Relocation to Houston Advice

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Please advice,

I am a male neuroscience/telemetry RN, BSN on NC and trying to relocate to Houston. I aslso have about five years experience in long term care since I was LPN before. I have apllied about eight positions in the city and just yesterday received a call from a recruiter at St. Luke Hospital about one of the 7p - 7a positions, I applied for an interview. I want to advance my career to ICU but I have seen that the system is currently chocked so I just want to set foot in the Houston and walk my self through career advancement in the near future.

My question is that what is St Luke compare to other Hospitals in the city interms of nursing relation, benefits, career advancement. Lastly, this position is in the Houston branch, and I am planning to rent at Northwest, near the Loop. Please, advice.

Thanks Ish

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I'm in the same situation. I moved to Houston and now I cant find a job. Nursing homes usually dont use RNs and since I dont have experience in the hosptal, I'm not getting any responses. It would've been so much easier to find a job if I had hospital experience, but since I dont I dont think i'm ever going to find a job.

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Sorry for what you are going through. Any way, I have two years experience in acute care nueroscience med/surg,tele; and five years as an LPN. Thanks

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Take whatever job you can get if you want to move here. I don't know anything about St. Lukes, I only know that jobs here right now are VERY hard to come by especially if you don't know anyone or you are a new grad.

If you get a job in your specialty as new Houstonian, consider yourself lucky.

For anyone else interested, there are frequent job fairs here that have some great opportunities. These fairs only allow health care professionals that have experience, this is how I got my current job. They also allow you to meet face to face with the people that make the hiring decisions. Also, there are usually tons of companies to talk to. Here is the email to the company that accepts resumes.

[email protected]

Once your resume is in their system, they notify you via email about upcoming events. Good luck, y'all. I understand the difficulties of finding a job in this weird economy.

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"My question is that what is St Luke compare to other Hospitals in the city interms of nursing relation, benefits, career advancement. Lastly, this position is in the Houston branch, and I am planning to rent at Northwest, near the Loop. Please, advice."

Have you ever been to Houston?

I have travelled all over the US (was a flight attendant moons ago,) and actually, NC is my FAVORITE state. Prepare yourself, as Houston is not the most aesthetically appealing city. There are sooo many great things about Houston, I have lived here my whole life, so it's part of me but I also recognize that it has it's flaws.

Anyway, when you say "Northwest," in Houston that could mean a very broad area. This city is HUGE. I don't know the stats, but my point is, I could drive for an hour from my house in a certain direction and STILL be in Houston. So if you give me more specifics, I can give you some better info about different areas, drive time and traffic.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

I am assuming that the "Houston branch" means the original St. Lukes in the Texas Med Center. Here is a great site for info about TMC http://www.texasmedicalcenter.org/. There are a number of unique considerations for any MC job - such as remote parking which can add a lot of time to the daily commute.

I agree with lilypad - Houston traffic is pretty unpredictable. What appears to be an acceptable distance can actually turn out to be a horrendous commute! Although, since the OP is going to be working nights, the traffic shouldn't be that bad. A favorite area for Med Ctr workers is along the 288 corridor. There are a variety of housing options, including some very nice new apartment complexes... the commute is a 'straight shot' directly in to the MC.

St. Lukes has a great reputation and continues to be a wonderful teaching environment - although better known for CV. Memorial Hermann & Methodist have better neuro & neuro-trauma units. TIRR (where Giffords is currently being treated) is part of Memorial Hermann.

Since you appear to be a new grad RN, I would also advise you to apply in suburban facilities if the St. Lukes job does not pan out for you.

Welcome to Houston!!!

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Thank you all for the pieces of advice and comment. As a two years neuroscience RN, do I still be considered a new nurse? Thanks

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no, you are an old nurse now :)

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NW near the loop? I hope you're either inside 610 or outside the toll road. The area between 610 and the toll road is pretty sketchy. That's a decent, general rule of thumb for finding housing in Houston, actually.

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I would recommend finding a short-term lease situation until you have secured a job and determined it will be a good fit for you. Since Houston is so large, it would be disappointing to make living arrangements in the NW, only to have to commute WAY across town every day.

So maybe try a 3 month lease somewhere, before buying a house or committing to a 1 year lease?

When I moved here, I was promised a job, so I went ahead and found an apartment and signed a lease. Then the job fell through, so being stuck with my housing caused me to limit my job search to places nearby. Learn from my mistake!

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