marathonman

Depending on where you're moving from you may be in for sticker shock as to how much apartments cost in Manhattan, particularly the UWS. The average 2-bedroom doorman apartment in UWS is $5,500. I would avoid craigslist and go straight for a broker if you want a 1-bedroom or a studio - that is live by yourself. Craigslist ad's for apartments are notorious for being scams or just plain fake. Roommates are a crap shoot - you might end up with a NYC crazy roommate experience or you might get lucky. I live in the UWS in a 2-bedroom non doorman building and used a broker. The broker fee was worth it in my case. Good luck!

For anyone who's still looking for work after an extended search, be it a few month or even a couple of years, I hope my story will give you some hope. I graduated from a BSN program in 2009 - 4 year program finished in 3 years - with honors, great clinical experience and references and a job lined up at NYP-Columbia on a specialized unit. I passed the NCLEX no problem. Unfortunately, life happens and a family situation made it so I had to turn down the offer just days before orientation was to begin and I had to move to California. Fast forward 5 years and I moved back to NYC with a 3 year old son also. During the now 6+ years since I graduated nursing school I worked as a professional securities trader. Money could be good but it lacked stability, health insurance and it was never what I really wanted to do. I never worked as a nurse but decided to give nursing another try. I applied to Mt Sinai MC for a specialized unit, interviewed with 2 co-managers and the head nurse manager and just accepted the formal job offer sent by HR/talent acq this last week. I start New Beginnings (orientation) on Feb 29th. I honestly don't know how special my case is. I feel blessed and very lucky that I got hired on a very competitive unit in a very competitive hospital - especially as a "new grad" +6 years after the fact. Yes, I'm working nights but I would have taken anything and in the end it works better for me as a single parent with a now 5 year old. My situation is about as fall out in hopeless territory as they come. Have hope and good luck.