GlossyViolet

Atlantic Health and Barnabas had open houses where many new grads where interviewed (and some hired). i was told that Palisades Hospital will take the resume in person and they consider it a good sign if the applicant keeps calling to follow up. I had my IV and basic arrhythmia courses there - the nurse educator said that they mostly hire new grads and give them a 12 week orientation with all certifications. she insisted that i keep calling and basically "stalk" them. I know st. mary's in passaic and meadowland's hired too.

i graduated from Bergen CC in spring 2013 and knew it would be difficult to find a hospital job but had no idea it would be THAT hard. Started in home private duty in pads and while the paycheck was very decent, i was bored to the point of tears. Managed to stay there for 2 months taking care of trach/ vent patient and a preterm infant with a nj tube and cpap -learned a lot but it was time to move on. Landed a job in a LTC on subacute - was the worst! overworked, with the commute of 1 hour each way i was simply miserable. However i learned a lot. I left after 6 months and started applying like crazy to no avail. Got ACLS, basic arrhythmia and IV certs. a week after i got my acls i went to a rn open house at a local hospital - i knew that was my chance to "sell" myself. And low and behold - i did!.Got a job on ICU step down. In the orientation class all RNs shared that they had been looking for a job for at least a year and all got hired after the interview at the open house. They all admitted that applying online and using their connections to nurse managers didn't work. One RN's father is an ICU Nurse at the hospital she has been working for 6 years as a tech. And they did not hire her after she graduated from nursing school ( even though she was enrolled in BSN immediately after graduation). One RN used her connections to give her resumes to nurse managers through the nurses already working on the units. Nada. Until they came to the open house. THere have been quite a few open houses for different health care systems. I would look into all of them ( even those that say experience required. It can come down to how well you will be able to convey your enthusiasm and burning desire to work for this particular hospital. ACLs and tech experience will put you on top of the new grads' list. Good luck!! i was absolutely desperate to find a hospital job! i had great connections in many hospitals in NY, however none of them pulled through to land me a job. Until i took the bull by the horns ;-) persevere and you will get there. And if you get interviewed - follow up on it not only with HR but try to get through to the manager who interviewed you.

No they didn't, they just said it might take a while.. Whatever that means in a hospital HR's world. I would jump in and call a few days right after the interview, however i am not sure that it is apporipriate. How long should I wait? honestly, I would camp out outside on hospital grounds to show them my enthusiasm! :-)

So I ve been looking for a hospital job for... exactly a year since i graduated. Meanwhile I was working on a subacute unit in a LTC one hour away. What a horrible experience that was!!I Anyway I left my LTC job after 6 months and I got my ACLS, basic arrhythmia and IV certification and was ready to rock any interview coming my way. It did come! There was an open house at the local community hospital and I landed an interview with the nurse manager of Cardicac Care Unit after being prescreened by the HR. We spoke at length and she seemed very impressed with my certifications, my crazy subacute experience, asked me many questions about my plans, etc. She gave me heads up saying not to panic if i dont to hear from them really soon because the process of sitting down with HR and all nurse managers and laying out their options and choosing people who are to receive job offers takes a while. She told be "but I definitely put you down for the cardiac unit". She wanted me to be specific with a day or night shift ( even though i mentioned that i am available for both). We ended it on a good note and she said "I hope to see you very soon on my unit". Now, there were quite a few others new RNs ( new grads w/o any tech experience) and of course i am dying to find out either I got the job or not since the competition was fierce. When i got home, i wrote a brief thank you email to HR who interviewed me as well ( could not find nurse manager's email for the life in me!!). Now the waiting game begins. My question is - when is it appropriate to call HR to gently remind her about myself without being pushy and irritating her? sorry for the long post!

Hello, I am a new grad who recently started in pediatric PDN. And while I do enjoy working with some great ped patients and wonderful ( and not so wonderful) parents, I do find working private duty a little lonely. It is very low key and I indeed finish all my tasks before I head home, although I often feel that my skills will not be up par with nurses who work in other settings. Needless to say I learned a lot taking care of trached and vented patients, NG, NJ tubes, CPAP etc., however I often hear from my former classmates that no acute or subacute care facility will be ever interested in hiring me and will consider my current experience to be laughable compared to nurses to work in rehabs. I really want to keep my PDN shifts part time but apply somewhere where I would get to work with a variety of patients and learn some time management skills. In your experience, do employers look down on peds PDN experience? Thank you for your input! I am a rn working on my bsn and really would like to have some other avenues of career open to me besides private duty.

tempestkayne, it is not as difficult academically as i thought it would be as it just darn stressful especially the first semester...the material is not rocket science ( i honestly thought it would be harder) however, quite a few times i thought " why in the world would someone want to do this to himself?" i mean i was dying to get into the program ( was waiting on pins and needles for the admission letter...) and i honestly can't wait to be done : i find myself worrying all the time: will i pass this test? will i pass this course?will i get the clinical instructor who has a reputation of being simply abusive to the students?urgh...It is especially distressing to see people leave the program not because they failed ( which is 15% the case in the first semester) but because they simply had enough...but from what i know every nursing program is this way ( nobody holds your hand and you have to toughen it out) i used to have a 14 - 16 credit load and my life was fantastic compared to an 8 creadit load in the nursing program. it is just this fear of failing the course and starting all over when so much time and mental energy was spent on getting here...But at the end of the day I do enjoy it and I learned to love nursing ( it wasn"t love from first sight LOL). the most important thing for me was to get a hang of nclex type questions ( once u know what they want from u - u will be fine;-) and manage the stress and ruthlessness of some situations ( when the professor gets stressed out in clinicals she/he can get pretty rough with the studens, nurses can be on the rude side in some settings, etc).

tempestkayne, i think it is a great score and i would sit tight waiting for the admission letter...the highest scores barely ever exceed 94ish and BCC nursing department staff doesn't make decision based solely on HESI scores ( classes are perfectly diverse - with a certain percentage of male students, as well as representatives of all ethnical minorities...) I got in last year with a 93.4 as out of county ( they admitted only 6 out of 80 out of county students) and met many students with as a low as 80 on HESI...So again, if i were u, I wouldn't put myself through a 4 hour HESI hell just to improve ( even if) my score by a few measly points which IMHO don't really matter. Good luck and let us know if you get in;-)

you have probably heard from them by now...it took Elsa around three weeks to post it on bergen as nursing major pending and send email saying it was approved to proceed...they usually email u info that your applicationwas accepted and tell u when u should proceed with your backgroundl check. i believe by now it shouldve been done...at least i know that med sonography applicants are already completed backgraound checks and all the health professions are in synch b/c they take HESI at the same time....Good luck on HESI!

And krissy3, they have the package posted online on bergen.edu in case you want to start working on getting your paperwork together. It is the same one u will receive in the mail

hey krissy3, honestly - yes u can do, many people in my class are actually doing it ( and they are doing just fine). really, who can really afford not to work right now? Anyway, try to stay calm even when it feels like you are buried with all the work and there is no way you can do it all. Take it lightly and don't stress yourself, and you will be fine! it is a lot of stress - you will be having a test every week ( on top of validation skills, video validations, and all the paperwork for the clinicals). take measures not to burn out ( this is how exactly everyone is feeling right now:crying2:) and take a very good care of yourself! Enjoy it, it is alot of fun too:D

congrats to all the new nursing students at BCC! i am sincerely happy for all of you. After you celebrate the acceptance letter, buckle up and get ready for the ride of your life ( i kid you not) i wish i believed it when i started the program in september...be ready to sacrifice a lot, i mean A LOT !!! it is very exciting and exhausting at the same time... Good luck!

I just talked to them and they still didn't recieve the uniforms themselves. Once they get them, they alter them and sent them out to the students according to the order forms. come to think of it, the clinicals don't start till weeks into the semester, until then we don't need the uniforms. See you on Wednesday:yeah:

did you try going there? you had to come in for a fitting. i still didn't go, however when i called they said that i can pick it up the next day after fitting. give them a call

got it too:)

Congrats eileen17a and ArisMommy!!! I am so happy for you:yeah::yeah: