CompassionateLPN

Great News! I wish you all the best in getting the position, acquiring your CDE hours, and beginning your new career!!! :redpinkhe

You might want to contact or attend a meeting of your local Diabetes Assoc. to see if they need volunteers or help with attendees. Many of the local chapters are eager to accept help and while you are there you can make some important connections with local MD's or other RN's, CDE's. Good luck!

I am in a very similar situation myself right now. I labored many hours on whether or not to include my last brief, only 2 months, first job experience on my resume. I concluded that it would be best to because of the reasons mentioned by MERIWHEN. I too have begun to think that my ex-employer or the fact that I only held the position for 2 months is holding me back from hearing from new employers. When filling out the applications I state that I do not want my previous employer to be contacted and simply write that the reason for leaving was that the position was not a good fit or that the managerial style was not a good fit. I've been at a loss as to what to do. I can't find F/T employment right now. What I did do is take a P/T position with a pediatric homecare agency and have just begun working for them. I figured that if I can work there for a few months while looking for a F/T nursing home / hospice position I could then put them down as May 2011 - Present and then maybe even exclude the previous 2 month expereince. I've thought about having a friend call them for emp. verification and see what else might be said about me but have not found someone with nerve enough to do it for me. My ex-emps were very nasty, revengeful, petty nurse (nags) who didn't like the fact that I stood up to their tyrant managerial ways. To me scolding, yelling, belittling, intimidation, punishing, and micro-managing IS NOT the way to get the best productivity from your employees. It was a noghtmare and I couldn't get out of their fast enough. My best advice to you is to take ANYTHING that might come your way and hold the position for as long as you can while searching for your dream job, or at least one that is close to it. This way you have current employment to show on your resume, you won't have to explain much or at all what happened at the other job (maybe just simply state that a more suited position came your way as your reason for leaving), and you could become a more favorable applicant for the position that you truly want. I wish you lots of luck in your search. It's truly a difficult time right now finding F/T employment in most regions of the U.S.

Making my patients not only smile but ... LAUGH!!! It's music to my ears. (even in their pain, sorrow, or confusion)

I agree with above. Just make the call and politely decline the offer. Going to the interview to only decline the position will not accomplish anything but make you feel better. The employer (recruiter) will not like that his/her time was wasted.

With less F/T LPN positions available in my neck of the woods, and with my need for health insurance, I'm still considering taking a F/T CNA/PCA position IF I can (still have to look into this locally) and hope that I can move up rank once I'm in the facility. For now I took a P/T agency home care gig but know that the uncertianty of work is NOT gonna be for me. I truly want the security of a facility.

Hazel ~ Thanks for your input and thoughts. I totally agree that it's who you know more than what you know. Not many ~ I'll be looking into community health centers for some welcome experience IF possible. Thanks! Win007 ~ My biggest concern is to whether or not to put the 2 month experience on my resume or not. I don't want to make it seem like I have been doing nothing since graduation BUT at the same time I know the org. where I had mgmt. difficulties will not be favorable as a contact. Even IF you say don't contact some places still do, especially since you don't work there anymore. UPDATE I did just take a P/T position with a local pediatric home care agency. Something is better than nothing right now. I had my first nurse shadowing yesterday and will be working with the pt at night. He has a rare form of epilepsy and has several seizures during his sleep. Needs to have his VNS stimulated during that time. I'm still looking for a F/T nursing home or hospice job that would be perfect for my skills and learning desires. Wish me luck!

To the best of my knowledge NO! they are not allowed to make such a request. That is confidential info privy to the org that you are currently working for. They can call your current employer, with your permission, for a verbal eval or send them a standard eval form for them to fill out. Maybe it's possible for you to ask their HR to call the other HR and deal with them directly. This way you won't have to get involved and be the one to let them know it's not legally correct to do so.

Just to let you know that YOU ARE NOT ALONE! :redpinkhe I live in Northeast PA and am experiencing the same, if not even more difficult, situation. Not only that but there seems to be less and less LPN jobs around then ever. I'm a new grad who made a career change later in life and have no medical field background at all. I haven't even had the handful of interviews you've had with the 50+ resumes and applications I've sent out. YEAH! RIGHT!! SURE!!! Nursing Shortage! WHERE!?!?! I also understand your being a single mom (like me) and only having the day and night shifts available (and night shift is very reluctantly because of the kid being left alone factor). But we have to do what we have to do to survive, right?! Being that you have experience and a license under your belt now I would accept the crazy hours of Home Care positions and keep applying, over and over again, to the nursing homes until one recruiter or HR director finally realizes that you should be given a chance. Sometimes several people are reviewing applications and what one person thinks doesn't 'fit' another just might think you'd be 'perfect'. So don't give up there. I even started another thread about the possibility of taking a CNA/PSA/PCA/MA postion just to get my foot in the door of a good place and then moving up when a position opens up. you just might want to give that a try since you already have years of work in that already. These are very difficult employment times for sure and YES! even for nurses (RN's seem to have a little less trouble), so don't be fooled by the media hype. I wish you all the best of luck in your search! :redpinkhe

JG thanks for the suggestion but I've tried that and all I get is to apply online or on paper and submit. The receptionists or office assistants don't even let you get anywhere near HR. Believe me I've tried very hard to even shake a hand and say "HI!" Then if I call all they state is, "We'll call you if we're interested. No need to keep calling." I don't know what state you are from but maybe they are a little more lax about their protocols. I will try to do some emailing tho'. Maybe I can happen upon a position that hasn't been advertised for. Thanks for that suggestion. Hazel I'd like to do some volunteering for adults or geriatrics but don't know where to look. What volunteer resources are out there? And how do you find ones that have a nursing 'edge' to them?! Thanks for everyones replies and help. I'm beginning to find some new routes to take.

Thanks again Lil-Lea! I love Hospice nursing myself and hope to continue on that path one day also. My first position, although very short (a long story), was with a home care hospice org. that was run very poorly. I loved working with the pt's and the families at this most crucial time in both their lives. I found it to be so fulfilling and 'a calling'! I was even told by colleuges that I had a special 'knack' for it. I think that I'm gonna persue such a position in many of the nursing homes around here and see if that opens up employment for me. Then, like you say, hopefully I can ease right into a LPN position that opens up. With them knowing me and my working abilities I should be a shoe in. Finding out this new possibility, tho' less in pay and rank, is such a relief that a job might be forthcoming sooner than later if I persued only LPN jobs. Best of luck to you in your nursing world and endeavors. :redpinkhe

Thanks for the info Nurse Lil-lea So if I understand you correctly, even tho' I have my LPN license I can still work in the lower level jobs? Do you think I would have to take a CNA test or because I have the LPN that supercedes it? I really would love to find myself in a better position than I'm in right now, but it seems that EXPERIENCE is the KEY these days.

Because I have NO previous healthcare experience when I switched careers 2 years ago and went back to school, I am having a difficult time finding a job as an LPN right now. It seems that everyone wants at least 1-2 years experience. It also appears that in my neck of the woods LPN's are not being hired at hospitals anymore, because the new trend seems to be RN's and CNA's / PSA's on the hospital floors. The jobs around here are starting to dwindle in the LPN field or become only HomeCare or P/T. I was wondering if I could apply for a CNA/PSA position and hopefully find employment. This way I could get myself some hands-on experience and a healthcare background under my belt. I know that this might seem a little backwards but at this point in time, since it's been 8 months since I passed my NCLEX and have been looking for a job, it seems like a possible viable option to get some needed INCOME and experience. I know the pay would be significantly less but at this point something is better than nothing! Anyone else ever have to do this?!? I NEED A JOB!

i live in pa and haven't heard of this agency. i know of psa, maxim, brightstar, extended care, loving care, and many others though. i did google the name and came up with [color=#0e774a]www.dedicatednurses.com/ ~ and ~ www.dedicatednurses.com/about_us.asp ~ and ~ www.dedicatednurses.com/contact_us.asp[color=#767676] [color=#767676] [color=#767676]i hope this helps you with you search.

Thanks for the advice Mgammy, it's appreciated! I'm 49 years young and have more stamina and get-go than many of the younger nurses I've seen or worked with. I have lost a little of the stregnth I uses to have since I was younger tho'. This doesn't effect my work so far however. As for finding nursing volunteer work with older clients isn't as easy as finding places to volunteer for kids. At least that's been my experience. I am looking tho'. If anyone knows of or can suggest places let me know. As I've stated I'm trying not to get discouraged by the lack of replies to my resumes and applications but hearing that others from my graduating class finding jobs and me still having a tough time of it is disheartening. And NO! it seems that my old classmates don't want to help me either. They were a very competitive bunch and clickish so no one has extended any offers. I am still plugging away tho' and sent out 2 more resumes today. I live in Northeast PA and here it seems that the LPN jobs are very few or only p/t (which of course I'd take just to get my foot in the door!) I wish more people would read this thread and offer suggestions as to how they got their first LPN job. I'm really getting desparate here!!!