Share your story: How did you land your first nursing job?

LyndzBenz · Feb 5, 2010

I put in resumes and called facilities to ask if there were any positions available. Most hospitals now show their positions online as well, just type in the name of the hospital and the location to find their website. I got my job around my community. A friend I worked with actually told me that this one facility was hiring and I applied. In thirty min I got a call from a nursing director for a cardiac floor. I went to my job interview one week later. I asked all kinds of questions concerning nursing policies, mandatory overtime, nurse to patient ratio, and lastly pay. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Also know your strengths and weaknesses (and ways you are trying to improve on those weaknesses) before your job interview. Smile, be confident, and realize that you are in a great profession.

ohgoodnessgracious · Feb 5, 2010

First time was as a nurse extern during my junior year of nursing school. Our school had a co-op program where you can obtain a full-time nurse extern position for 6 months to a year and a half and have it count as class credit (you wouldn't be taking any classes at this time). I worked at a post-op kidney/liver/pancreas transplant and urology floor. It was fun, I saw plenty of wounds and gross things that helped me have a stronger stomach -- but overall a very heavy floor to work. About 3/4 of the floor was on C-diff precautions, almost everyone a ridiculous difficult stick, confused and on Lactulose and running bowel movements like they were pooping for 4 people, etc. I had a chance to work all shifts too. Overall it was a very good experience and helped me to transition better as a new grad -- also made clinicals then so much easier after all that patient interaction during co-op. I work at a tele floor now, still in the same hospital. Working at the post-txp/uro floor gave me a nice foot in the door and some good references! :up:

Blackheartednurse · Feb 5, 2010

Sure I can share...I graduated 6 months ago (May 2009) thinking naively that I would get hired right away...I started an extensive job search in June and was kind of shocked by a lousy job market for an unexperienced rn's.However,due to my persistence (basically I kept applying online) I was able to land a few interviews ( two at the same hospital and the third one a nursing home) just to be humiliated by the HR staff who can afford these days to be picky and arrogant and all of the good stuff. I totally,truthfully blew my first interview,I was sitting like a dummy not knowing how to answer the situational questions,after all it was my first nursing interview..Of course I didnt get any offer.For the second interview I went totally prepared and answered all the question the best I could to my ability,I also got a chance to meet with a department manager but there was a lot of candidates seeking this position and ultimately they choose a person who speak spanish (a large urban hospital with a lots of hispanic patients) Next one in line was a nursing home,they didnt like the fact I didnt have any experience with IV therapy so I also didnt land this position...I started to really panic by the beggining of December..here I was not so new grad with zero experience...I decided to apply out of state (online of course) and to my surprise I got a couple of calls back right away,one hospital even offering me a job once I would get their license.Ultimately I went with a large,private teaching hospital in a nearby state. I guess I was lucky..I applied to this hospital online and the unit manager called me and set up an interview with me (no HR people involved) and her charge nurse.She said that she was impressed with my resume,. I got this job through a phone interview and today was my first day of the hospital orientation.Kinda overhwelming though.

di23anne · Feb 5, 2010

blackheartednurse, where do you work? and what in the resumer do you think helped you out? thanks for the info.

mandykal, ADN, RN · Feb 5, 2010

I was a CNA making $15.00/hr when I graduated from nursing school. My first job was LTC, making $15.00/hr. I was so ashamed, I couldn't tell anyone. I sucked it up, because after all, it was a job, and that I just needed to damp my feet before I start looking elsewhere. I stayed for a year by choice giving it my all in dedication, I finally had the guts to leave for a job with a similar role. The best part is that it paid double my rate.

j3marti5 · Feb 5, 2010

For my first nursing job I landed in the hospital I went to a job conference with the company that I was interested with. I'm glad I did it because I got to interview my potential boss and ask questions not only to see if I was a good fit, but also if they would be a good match for me too. I highly recommend doing this; i think it creates a different atmosphere and makes the interview process easier.

good luck

HM2VikingRN, RN · Feb 5, 2010

I interviewed for a position with the state -Turned it down, only male nurse in a 12 RN department and it was a womens prison

Interviewed for 2 positions at the VA-Would have been offered both. Offered/accepted a position in psych

I met the VA nurse recruiter at a job fair-told her she was going to hear from me. This was 2 years ago.

Pick an organization and just keep working the recruiter.

barlowjb · Feb 5, 2010

totally agree with [color=#660000]hm2vikingrn: “pick an organization and just keep working the recruiter”

i completed my degree in august 2009, took a one month break then set my sight on one particular hospital, because of its nurse residency program.

i wrote an email to the coordinator of the nurse residency program and informed her of my interest in the nurse residency program. she emailed me saying that she had forwarded my email to the hr manager. i then emailed the hr manager and reiterated what i had told the coordinator of the nurse residency program.

the hr manager emailed me and told me that i should search for graduate nurse (gn) positions. i applied online for one such position, then emailed the hr manager notifying her that i sent an application in. i got an automated email saying that i was not being considered for the position. i sent a 2nd application in with a simultaneous email to the hr manager. still i got the same response.

after my 3rd attempt the hr manager emailed me and said i was not looking at the right positions. she explained that i needed to seek positions that were no less than 0.6 fte and ones which did not ask for experience . by the end of that week i saw two such positions and applied for them stating which one i preferred the most. two days after i was invited to two interviews, one with hr and one with the nurse manager of the floor where i wanted to work. two main questions i was asked by both interviewers were: name one of your weaknesses that you need to improve upon and why should we hire you. i told them i have to work on time management and they should hire me because i am not a job hopper. i told them that before even attempting to apply for a position at the facility i did my research and even traveled to the facility where i did my own little tour. when asked if i had any questions, the only one i had was: what is the retention rate of nurses on the floor – i was told it was about 84%, so i figured it couldn’t be that bad. i was then told by the nurse mgr that i would be contacted within a week.

two days after my interviews i emailed a thank you letter to both the hr mgr and the nurse mgr and in my letter i included other reasons why i believed i was a good candidate for the position. two weeks passed and i heard nothing. then i attended a banquet put on by a nursing association 15 minutes away from the hospital. i went and happened to see the nurse mgr who interviewed me. we spoke but did not mention the interview. i secretly hoped and prayed that she would offer me the job.

a few days later i received a call from hr offering me the position which i began on october 12 2009.

in case you are thinking it must be easy to get a job where i am, think again: there were students in the graduating class before me (may 2009) who were still jobless at the time i started my job. i knew before hand that the job market was tough and had already made up my mind to work even part time and on any shift and for a low salary in order to get my foot in. i now work .6fte pms. my advice: be as flexible as you can in terms of work hours and join a nursing organization, these strategies may help.

mondkmondk · Feb 5, 2010

Well, I took a CNA class when I was a senior in high school and worked in a LTC facility while going to LPN school. I stayed on there after graduating and worked several years as an LPN before I went back and got my RN. After I got my RN, I went to a different LTC facility.

My advice to new grads? Don't do LTC until you've had at least 1 year of hospital experience. I wish I would've done hospital when I was a new grad...just for the experience.

Blessings, Michelle

86toronado, BSN, RN · Feb 5, 2010

I started applying to jobs in January, 2009, knowing I'd be graduating in May of 2009. I knew where I wanted to work, so asked my school to place me there for externship my last semester. Then once I had been on the unit as an extern for several weeks, I let the manager know I was interested in a position there as an RN. As it turned out there was a night position open and I had worked (as a tech) with the night manager before. She advocated for me over a graduate from the hospital's own nursing program (I attended a private college). I was told in February of 2009 that the job was mine, I just had to go to HR and fill out paperwork of I wanted it. In truth, I was a little let down that I didn't even have an interview, but then I decided to look at my whole externship experience as one long interview.

I've been on the unit for 7 months now, and love it.

Charity, RN, APRN · Feb 5, 2010

As a junior in nursing school, I had clinicals on a pediatric surgery floor. I loved it. The last day of clinicals, I knocked on the nurse manager's door and asked for a job. I was working there as an SNA less than a month later. I did my externship in the peds house, and started as a graduate nurse on my floor two days after graduation.

My second job was similar. I called a nurse recruiter at another hospital, got some appointments with nurse managers, and was offered the job on the spot at my first interview.