Suggestion for New Grads looking for work

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Like many of you, I am also a new grad looking for work. Many people were telling me to go to nursing homes. My concern about that was I don't have any experience and I was concerned if I would get any in a nursing home besides passing meds. I also wanted to be available for a hospital position if one came up. I spoke to a friend of mine who has been a nurse for many years. This was her suggestion to me and I hope it helps many of you.

She told me to google a list of nursing homes in the borough that I was interested in. She then told me to go right down the list and call each one and inquire about working per diem for the nursing home. May homes will request that if you work per diem that you be available at least 2 days a month(that's certainly doable). By doing this I would get some experience, have flexibility in my schedule, make some money and still be able to search for a job in a hospital. She told me that even in a nursing home setting I would still learn skills like inserting a foley, starting IV's and the like. Another suggestion she made to me was to look into nursing homes that have sub-acute departments. These departments are going to expose to more of the things you would learn in med-surge. I took her suggestions immediately (today) and it's already working. Two places told me that they did have openings and to fax my resume. Although I want to get into a hospital, this will help with finances and exposure.

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Hi Whimsical,

Please let me know how everything turns out. Did you tell them on the phone that you were a new nurse? So will you get training from the nurse manager/coordinator or other nurses on the unit? I've worked in nursing homes, rehab and subacute facilities (not as a nurse though) and you'll definitely acquire skills other than med administration there. Your learning experiences won't be wasted at any SNF. Hope everything goes well!

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Hi Whimsical,

I am going to make a list and call all of the nursing homes around me tomorrow. Thank your for the suggestion, and good luck to you!

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Hi Pooshu11

I'm not exactly sure who would be training me yet. I will know more by the end of the week. I'll be sure to let you know. The one that I'm really interested in is in Brooklyn. It has a sub-acute medical unit, cardiac rehabilitation unit, hemodialysis unit, palliative care just to name a few. This particular institution has over 500 beds. One of the other ones that I'm looking into in Manhattan has wound care management, IV therapy as well ass sub-acute care. It encompasses all the things that I would be doing on a med surge unit. I will keep you posted.

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Hi Whimsical,

Thanks so much for the helpful suggestion - I would definitely like to hear more about how it works out! I would also be curious to know, if you work in a nursing home for awhile and really get to work on your nursing skills, will you still be considered a 'new' nurse if and when you do decide to go into the hospital setting? I ask this b.c. I actually graduated from my nursing program in 2007, but then took a clinic position after graduation. When I went to look for work in hospitals this year, I was continually told I was still considered a 'new grad' (arggg!) and, as a consequence, only offered med-surg, f/t, nights, etc.

Any insight on this would be immensely useful!

Thanks again!

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Hi Whimsical,

The place in Bklyn sounds like a great place to gain exposure in nursing. I'd be interested to know which site you decide to go to. Keep us informed!

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question Whimsical? are you being hired on a per diem basis or are you applying now for a permanent position? you mentioned on your first post that you are applying for per diem but while reading your second post i get a little bit confused. it sounds like you're now applying for a permanent position? am just curious. thanks!

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on my initial calls i asked for per diem and or part time. since then, i spoke to one of my former clinical instructors who told me that if i work on a sub-acute unit (not the nursing home part) within a facility or a nursing home, then that would be consider med surge. since learning that, i would work full time and not just per diem. for example, if you have a chance go to www.cobblehill.org for the cobble hill health center. you will see that under patient services, they have a sub acute unit, hemodialysis unit, long term home health care, cardiac rehabilitation just to name a few.

within their sub acute unit, they take care of burn patients, surgical patients, hip replacements, cancer treatments, postop surgery, respiratory and trach care just to name a few. of course your resume would have to reflect that you were actually doing med surge nursing by listing the procedure and skills that you are doing, and not just working in a nursing home. (nothing's wrong with working in a nursing home). not all of the nursing homes have these units but there are quite a few.

another one you can take a look at is the kateri residence skilled nursingand rehabilitation center. www.kateriresidenceny.org. if you go on their website, it also has a breakdown of the different types of programs they offer besides their nursing home residence. take a look. it's quite detailed. to err on the side of caution; it was my previous clinical instructor who told me that working in a sub-acute unit would be considered med-surger nursing because of the skills you learn and execute. however, perhaps you would find it helpful to call some of the hospitals that you're interested, tell them what skills you would be performing and find out if they would consider it med surge.

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thank you for giving time to answer my questions. i called up both facilities and they told me that the open position for nursing have already been taken up. There are No Vacancy at the moment for nurse position both for KATERI RESIDENCY and COBBLEHILL. i guess jobs run out very fast at this times. oh well, ill try my luck with other hospitals...maybe ill just go upstate and try. thanks for suggesting! i really appreciate it.

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thank you for giving time to answer my questions. i called up both facilities and they told me that the open position for nursing have already been taken up. There are No Vacancy at the moment for nurse position both for KATERI RESIDENCY and COBBLEHILL. i guess jobs run out very fast at this times. oh well, ill try my luck with other hospitals...maybe ill just go upstate and try. thanks for suggesting! i really appreciate it.

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i think you should try this agency total health care .they have a position for new grads $40 hr and the nursing home is in queens orientation starts the end of the month 5 days orientations for nursing home and they give you night differential.i think you can use that to build up experience till you can find a job

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Hey Winny103,

I tried googling total health care, and I'm having trouble finding their website. Do you happen to have their contact information? or their website? Thank you so much for posting this!

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