So many new grads post on this forum, "wooo me it's been two months since I've graduated and I still can't find a job".
While I sympathize with the graduates, no one wants to be faced with the fear of long term unemployment after acquiring so much nursing school debt.
But, I would advise all of you: take a good look at your resumes, grammar, objectives, goals, values...etc. What does your email address say about you? Are you using blue colonial font on your resume?
Jobs, regardless of the experience, do not appear within 1 month of searching. Be patient & proactive. As long as you're having fun at the pity party, you won't see the rewards at the triumph party.
I believe nursing school needs to require a business course for new grads. Everyone, including myself, can benefit from courses on how to make him/herself more marketable. Thankfully, youtube has tons of business courses & leaders who are willing to share advice.
In the mean time, look at mock interviews, reheorifice patient scenarios etc.
All great suggestions. My suggestion is follow up. Apply online, talk to the recruiter, speak with the manager....kiss hands and shake babies....*COUGH*......I mean kiss babies and shake hands. Let them know you are interested, and let them know several times if you have to. If you get an interview, thank them and then send a thank you card or email.
Following up worked for me. I did the standard online app and resume for a position that I personally thought I'd be a good fit for. Didn't hear back from them so I followed up and basically told them that they should really take a second look at me. I ended up getting the job. And after my initial interview (I ended up interviewing twice with them) I made it a point to send them a personalized thank you email.
For 6 years now, nursing has been on the downward spiral. New grads and experienced nurses have been facing challenges finding work, and this too is all over the media. You can't blame the schools because they are selling a product. They want your money.
I think some of the opinions expressed in this thread come from an age difference, not a title difference. There's a life-experience difference between a 19yo new grad and a 40yo new grad, right? It's neither good, nor bad. Just different. Seeing nursing school as another profitable business comes with experiencing the real world. It's not an insult to education. It's reality. When you graduate nursing school you enter a long lineage of nurses. Some graduated during economic booms, and were virtually wined-and-dined to employment- with a sign-on bonus to boot! Some weren't so fortunate, and like now, graduated into a down-the-sidewalk waiting line of RN job hopefuls. For the latter group, we have to work DIFFERENTLY (not necessarily HARDER) than the others did to find employment.
What is the argument? Please don't tell me I'm joining a battalion of old-battle-axes vs. young-naive-lazy nurses? Come on, people! The original point on this discussion was to give new grads an AWESOME piece of advice…. check your resume! Think about who you are. Does your resume reflect this same person? Digital application is just the beginning. Do that on Day 1. Then on Day 2, take a shower, put on your kick-butt business suit, and hit the pavement. Go find that NM. Go find the HM. Personally hand them your resume (same one you DIGITALLY put into system yesterday), shake his/her hand, get a feel for who they are by ASKING what they look for in a new grad that benefits that unit the best. Follow up with an email. Briefly describe why you are the best fit because you OFFER x,y,z….. see what I'm saying? HOOF IT!
(full disclosure: I am a 43 yo new grad, who used to be in sales, who LOOOOOVES nursing, who is looking for a new grad position 67 days after graduation and 15 days post passed-NCLEX. I'm having a hard time like everybody else but I recognize that hitting 'send' on my computer is as effective at getting a job as driving my car past a hospital to get a pt assessment would be.)
While it is true that nursing schools and the media continue to hype nursing as a career, it's still each students responsibility to do their own research.
For 6 years now, nursing has been on the downward spiral. New grads and experienced nurses have been facing challenges finding work, and this too is all over the media. You can't blame the schools because they are selling a product. They want your money.
And quite frankly, if a new nurse doesn't want to travel up to an hour in this economy for work, then they don't really want to work, IMO. Many people are travelling much further.
I will be commuting an hour one way to my new job, but I am fortunate to have it as a relatively new nurse with little experience. Some of my increased income (almost double) will go for gas expense but I'll still come out ahead. If I end up staying there we may eventually move.
"Some few manage to step in unicorn poop and fall into a great job right out of school"...still laughing. Do they sell that at Trader Joe's?
LOL I love Trader Joe's! If they sell unicorn poop there it must be good unicorn poop.
Seriously, it comes back to that old saying "It's not what you know but who you know". I think that applies more than ever nowadays. I'm a 60 y.o. new grad BTW if you can believe that. Have worked as an aide for over 4 years and I am ready to start nursing.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I tend to recoil a bit at most "blame the victim" opinion pieces due to their failure to include the individual choice/responsibility angle in the whole mix, but in this case I think that anything that implies new grads would have jobs "if only" they is blaming the victim at least 80% of the time and kicks them when they're down. I don't think the people who really need to hear that message are well-represented among new grad members of AN.
LPNGuy-I'm sure the unicorn poop at TJs is organic and fabulous. You are almost my twin brother. I'm turning 59 next month and just graduated with my BSN after doing the aid thing as well. Being a hospice aid and being around the hospice nurses was what made me realize I could still be a nurse and I didn't have to work in a hospital. Duh!
For all you other new grads: I just got my first job in SoCal after graduating from a South Dakota school. I'm from southern California and came out here to avoid the waiting lists and 7.9GPA requirements of the competitive CA schools. I could do that since I waited so long to go to nursing school--kids grown, etc. I leave on Thursday to get back to CA for job as community clinic nurse. I just graduated in December! So anyway, don't give up hope. It can happen when you least expect it.
I tend to recoil a bit at most "blame the victim" opinion pieces due to their failure to include the individual choice/responsibility angle in the whole mix but in this case I think that anything that implies new grads would have jobs "if only" they is blaming the victim at least 80% of the time and kicks them when they're down. I don't think the people who really need to hear that message are well-represented among new grad members of AN.[/quote']
OMG.....victims? The "experienced nurses" here on AN are trying to warn "pre nurses" about the job market.
For anyone who has come to realize the cold hard truth after graduating nursing school that the jobs are not lined up for them to choose from, we really do feel for them but they are often asking for advice - and it seems they are most often located in CA, NY, FL ect - locales that are already known as being saturated with nurses.
Dare we say they did not do adequate research before entering nursing school?
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
OMG.....victims? The "experienced nurses" here on AN are trying to warn "pre nurses" about the job market.
For anyone who has come to realize the cold hard truth after graduating nursing school that the jobs are not lined up for them to choose from, we really do feel for them but they are often asking for advice - and it seems they are most often located in CA, NY, FL ect - locales that are already known as being saturated with nurses.
Dare we say they did not do adequate research before entering nursing school?
I'm honestly not sure what you are reacting to here. I know experienced nurses try to warn pre-nurses about the job market because I'm one of them.
I participate in threads that give advice to new grads and defend the right to give unconventional advice because you never know what will be the spark that is somebody else's solution.
My point was that sometimes the message implies that if a new grad can't find a job it is their fault. Blaming the victim is a term used to describe a situation where systemic forces stack the deck against even the most resourceful people in a group.
I don't know if there is another occupation whose "leaders" actively try to suppress the struggles of it's newest members and portray a rosy scenario they know doesn't exist anymore, so I would probably say that any research that doesn't get to the truth is by definition inadequate, but "adequate research" in nursing requires a higher than average standard.
I don't know if there is another occupation whose "leaders" actively try to suppress the struggles of it's newest members and portray a rosy scenario they know doesn't exist anymore, so I would probably say that any research that doesn't get to the truth is by definition inadequate, but "adequate research" in nursing requires a higher than average standard.
If that reply missed the mark I'm sorry..
The legal field also does a good job misrepresenting the job market for its newest members.
I graduated in May 2008, just before the economy collapsed. Jobs that were plentiful when I was in school were gone by the time I took the NCLEX, 2 months after graduation. I ended up moving over 200 miles to take a job in LTC. Sometimes I feel like I was part of an enormous case of bait-and-switch. The truth about the nursing job market is finally coming out, but too late for many new nurses.
When all available sources completely contradict what's really happening on the ground, can you really say that a jobless new grad didn't do their research?
As Bill Clinton once said: "it's the economy, stupid"
its not the new grad nurse's fault. I have seen brilliant people with research and aide experience take 12 months to get a new grad nurse residency, but they eventually got it.
its important to do every little thing you can, and to persevere.
I did did a ton of research about nursing in high school when I applied to nursing school and EVERYWHERE said there is a major shortage of BSN nurses. In my freshman year of college, ADN's were getting prestigious nurse residencies and my BSN counterparts were also getting awesome jobs. Around 2012, things took a sink, and by then I was 3/4ths of the way through. People we're getting jobs, but it took 6 months. And for the class of spring 2013, it's going even slower, but about 75% have decent full time work by now. Even the bio majors or history majors can't boast that statistic. Many of my bio friends are hanging out and working part time odd jobs.
So yes, the market is awful, big time. If you go to nursing school, be prepared for 12 months plus of uncertainty after graduation for when you find that first job, But nursing is still a much better bet than anything else.
I will be commuting an hour one way to my new job, but I am fortunate to have it as a relatively new nurse with little experience. Some of my increased income (almost double) will go for gas expense but I'll still come out ahead. If I end up staying there we may eventually move.
LPN Guy
44 Posts
Following up worked for me. I did the standard online app and resume for a position that I personally thought I'd be a good fit for. Didn't hear back from them so I followed up and basically told them that they should really take a second look at me. I ended up getting the job. And after my initial interview (I ended up interviewing twice with them) I made it a point to send them a personalized thank you email.