MsPdx

Hey, It's important to be clear in your Objective, which, after your name and contact info should be the first thing a potential employer sees. I put my Objective on a seperate line in italics. It said something like how I want to use my skills from my previous jobs (or military experience in your case) in a career as a bsn-prepred RN. I started getting nibbles on my resume when I finally altered it to showcase not only my previous work experience, but skills learned in my various clinicals. And I am currently working in my first nursing job. So, for example, right under Education I list my college degrees, then I have a section entitled "Clinical Experiences in Nursing School". I then broke down my various clinicals. Example: Maternal/Neonate health, ABC Hospital in Somewheresville USA, 60 clinical hours; educated new mothers on breast feeding, provided head-to-toe assessments of newborns including Vit K injections... etc etc. Then I detailed skills practiced in Peds, Med/Surg, Home Health, Community Health. I tried to be consistent, always listed the number of hours in each clinical and where they were. Finally, your cover letter! Dear So & So Team, It would be an honor to join ABC Hospital as a Whatever-job-you-are-applying for registered nurse. X number of years ago I decided to make some big changes in my life. I was a corporal in the army/office manager/whatever job you had previously that has translatable skills in nursing. I've committed myself to the pursuit of my education and graduated with honors/while working full time/some other impressive bit of information that will catch someone's attention. While in school/for years/whatever I've had a deep interest in the field of whatever-job-you-are-applying-to. My clinical experiences provided me with an opportunity to explore and deepen my passion in XYZ type of nursing and my education at so-&-so-nursing-school gave me a strong theoretical foundation. My life experience doing whatever-translatable-to-nursing-skills paired with my deep interest in whatever-type-of-nursing-position-you're-interested-in would compliment of nursing education and make me a strong candidate with ABC Hospital. I am excited to speak with you further regarding this position. Attached you will find my resume, reference contact list and several letters of recommendation. I can be contacted at XXX-XXX-XXXX, or by email at [email protected]. Respectfully, Your Name

Go with the psych job (see above)! Good luck to you!

It's reassuring reading all your posts. I just started my first position last Monday as a nurse in an assisted living facility. I know that the acuity is certainly not as high as a hospital, but I've already gone home dwelling on things I should have done, documentation I should have been more detailed on. In the five days I've worked, it seems there is always a incidence report to complete due to a resident falling (lots of residents with dementia) and others just struggling with all the things that go along with aging. I am basically scared to death, and to top it all off, I have several caregivers I must supervise. At this point I almost believe they know more than me! I know it's only been five days, but sheesh, I'm starting to doubt my abilities. Please keep those reassuring posts coming! I really feel alone and scared!

Words to live by. Love you Suesquatch!

Hello! Just started a full time job at an assisted living facility and I feel really good about my decision to take the position. I am a new grad and was worried that my medical nursing skills may get rusty. Well, maybe they will, but I am optimistic that technical skills can be fine tuned with time. For sure I am constantly asked to use my assessment skills. Also spend a lot of time each day with residents and their families, which requires lots of patience, flexibility, education and clear & open communication. I can tell you for sure that already there are many obvious psych issues, and honestly, I haven't even MET half of the residents yet! Best of luck to you.

Here's some of the questions I asked during my interviews: What is the chain of command for this position? To whom will I report? How will I be evaluated? Who are your "resource" people? Will you be "buddied" with an experienced RN? How will you learn the ins and outs of hospital politics? What is the work environment like? Do you spend time with your colleagues outside of work? What kind of team-building activities do you participate in? How does the administration view nursing in terms of importance to the hospital? Are nurses allowed to suggest areas for research to improve patient care? If so, are they allowed to design and carry out research projects with other professionals? What unique challenges has this unit faced over the last year? (i.e. successes, failures, etc.) What type of support is available on the unit to support nurses, specifically new grads. Can you describe the opportunities for nurses to continue their education within the hospital system ie continuing education. What professional development opportunities are available to nurses? Educational assistance? In what ways are nurses held accountable for high qualities of practice? How much input do nurses have regarding systems, equipment and the care of the environment?

Hi hiddencat! Graduated from Villanova in July '09! Loved Philly, and am happy to report many of my peers got jobs in the Philly area within months of graduating. It's been a hard road for me here in Portland (I've lived in Portland since '93 and am raised in the Pacific Northwest. Villanova was an opportunity I just could not pass up). I moved back to Portland in Aug '09, took the NCLEX in Oct and started looking for work in December. FINALLY got a full time job in assisted care (in all honesty, I applied to about 50 positions). It's tough, no doubt, but if it's what you really want, you'll find a way to make it work! Best of luck to you in your final months of school and good luck with your move to Portland!

Looking for an rn job in the Portland area as a new grad has definitely been the most heinous, brutal, humiliating experiences of my professional life so far!! It's hard not to take the rejection personally. Good news, however. My perseverance and openness to work ANYWHERE has paid off - full time job starting tomorrow!

Hi tnohe1, wanted to echo the post about your being a great candidate for an accelerated bsn program. Your previous degree and experience will only enhance what you have to bring to the table should you decide to go into nursing. I decided to pursue my bsn at age 37, with my first degree in History. I worked full time for a while and took pre-requisites at PCC in Portland. I quit my job after 3 quarters and dedicated my time to school. I ended up going to Villanova University (outside of Philadelphia, PA) for their accelerated bsn which was 14 months. (I would hardly call my bsn "accelerated" however, since it ended up taking me 2 years and 7 months to complete when you count all the pre-reqs.) Can't give you advice about the CNA route. I've heard people say it's a great way to decide if you like bedside nursing, but I didn't go that route. I knew I wanted to be a nurse and just went for it. Graduated in July 09 and passed the NCLEX in October. Diligently looked for work for MONTHS in the Portland area. Seriously, job hunting was sheer HELL. But I'm happy to say that I have a full time job now as an RN at an assisted living facility. I am nervous about getting rusty with my medical nursing skills, but I certainly consider myself an RN, what with the case managment, education, assessment and delegation that are all part of my job description. Anyway, by the time you graduate from nursing school the economic situation will hopefully be entirely different. Best of luck to you in whatever you decide!

I studied dilgently for about 8 weeks. During that time I did not have a job or any other obligations. My nursing program (accelerated BSN) encourages us to take the NCLEX within 3 months of graduation. Passed on try #1. Did Kaplan, studied from Saunders and Lippincott books and cds as well. Good luck!

Wow, I could have written this, Bobbkat! Except I graduated in July '09 and don't have a child! Granted, I waited until October to take the NCLEX and then dove headfirst into finding a job in December. Seriously, this has been just about the hardest thing I've gone through mentally/emotionally. So much frustration, tears, depression. It's hard not to take rejection personally after a while. I even had a nurse recruiter tell me that they were not hiring new grads at their hospital and to look at moving to OK or TX, no discussion about my experience, or my life circumstances; just summarily dismissed! Also had an awkward interview where my new grad status seemed to come as a surprise to the interviewer and, as you can imagine, made the experience an exercise in humiliation. The good news is that I just accepted a full time position at an assisted living facility. It is not the job I expected as my first job out of school, but dangit, no one else is beating down my door offering me work. I am happy to know that next week I will begin a full time nursing job. I really don't know how many places I've applied. Every hospital in the area, and even as far as 70 miles away, clinics, nursing homes. In all honesty, I think I've applied, at minimum, to least 60 or 70 positions, and likely many more. When I have gotten a call back, I actually have to do a search on my computer so I can figure out where I've applied and what I said in my cover letter! Five interviews, one return interview, and one real job offer. I was hoping for a little more choice, but I guess it just takes one offer to get a job. Don't have much to offer in the way of advice, but up until a few days ago, I was an unemployed new grad, and I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND the frustration and sick feelings of job hunting. (In fact, I still have this weird feeling inside me that thinks none of this is real and that I'm going to wake up from a dream or something.) I keep thinking that the economy will turn around eventually and pretty soon people will be asking US to work for them, not the other way around. I really believe that organizations are being super picky right now because they CAN. That, and the economy, for lack of a better word, sucks. It's too bad because there are so many incredibly bright, enthusiastic new grads out there that are desperate to begin working.

Hello All, Finally, after countless resumes, several interviews and nearly 4 months of searching, I accepted a position at an assisted living facility. They were extremely receptive to having a new grad and have offered me all sorts of training and continuing education. I start next week. The position title is Assisted Living Supervisor RN. It is certainly not the job I thought I would have as my first job out of nursing school. It seems to be focused more on case management, education, assessment, lots of meetings with families, med management, and delegation. It is clear to me that I will not get a lot (any) high acuity residents (perhaps the odd colostomy and injection) and for this reason I am fearful of losing my medical nursing skills. Although I will definitely be using all my other nursing skills. My hope is that they will allow me to at least take classes periodically to keep myself fresh with medical treatments and interventions. Portland is sure not beating down my door offering me hospital positions, so I'm looking at this position as a way to gain experience. Maybe I'll love it. No doubt I love the geriatric population. Am interested to hear how others got into the field, if they've had difficulty finding jobs in other fields and mostly, how in the world does one juggle so many residents? Thanks!