JMUnsg10

There are several places you could try if you're really interested in York County, which has pretty good schools. Williamsburg/James City county schools are very good too if you're interested in another area. But in general if you wanted to live in York County you have Riverside Regional Medical Center, they are a trauma 2 hospital in Newport News that stays pretty busy. There's also Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News which is where I work. We stay busy but the hospital is pretty good. It's a part of the Bon Secours Health System. There's also Sentara Careplex in Hampton, which would be closer to York County. OR if you want, you could try Sentara Williamsburg which is the opposite direction, but would be an easy commute from York County. The problem with you living in York county and going all the way to Norfolk is the tunnels are typically trouble to get through in the mornings and in the evenings. In the summer time, it's more or less all the time. All of the hospitals in the area have their pros and cons, but there are more to choose from if you're really wanting to stay in the York County area.

Be ready to sell yourself if they just start off with the "tell me about yourself". Don't just give the basic stuff they can get off the top of the resume, but more about why nursing is for you or qualities that you have that would fit into the ED. Prepare examples for things like a time when you had to handle conflict, how did you do it and how did it turn out. Give an example about a time where you and another coworker disagreed over a decision and how you handled it. For answers like what is your strength, have an example of where that strength came in handy to back up what you want them to see. With a weakness, try your best not to use perfectionism. It's really overused, but do try to find something that can be twisted into a strength. Good luck!

From my nursing program alone, we graduated in December, there were five hired to Georgetown as a new graduate nurse. They did a lot of their hiring in late October and November. The nurses that got the jobs there attended luncheons that Georgetown planned at some of the local nursing schools and did their best to network while there. I've been told by a lot of my friends in the NOVA area that INOVA hospitals have not been taking new graduate nurses. Some of the other DC hospitals took some new graduates but they were already in the system having been an extern or CNA/patient care tech with them. If you do decide to go into nursing school, I really recommend getting an externship somewhere or working as a CNA/Patient Care tech within the hospitals. It gives you a great experience and networking opportunities that will help once you've graduated.

I'm in VA and starting in a new grad fellowship in the ED next month! Super excited about it and really appreciate seeing all the advice everyone has given you.