Realistic timeline from NP graduation to employment?

[DNPgrad2022, ASN, BSN, DNP]

Realistic timeline from NP graduation to employment?

I wanted to share my experience with the current process of graduating from NP school. I recently finished a BSN-DNP program in the Summer 2022 semester. The four-year, part-time track for my program was structured so that the didactic courses and clinical hours were completed by year three and the last three semesters were dedicated to Capstone-specific courses. This structure allowed me to apply for and take the AANP board exam a bit sooner, as my core courses and residency hours were finished and graded before my actual graduation date.

I applied for the AANP board exam in late May. I received permission to schedule my exam on 7/1/22. July was an insanely busy month for my DNP-FNP cohort, as anyone who has ever completed a major Capstone project and presentation will tell you. While other students were focusing solely on Capstone activities, the overachiever (and often irrational) side of me decided that I could complete my program and pass my board exam in the same week. I ignorantly thought that passing the board exam early would expedite the process of getting certified, licensed, and employed as a nurse practitioner after graduating. With little sleep or sanity, I passed my board exam on the first try on 7/11/22.

Fast forward to today, 9/10/22. I STILL do not have my certification from AANP. Why? Well, allow me to explain the painfully slow process of how this works.

Even though my DNP cohort finished in mid-July, my school does not award degrees until the end of the semester. My “official” graduation date, AKA the “degree conferred” date, was 8/6/22. Does that mean that my school automatically awarded my degree and transcripts on 8/6/22? No.

It takes 4-6 weeks AFTER the graduation date to receive an official transcript that can be electronically sent. After 3 weeks of impatiently waiting, I was able to get the registrar to release my official transcripts so that they could be electronically sent to AANP. Another week later, I received confirmation that AANP finally received my official transcript, however, it would take another 15-20 business days for the official transcript to be processed. That takes me to 9/20/22 IF my transcript is processed by the 20th business day. Talk about frustrating!

What happens after the AANP certifies you? Is that the end? Nope.

Once you have your certification from AANP or ANCC, you can apply for your license. Depending on the state, this could take anywhere from 2-8 weeks. I hope patience is one of your virtues, otherwise, you may need some meditation and yoga to get through this!

Let’s assume that you finally have your license and that everything I have described thus far is complete. Are you finished and ready to receive your first paycheck as a new nurse practitioner? Nope.

There is still the process of CREDENTIALING. All healthcare organizations have a credentialing and/or “onboarding” process. How long does that take? Anywhere from 1 to 3 MONTHS. I wish I were kidding. You may be able to get paid before you are credentialed with your new employer, but you may also be forced to wait until you are fully credentialed to start earning an actual paycheck.

Some of you may not think that 3 to 4 months is a long time to transition from an RN position to an NP position after graduating. I have heard stories from some of my NP friends that it took 6 months to almost 2 years to find an NP job. Personally, I have had the opposite experience. I have received a job offer from 11 out of 12 employers that I have interviewed with and lost out on three of the opportunities because they needed someone available to start immediately. At this time, I cannot say with certainty when I would be available to start anywhere. These estimated time frames that I have been given are just that- estimated. If the pandemic has taught us anything, all things labeled “estimated” are subject to change and be delayed.

I will be posting an update when I have one. If you have had a different experience or if you have any advice on how to speed up this process, please share your thoughts in the comments!

[barcode120x, RN, NP]

I have experienced the overall, long wait times but it can vary from state to state. Although it was mainly my fault for waiting to submit my school paperwork and whatnot after I finished/graduated end of this past March, it took the BRN roughly about 2 months to officially identify me as licensed and graduated from an accredited program. Here in California, you do not need to have taken the boards in order to become "licensed" by the BRN. One just needs to graduate from an accredited school/program. While in the waiting process from the BRN, I submitted my official transcript to the AANPCB which took about a month for them to officialize my status and pick a test date. I took my test on August 17 and passed (you find out immediately after taking the test), it took about 2 weeks for them to send me the official, signed certification.

If we're looking at dates, I believe I sent my paperwork to the BRN around the last week of May and if we go based off the date when I passed on August 17, we're looking at about 3.5 months of overall "waiting." 

I'm currently in the job process right now, but fortunately I had a few positions waiting for me from a previous doc I was precepting with. Thank you for the information about credentialing when with a new employer. I did not know anything about that. I do have to say, I am in no rush to start my NP job. I'm enjoying my time off since I quit bedside right after my test.

[doctorc]

• Interesting - I was not aware that you could take the credentialing exam before your degree was conferred.   We were able to start the process before we graduated (education verification), but ANCC would not finalize it until they received our formal transcripts.   I cannot imagine taking the boards while also finalizing the DNP Scholarly project paper, presentation, and dissemination plan.  That would have been very overwhelming.   Hopefully, by now, you are up and running. I heard the credentialing process, especially at the beginning is a beast.