States w/ lots of acute care new grad openings?

[ripsky4501]

Hi all,

I'm a licensed new grad in California and it is very hard and competitive to find an acute care hospital job here. I'm hopeful to find one here in the near future, but just in case I don't I want to endorse my license to another state as a backup. The process is quite expensive so I would endorse to at most a few.

Does anyone have any idea of states that have a lot of entry level or new grad acute care hospital job openings? And are not crazy competitive?

Thanks in advance.

[Ddestiny, BSN, RN]

Kansas! We have enough difficulty staffing units that most will hire new grads. My hospital trains new grads in ER and ICU. There just aren't enough active nurses to fill all of the need so there are openings in pretty much all disciplines. At each of my clinical rotations (which spanned over 150 miles across KS) the nursing students were frequently hit up to apply after graduation.

Kansas isn't exciting but you can definitely save some good money here while you get a few years of experience then move on to where ever your heart desires. :)

[ripsky4501]

Thank you for the reply.

Does anyone else have any suggestions? A few more questions to spur some ideas...

In your state, if you were a new grad and got a job, was it particularly difficult? How long did it take? How many applications did you send out compared to how many interviews you got? Were there lots of other interviewees at your interviews, i.e. lots of competition? How about for your fellow new grads?

Just a reflection on your experience getting your first job would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Ddestiny, BSN, RN]

In your state, if you were a new grad and got a job, was it particularly difficult? How long did it take? How many applications did you send out compared to how many interviews you got? Were there lots of other interviewees at your interviews, i.e. lots of competition? How about for your fellow new grads?

Just a reflection on your experience getting your first job would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure if this is helpful from me again but just in case...

I bridged along each step so my first time applying as a New Grad was as an LPN. I applied to a Home Health agency working with technology-dependent kiddos. I was offered the job in the interview, along with a company car. The other job I applied for that took more time to hear back from due to a multi-step interview process was at a Primary Care office. I ended up taking that job. Before I applied I was working as a CMA in a nursing home and they would have welcomed me with open arms as well.

When my husband and I moved 3 years later I had been an RN for 6 months, still working in the same office. I applied to 2 different hospitals, 1 specialty each. I interviewed for both and got one of the positions. I wasn't able to do any kind of "new grad" position because I had already been a nurse, but out here they treat nurses that are new to acute care kind of as new grads, without a special position set aside for them. But there are definitely new grad positions and even a few new grad residencies out here as well, especially when you're in larger places like Kansas City.

Hope you find the answers you're looking for. My husband and I fell in love with San Diego a couple years ago and he really wants to move out there for his PhD. Now with a few years under my belt I feel pretty confident that we could go there and not have to live under a bridge. lol

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

North Dakota always seems to be offering sign-on/relocation bonuses for nurses.

[ripsky4501]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Yeah, come out here! There are many job openings for RNs with at least a year of acute care experience on almost every hospital job board I've looked at.

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

Not a particular state, but sometimes it helps to look outside of big cities to the community hospitals in medium-sized towns.