openings. Well this week, Tues., they took off the 1 job listing which freaked me out because I thought the job had been filled, or nonetheless they received way too many applicants already after less than 2 weeks. Well I contacted HUman Resources and spoke with a recruiter who told me she had forwarded my application to the DON this week, but to expect a slight delay since the DON had been out on sick leave. Then I talked to my contact and she said she would be able to talk to her boss, the DON, wednesday also. (Yesterday) I still haven't heard from her yet, but the point of the post is.... What else can I do? Should I call the DON Friday to see if she has had time to review my application? What steps can I do to show that I really want this job and show I'm interested??? This is the farthest I have gotten with job hunting because all my other tries ended without my application even ever being forwarded to the DON and receiving rejection emails that another canditate was selected. Any advise would be appreciated.

You are the only person who knows "YOU" best. Do you think you can handle it? If yes, then do it. I started the RN program without any of my gen. eds. Once my RN advisor found out that I didn't have any of my gen eds done? She actually told me straight to my face "*sigh* I haven't met anyone who did this and actually graduated on time. I'm not saying it's impossible, but *sigh*" I hated her for that. She was a huge negative nancy lol. But guess what? In 2 years I got it done. However, I did do a summer of nothing but gen eds. after my first year. But it is definetely not impossible. I would try to take as much as you can handle in your first semester, because Fundamentals is going to be easier to handle instaed of down the road with your M/S's and stuff. I actually enjoyed taking my gen eds during nursing because gen eds were sooo easy and it was almost a vacation from nursing school lol. "oh a worksheet instead of 13 pages of clinical paperwork? Don't mind if I do!" Haha. Go by your instincts.

I'm a new grad nurse near the Fort Wayne area... and the job market in the area is terrible. There are jobs avaialble but they all want experience. Also, in my area, Lutheran Network owns like 5+ of the major hospitals in the area. Lutheran is an amazing network to work for I hear, however it is next to impossible to get on unless you "know" someone. So now I'm checking hospitals all over Indiana and relocationg. Who thought the hardest part of nursing would be finding a job? Lol. There are always nursing homes and LTC facilities and such. Most nursing homes don't have a website so it is best to go in and talk to them about job openings.