KatsieRN

I know this is a very old post but I was just hired onto an ortho/uro unit and it makes me SO happy to see such a positive things about new grads on ortho units. yay!

hang in there ladies! I'm sure it could take a while to get a call. I got day shift (woah!) on 3East which is the ortho/uro/rehab floor. I'm really excited since allnurses has tons of posts under ortho about new grads doing really well in it. Best wishes to you both!

Hi tashacorrine and jackie, well I got the phone call! very excited and hoping that you two do as well. They give all the info about unit / shift and follow it up with an email with all the attachments that detail the stuff that needs to be done. Feel free to PM me :) Goodluck!!

well, I am hoping for early week because of my other offer but I am sure it will take some time for HR to make all the calls.. I emailed the interviewer last week and she told me that last bit of info about her almost being done with decisions. It might be that new grads couldn't do ivs or iv meds until then, this was stuff she told me during the interview and I can't remember it all too clearly now. I was hoping for a job in sf since I'm from the Bay area but I know its pretty much impossible until I have 2 years of experience. my bf and I are from there and its our plan to get back there eventually! and I actually pay less for my rent here in phoenix than I did in Chico and my house was "pricier" for chico standards since I lived on Ivy. well, I hope we hear good things. 94 interviewed for 40 spots, yikes!

I did my preceptorship on cardiac pcu and loved it too. I am totally just assuming it was a lot of ppl's first choice since getting tele experience as a new grad is so great, but maybe I'm just thinking that way because that's what I think :) but hey, I'd be happy on any unit at mayo too! Oh yes, starting wage in az is way lower than bay area or anywhere in california. But, cost of living is sooo much lower here. I have an amazing 2 bed/3bath with garage for a LOT less than my friends are paying for 1 room in an apt in SF! ( my friend that is working in sf is making over 50 / hr, doesn't that just sound amazing??) from what I've seen, starting wage in phoenix / az is around 25 dollars a hour for day shift. night diff is typically 4-5 extra. Mayo is actually better than any of the other hospitals Ive seen in AZ and the night diff is 6 dollars! Until the end of February, Mayo will be paying the new grads as Nurse Tech 1 instead of the RN pay as they are waiting for everyone to pass the NCLEX. So even though I passed in July, I wouldn't get paid as a RN ( or be able to start IVs or pass meds) until end of February when they transition the entire class ( if hired!). I think this week waiting for a phone call, or email, will be tough. The recruiter told me she was finishing up her decision this past thurs/fri so maybe HR will be ready to make calls Monday or Tuesday....

it looks like we chose the same :) I bet cardiac and neuro were a lot of ppl's first choices but couldn't bring myself to choose a "less desirable" unit. I know a nurse on the transplant floor and she loves her unit! I am surprised we are the only 2 communicating on this thread, especially there always seems to be a few more people on here reading the page! good luck and fingers crossed for both of us... it would be nice to have another chico girl around :)

I think it went well too, the recruiter was nice and really informative about the program. I had prepared most of the questions so nothing was too shocking although someone had told me there wouldn't be any clinical questions so that caught me a bit off guard ! I guess one of the benefits of having a phone interview is that you could have answers in front of you! I wish I could have had that for a few of them : ) I think the program sounds great so really hope we hear some good news... I was told they would let us know next week so fingers crossed. I have another offer that is getting down to the wire of wanting to know so I hope I hear good news from Mayo. what units did you choose for top 3?

Was just called 5 mins ago for an interview on November 15th for general medicine/ortho unit. Thinking I will call back tomorrow since I am supposed to start a job here in Arizona on the 14th! boohoo for me right? but happy to give someone else my interview : ) : )

I am from the Bay Area and went to school in Arizona and am hoping to return home as soon as I can. I am planning on staying in AZ for at LEAST 1 year of experience ( I start work in 2 weeks, whew) but more likely 2 years. I am worried that 2 years experience will not be enough to get a great job in bay (although I know its a lot better to apply as a nurse 2). I do not think 6 months experience will get you anywhere... if anything they will think you are a job hopper that will leave them once you get through orientation. I actually think its pretty unprofessional to stay for 6 months and then take off... think about how much money and time it took for them to train you! I would encourage you to focus on getting a job in the first place, working for a solid year and then start researching jobs in the bay area before moving.

This is where you need to sell yourself! What would you say about yourself in an interview? Discuss your strenghts - high GPA in nursing school, leadership roles, volunteer work, passions. This isn't a "trick question", they are just trying to get to know you! If it were me - 1st paragraph would introduce myself, school, gpa, why I wanted to be a nurse and maybe a short story about what started a passion for nursing. 2cd paragraph - sell yourself. your strengths, accomplishments, work experience, volunteer work and how these attributes would make you the BEST candidate for the job you are applying for. 3rd paragrapth - show your research about the facility and how you match up with their values and mission statement. tell them why you should be hired and highlight your academic, clinical and interpersonal skills. give your essay to someone else to edit it and spend time on it and make sure its all grammatically correct. goodluck!

Thank you for your responses! I had always assumed that I would train on 3 twelves so when she said 8 hour 5 days a week I wasn't sure if it was normal. Your responses have made me feel confident in the program that has hired me. I will start looking up those medications so I can feel (somewhat )prepared!

Hey everyone, I graduated in May 2011 and received a verbal offer for a new grad position on a telemetry unit in July. Paperwork took forever and I just received the official offer and I am getting set to go in mid November. I am very excited about getting my first job since it is so hard out there for new grads!! My orientation on the unit will be for 8 weeks. In the beginning, I'll spend 1 day with the unit secretary to get familiar with entering orders and computer work, I will spend 2 days in the monitor room looking over the strips and watching the monitors, I will be taking a 3 day EKG class and eventually an ACLS class. My orientation on the unit will be working 8 hour shifts / 5 days a week. For the first 4 weeks I will be working 7am -3pm and will have two preceptors to cover my 5 days a week. My preceptors will take the same patients as my previous preceptor so that I will get to have the same patients. The following 4 weeks I will precept from 3pm -11pm with 2 preceptors. At the end of the 8 weeks, I will start out on the night shift and my manager will make sure one of the preceptors that I worked with on 3-11 shift is also working. Is this how any other new grad programs are run? I am curious if this is common and what people think the benefits are or any concerns I will have.... My manager believes that this will give me the most exposure to everything and will be a solid training. She has a very good reputation for training new grads and seems very open and approachable so I trust her but a little curious what others think about this type of new grad training. I know the 8 hour shift compared to the long haul 12 hours overnight will be an adjustment but I think I'll like the 3 days / week compared to 5 in a row!! Any advice for starting out on a telemetry unit? Drugs or procedures to look up? Thanks a bunch : )

For a moment I thought I had written a post without realizing it! I graduated in may 2011 and moved to Phoenix to live with my bf (long distance for over a year) and thought it would be "easier" to find a job in Phoenix than my native SF bay area. Do you have any contacts in Phoenix? Do you know any nurses that live here or anyone at all? I didn't know a soul in Phoenix but my boyfriend started to network through his coworkers for me. Turns out, one of his pilot coworkers is married to a nurse and she had 2 other friends that would meet with me! I put aside my pride and called these random women who I have never met and asked them out to coffee. 2 of the nurses work at Mayo Clinic ( where I did my preceptorship) and gave me bit more advice. I got an interview with Mayo and these two nurses liked me so much that they emailed the interviewer a few days before to give me a good word. I am not sure if it helped (still 2 weeks to hear back) but the interviewer mentioned that she felt like she knew me already. I am sure that Phoenix is the same as any major city - it is about WHO you know ( which is terrible to hear when you don't know anyone). I have applied for hundreds of jobs online and never heard anything through them. Through contacts I have had 3 job interviews with 2 job offers and 1 pending. I think it will be extremely hard to find a job when not in the city so if you are gung-ho about moving here be prepared to volunteer and maybe pick up a job to have some cash flow while you job search. Look at psych facilities, LTC, rehab and get your butt into the HR and ask if you can volunteer since you would like to work at that hospital. Its tough out there - I interviewed and got a verbal offer for a job back in JULY and just yesterday got the paperwork with a start date in November. Be persistent and politely aggressive and meet as many nurses as you can.

Kimberly, this exact subject was posted with tons of comments very recently. I would suggest doing a search for this topic to get some good replies.

got the email about references tonight. pretty exciting. I just hope that my references all check their emails and take the time to do the references for me. I would hate to be dropped from consideration due to a professor not completing it. I'm sure that happens to many people. Goodluck everyone!

yes! loved the bear and living 2 blocks from Rileys. Its tough when there are not a lot of hospitals nearby to network while you are in school ( experienced the same thing... 1 hospital in the town) I checked my CHOC status and still under review, I am sure they have hundreds left to go through in review. I have my mayo interview in person since I live in Phoenix now. I did my preceptorship there and hoping that helps a bit. It really is a great hospital so fingers crossed. I spoke with nursing administration today and they are interviewing this entire month with decisions in first or second week in November. Good luck with the phone interview, I am sure you will do great!

tasha, congrats on the phone interview! Im excited for my interview with Mayo, its such a great hospital :) so I clicked on your profile and saw that you've been writing in the CHOC February thread. I also applied for that and have been following that same thread but haven't heard from them yet though...and small world, looks like we have the same alma mater!! (my 1st degree) best college town in the world!

Hey there, I have an interview for the January 12 new grad program and wondering if anyone that has gone through the interview process could help me out. I'm wondering what types of interview questions were asked, (situational and behavioral), what they seemed to be looking for in Mayo nurses and any other advice that you could offer. I am really excited about the opportunity to interview! thanks

Graduated May 2011, passed the boards in June and interviewed for two positions (both through referrals, had NO luck with 100+ internet apps) and got offers from both jobs. One was small psych facility and the other was a 8 week new grad telemetry floor position. Took tele and hoping to start by end of August (waiting for corporate and HR to connect is taking forever!)

ChuckeRN I was recently offered a new grad position at MVMC and the pay is not that low at all. Its completely competitive with Banner at 26/hr with 5 dollar night dif.

Thought I would add in my experience since I just graduated from nursing school had an interview for telemetry floor new grad program a few weeks ago. I did not have any situational questions which I think is what a lot of new grads fear. The interviewer did ask me about my experience with certain procedures and to be honest, a few times I had NO idea what she was talking about. Be honest that you did not get to see everything in nursing school but you are willing to learn on the floor and on your own to get you prepared. I think that is what most interviewers want to see - enthusiasm and readiness to learn. Think up as many examples as you can about your accomplishments or how you reacted in certain situations. While there wasn't a "tell me what you would do if..." there were questions like "tell me about a difficult clinical experience or tell me about your most difficult patient / nurse/ doctor interaction and how you handled the issue". ( she seemed to like my answer of quality of pt care is always most important so work towards a solution while communicating and being respectful and all that jazz) Also had - describe your most rewarding experience in nursing, a question about leadership or going above and beyond. My lady had a list of printed questions and she asked me all of them, I was so glad I over-prepared. Study up on EKG's so you can honestly say you have started to learn and have a very basic understanding. My lady asked me if I'd be comfortable interpreting 10 strips if she printed them out and I told her I had a basic understanding from my preceptorship and could recognize simple rhythms but am interested in EKG / ACLS course and that seemed to satisfy her. They do not expect a new grad to be experts in this specialty obviously. Start looking over the most common cardiac drugs and when to use them. You will sound like you've done your research if you can give an example of a situation and the drugs used or just briefly show your knowledge of cardiac drugs. Make sure the interviewer understands why you love this type of nursing and be calm, friendly, enthusiastic and remember to smile. I really think interpersonal skills can win over an interviewer so be yourself and look professional - hair back, low heel, suit or skirt ( don't forget the pantyhose!) have a copy of your resume, letters of rec, cover letter, RN license and BLS copies in a folder that you can leave with the interviewer... and of course, on nice resume paper. Have your questions for the interviewer ready so that you can get all your questions answered. I would recommend jotting down some notes ( other people say don't but I wish I had) because after the interview when the adrenaline is gone you will be trying to remember all the facts! Good luck on the interviews.. ps - I got the job and start my orientation in a few weeks :)

congrats on the interview! My phone has been dead all afternoon so hoping,wishing and praying I have a vmail. Flips, I would think it would be over the next few days, not just today so don't give up. 430 applicants this time around, whew!

I am waiting to hear back too. Its 3 weeks tomorrow, hopefully sometime this week?? Anyone know how many applicants they typically get? I bet they were swamped with amazingly qualified applicants this year...

Yes, don't fret there is plenty of time to have a life while in the program. In my opinion, the program starts slow enough for you to get accustomed to being in school and you are just itching to start doing "real" nursing things. It feels like forever ago, but I remember having a LOT of spare time in the summer months to the point where I wished I was more busy. It really picked up during our fundamentals course but they are completely re-doing the summer curriculum so hopefully it will be better organized for you all. Fall semester has an online nursing research course which I think they are changing for you guys. We had some issues with it because it was insanely time consuming and frustrating. But, the faculty know this and will hopefully be switching things up. We also had med surg lectures from 8 am - 12pm on monday and tuesday and then 2 days of clinicals, either in Flagstaff or Kingman (2hours away). Its a pretty busy semester, a lot of reading for med surg and 4 hour lectures require a lot of coffee to keep you focused. You get over a month off for winter break, so nice. Spring semester starts FAST! By the second week of class I was more stressed than the entire 9 months before combined. There is a lot of group work and its pretty exhausting. But now that that first month is over, it is a lot better. In fact, we only have class on monday afternoons and 1 day of clinical which is great. We have spring break next week and then end of April we start our capstone which is about half the hours of what the traditional program get. It is pretty fast so make sure you learn as much as you can during med surg so you feel comfortable. hope that answers some questions : ) sorry for the ramble, my brain is tired after doing a ton of hw tonight.

Well I think it is completely changing from when I applied since my cohort only had 60 qualified applicants while this year had 130 applicants. I had a decent gpa for my prereqs probably a 3.6 but I really don't know. I also did well on my HESI entrance exam with an overall score of 95. I had a year long volunteer gig with my local health clinic and 8 months volunteering 2xweek at a hospital. I think my volunteering and essay really helped. I think its going to be a lot harder to get into by 2012 so keep up your grades and make sure you have something to write about in your essay, go out and get a committed volunteer job or something. goodluck!