lilkttnsRN

7 yrs exp & BSN. I was working at a Charleston SC suburban hospital - got bumped up from $29.63 to $30.25 before moving this summer. Prior to that, I also worked at same hospital system in home health, making $38 per visit. Moved to DFW and hoping pay is better here.

I passed NCLEX in August & applied to many jobs online with no results. With an ADN & no healthcare experience, I really had to stand out from all the others. In September, I finally started calling places & asking to speak directly to the RN manager, then following up with my resume via email. As a very shy & introverted person, it was really hard to do so but I'm glad I did it. I got 2 interviews out of it & was offered a job from one of the companies. My employer never even received my online application; I ended up filling out a paper one at my interview. I will admit, it is not the area I hoped to worked but I am grateful for the opportunity and intend to give it my all and reevaluate my situation in a year. Keep volunteering, stay in touch with classmates, network with everybody. Good luck! Also, I found this article was really interesting. A bit depressing/scary for a new grad but a good reality check. Had I read this before I started nursing school, I may have changed my educational plan or at least had a better idea of what to expect when out of school. Why Nursing School Grads Have Trouble Finding Jobs

I found out I passed via BON when my status had changed from pending to an actual RN number. Most of my friends who took the test on a Friday didn't see this change until late Monday or Tuesday, unless they paid for the quick results. But if you got the good pop-up, you can probably relax a little! Good luck!

My college is affiliated with a hospital & used to offer a similar incentive just a few years ago. As the economy worsened, RN jobs were no longer guaranteed. The new grads could not get jobs at that hospital but were required to pay in full the tuition upon graduation.

My parents paid for my first degree & we are still paying for my husband's BA. My loans for a private ADN program are just under $22K. I got 100% loans & about $5K in scholarships, but we were able to pay for my husband's Masters out of pocket. Prior to quitting my full time job, we built up our savings for living expenses & lived frugally on 1 income. I will start my first job in a few weeks & my employer offers new grads some tuition payback for nursing school, as well as, reimbursement for current schooling. I intend to take advantage of that when I go for my BSN. But no more student loans if I can help it!! By the time we pay off mine & hubby's, it will be time to send our kids to college!

So you haven't applied to OH BON yet? I applied in April & it took about 6 wks for my application to show up on OH BON as "pending." I graduated towards the end of June & my school sent our info within a few days. It took a full month to get my ATT, while many of my classmates received their ATT 1-2 wks prior to mine. So, yes the entire application process is a long wait & when I finally got my ATT, I had to travel almost 2 hrs to a center where I could test right away, otherwise I had to wait 3 wks for an open date at my nearest center.

I took the Hurst Review live, 2x as required by my school! After the second review (right before we graduated), I started to buckle down. The lectures are fast paced, so taking notes as the instructor talk is important, but when the class was over, I went back online to listen to the lectures 1-2 more times. Hurst also has great handouts on lab values, infection control, meds, etc. I took their review tests & did questions from Saunders/Silvestri, NCLEX 4000, Kaplan workbook, & ATI. I also used the Kaplan strategies book to mainly help narrow down answers. I found it was easier to learn from one source, then practice questions from multiple places to get a feel for how NCLEX questions were & to broaden my core knowledge by reading rationales. I passed on the first try, 75 q's. My experience was that, none of the questions I practiced truly mirrored NCLEX questions. So knowing core content was absolutely key.

Since you are looking nationwide, have you looked at University Hospital in Cincinnati? It's a large teaching hospital that is affiliated with U of Cincinnati (which offers a CRNA program). I just graduated w/ an ADN & one of my classmates was hired for the NICU. I interviewed there as well for a neuro/med surg position, and I actually met with all the managers from the entire neuro institute, including the neuro ICU, and they asked me where I'd be interested in working. I agree that your experience would be a benefit to get your foot in the door.

Like most new grads, I have struggled to simply get interviews. 2 wks ago, I finally had 2 interviews on the same day, at a dialysis outpatient clinic and on a busy hospital Neuro floor. I felt both interviews went well but I was told by both places it would take 2 weeks minimum to hear back. The hospital had to wait 2 wks to post all jobs internally first, but the dialysis clinic quickly called me back for a 2nd interview & invitation to job shadow. The dialysis clinic made me an offer today & I'm excited for it. I need to make a decision by tomorrow, but I'm still hoping that the hospital will call. There are pros & cons to both jobs, but I'm leaning towards the neuro job because I wanted that acute care experience. I'm worried that specializing in something straight off the bat may make for a tough transition into acute care later on. At the same time, who knows when I'll get another offer and I've bills to pay. Just curious what you would do?

Yes, some hospital experience is a definite plus! I graduated this summer & have my RN but am struggling to find a job. I chose not to work during my ADN program because I wanted to concentrate on school, & I had a young family to raise as well. I am starting to wish that perhaps I had studied less & tried working as a PCA. A local hospital offered a new grad RN internship, and pretty much anyone who already worked there as a PCA, was accepted, whether or not they met the GPA requirement & they did not have to go through the rigorous interviews that external applicants did. Even outside of the internship, they mostly hired internally - new RNs who were may have been techs/hucs/transporters during school. Despite my good grades and a solid (non-medical) work history, I am working extra hard to stand out from those who do have healthcare experience.