Ten Tips for New Grad Nurses

These tips will help any new nursing graduate find a great job from the get-go! Even an experienced nurse may benefit from following these points. I thought that I would compile ten things that helped me and share them with all of you!

Ten Tips for New Grad Nurses

Nurses, in spite all of the wonderful employment opportunities available for us, still face trouble when it comes to the hiring process - especially new grads. Below are ten awesome tips to get you started out as a nurse that will definitely improve your chances in landing that perfect job!

1. Volunteering

This is probably not what you want to hear, but this is one of the best ways to get your foot in the door! A lot of places looking for nurses are only looking for nurses who have experience. The best thing to do would be to volunteer in the field you're planning to make a career out of. For example, Getting a bunch of experience with ventilators, tubes, and other medically intensive areas will help you to get a position in a hospital! If you volunteer at a home for people with Alzheimer's and Dementia, you'll get some good credit towards applying for a memory care position. Try calling local places and asking if they accept volunteers - many of them like having people like you do stuff for free!

Just don't expect a top-notch job if the only experience you have is from clinicals and that three month period you spent in the hospital lobby handing out coloring books to children (yes, I did that!).

2. Make your Resume Look Nice

Okay, so you don't have a lot to put on this resume, but that doesn't mean you can't spend some time sprucing up what you do have! Don't include things that aren't related to the medical field. No one's going to consider your burger-flipping expertise a valuable skill for your potential job!

Look for someone to help you format your resume. You could even take a look at some examples to get a feel for how you want your resume to look.

3. Good References

Your grandmother is not a good reference! Your clinical teacher, or anyone you met along the way with a good attitude will fit best. Remember that a professional reference holds more ground than a friend.

4. In-Person is Best

A lot of places will make you apply on the internet- but that doesn't mean you can't show up and meet everyone anyway! I have done this many times and it has definitely helped me

land a couple of good jobs.

5. Be Physically Able

As a nurse, you may have to do some heavy lifting at least every now and then, assuming you don't work in an office all day long. If you're able, try to keep yourself in good

physical health.

6. Staffing Agencies

Staffing agencies are great resources to get started when looking for a job. They only get paid when you get employed, so they're going to be motivated to look for a job just for you.

7. Ask a Nurse

When in doubt, ask someone who has been a nurse for a while for some help. Not only can they give you tips on getting employed, they might even have a couple of leads on jobs. Not

to mention that they can recommend you for the position!

8. Turn in a Lot of Resumes and Applications

This is a great way to get noticed and to increase your potential for getting a job. There is probably someone or some place out there that really needs a nurse right at this very moment! This goes back to the law of averages- the more you do something (turning in applications and resumes), the more likely it is for you as a new nurse to get a job.

9. Improve your Social Skills

Like I mentioned earlier, the way I got most of my nursing jobs was to go in and talk to people. If you're as profoundly socially awkward as I was in my teenage years, you're going to need to change that! There are a lot of groups, probably some near you, that will help you learn how to socialize. A useful site that I utilize for this purpose is meetup.com. Don't worry, it doesn't cost a thing to join a meetup group.

10. Odds and Ends

Make sure you've got CPR training under your belt. A TB test, Hep B vaccine series, or drug screening may be a requirement. The more of this stuff you can get out of the way, the less your employer has to take care of for you.

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JayPeacock

About JayPeacock, LPN

y name is Jason, and I'm a nurse (LPN).

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Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.

Hello and welcome to the site.

Thanks for sharing your tips for getting that first nursing job. I moved your article to the Nursing Career Advice forum where I think it will get more views and responses.

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Loved this post! Great advice anyone can start to put in motion!

Just had a quick thought on #2. Even if the job isn't medical, doesn't mean that it's necessarily a useless job to mention. Other non-medical jobs can teach flexibility, skills-learning, social skills, teamwork and punctuality as well as other valuable traits that may be important to the employer.

That was just what was running through my mind when I reading this so I thought I might share! Again, great post!

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

All good advice, but I don't know a single institution that is going to allow a volunteer anywhere near a ventilator, tubes or other medical intensive interventions. In fact, at my institution there are no volunteers allowed in critical care areas. Volunteering can give exposure to people mostly and doesn't really count toward experience by anyone's measurement. Honestly, I have yet to see a volunteer position turn into a paid position for anyone. Doesn't mean it hasn't happened, but that one seems to be a giant urban myth in reality.

Otherwise great article.

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I've been told agencies don't work with new grads and want 2 years of experience before working with you. Yay or nay?

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Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.

1). Volunteers never, ever allowed to do anything "medical" or "nursing", much less something with "ventilators, tubes and medically intensive areas". In fact, they are usually not allowed even close to high-intensity areas and, in general, benefits of volunteering regarding jobs in acute care are a little less than modest.

IMHO, new grads should be rather careful with volunteering, especially in hospitals. Young and smart person who occupies her time carrying newspapers and trying to make smart all around looks rather strange among those slow-moving old sweeties from local church volunteering squad.

2). Flipping burgers isn't something to put in nursing resume, but " great customer service skills" which comes with it surely is. As well as things like advanced computer skills or knowledge of more than one language or more than one culture.

4). It heavily depends on the local politics. In the place I'd started speaking in person with NM before being called for interview was not considered OK even for those already employed there.

Sending cover letter directly to NM can do the trick sometimes. Better yet to find someone already working there and ask the person to contact the NM first, as they may search for candidate with very special credentials.

6). Staffing agencies more often than not refuse new grads and they're correct in doing so. "Staffers" should be able to come to totally unknown place and get on with job right up while being assigned to the patient every other nurse refused to care for already. Unless a new grad RN has years of practice as, say, LPN, he/she just won't be able to do it. Or, worse, he/she will put her license in danger.

8). Some caution here. If a person applies for acute rehab, step-down heart, NICU, peds floor and SICU in the very same hospital, he/she makes a strong impression of a person who has no idea what he really wants. Words about "just a step in the door" usually sound quite bad on interview and before, as NMs want new grads to stay in the unit for a while; words about "total dedication to (...)" sound just as bad if NM finds out about aforementioned 20+ applications, all of them for different floors.

Shortly, the above action (which is very common among new grads) speaks as lying. Try to avoid it, if at all possible, and don't forget to make nice cover letter and resume for every specialty you are applying.

10). Don't spend your money and time on that. Most of the time employer will want to re-do all relevant medical stuff in their own lab or have your physical in their associated office. Better keep your BLS/ACLS current.

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Specializes in Cardiac/Tele.
...Words about "just a step in the door" usually sound quite bad on interview and before, as NMs want new grads to stay in the unit for a while; words about "total dedication to (...)" sound just as bad if NM finds out about aforementioned 20+ applications, all of them for different floors.

Shortly, the above action (which is very common among new grads) speaks as lying. Try to avoid it, if at all possible, and don't forget to make nice cover letter and resume for every specialty you are applying...

Yes, this. Apply everywhere but apply *wisely*. Tailoring cover letters and being mindful of the excellent example KatieMI describes is really important. "The law of averages" is just another way to say "gambler's fallacy"; the best way to increase your odds is to apply with discretion to many facilities, and pair your application with some of the networking you've hopefully been able to do... Showing good judgment as an applicant will serve you well; poor judgment (applying all over the hospital indiscriminately, applying for jobs for which you're clearly not meeting minimum qualifications, etc) will get you noticed in a bad way. (I'm not a nurse *yet*, but I've got a lot of experience as a hiring manager!)

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Specializes in None yet..

AWESOME article, thank you so much! These tips are excellent for any job.

I would also suggest to students that they approach school with a constant view to getting a job when they get out. Ask instructors for references, get their contact info at the time they say yes, stay in touch with them. On clinicals, ask about job opportunities on graduation.

The social part is a great suggestion. I suck at that, though I'm getting a bit better. (I was raised in that "Keep your light under a cover; your reward will be in heaven" kind of ethic. Wrong! Gotta let it shine.) I also felt that networking was always sleazy and selfish. Wrong! Read Keith Ferazzi's "Never Eat Alone" for advice on how to network without being an oily user. It changed my whole view of social connection, what it is and how to do it.

Good luck to us all!

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Specializes in None yet..
All good advice, but I don't know a single institution that is going to allow a volunteer anywhere near a ventilator, tubes or other medical intensive interventions. In fact, at my institution there are no volunteers allowed in critical care areas. Volunteering can give exposure to people mostly and doesn't really count toward experience by anyone's measurement. Honestly, I have yet to see a volunteer position turn into a paid position for anyone. Doesn't mean it hasn't happened, but that one seems to be a giant urban myth in reality.

Otherwise great article.

True about the intensive medical interventions (liability, liability, liability!) and yet....

I got my CNA to prep for nursing school (which I'll start this fall.) I've been applying like a madwoman for more than four months through the online job notices and got nothing but rejections until I attached a recommendation from the volunteer coordinator at the LTC facility where I work. Suddenly, I lined up four interviews at two of the facilities. I've never volunteered at one of the facilities but they're in the same organization. Plus volunteering let me meet and get to know all kinds of people who work and volunteer at the facility. They provide information that will help interview prep. I agree, handing out coloring books not so good. But helping overworked CNAs to feed residents? Helping staff to run memory care classes? I think these would be valuable. (Don't know for sure, but I'll let you know in a week.)

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Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.

In LTC volunteers are much more acceptable part of the whole picture than they are in acute care setting. They are allowed to do more things, interact more with clients, make bonds and therefore become useful and eventually accepted. In hospitals, they can be not even allowed to go into patients' rooms.

Plus, searching for job as CNA and doing the same as new RN are two quite different animals.

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New Grads I got two words "HOME Health" they are definitely more likely to hire a new Nurse. You can start off with something simple like going to a patients house to do dressing change etc. Also look for a the richest hospital or a new unit that is expanding... new renovations means they need more Nurses and are hiring. Become friends with Human Resources, they are the ones who know where the good jobs are at. Go back to school, lets face it everyone eventually wants us to have our Bachelors. Take an unconventional job like psych, home care, prison, long term care. Experience equals opportunity. If you can prove you are capable of handing patient load, giving medications, charting, assessing patients in those areas a hospital will be more willing to train you in something more acute. Besides.. I know from personal experience jumping straight into an acute care situation and job as a new nurse can be scary and very overwhelming.. if you want to prevent burn out.. start off smart and get your feet wet first find a nice cozy New Grad JOB and work your way from there. Ask for HELP and take initiative. Study like crazy. Problem solve. Help fix gaps in your training. Make lists of flaws such as "time management" and go from there looking at ways to improve yourself with every day. If and when you land the interview... be PROUD... be happy.. no "crying, anxiety, tears, silent moments" treat it with Confidence your future Nurse Manager wants to know you can "connect" with them and you can "handle" the job. They want to see you follow instruct, ask questions, be involved, share about yourself and truly show heart, passion, and commitment. They want to know you are up for the task the Challenge and you can hold down the fort during your shift and get things done and coordinated that you will use good judgement and critical thinking skills and excellent customer service. The dirty little secret about nursing is that is a challenge being able to "juggle" assessing patients, giving medications, charting, asking for new orders, discharging patients, admitting new patients, and caring for them, answering questions, teaching family members, coordinating with multidisciplinary teams, problem solving quickly, beingg a leader, working with your CNAs and treating them respectfully, following code of conduct, rules of ethics, working long hours sometimes holidays and weekends. Its grabbing a nasal cannula when a patients 02 saturation is going down, and starting a code blue with no hesitation not needing instruction being able to anticipate my patient is fall risk so im going to lower bed and put bed alarm up, its seeing a change in patients status an alerting MD to come evaluate hearing a patients symptoms and requesting a lab value or diagnostic test to be ordered. It's holding the hand of a dying patient, handing them an emesis basin, wiping up the accidents, being there the day they find out they limbs are being amputated or the diagnosis is fatal. Its so much more than a job.. you have to be everything to everyone and know who your resources are... be a team player. Help others and still make time to help yourself.. its balancing your life.. being able to shut out the thoughts and still enjoy the day when you are home and then bounce right back to it when you show up at work. Its being positive influence not a over stressed complainer. If you can pass nursing school and then go on to pass the NCLEX finding a nursing job... should be simple..... just remain positive... and keep your heart open that nursing is a journey and you are ready to explore.... dont limit yourself to only the cute jobs... and a job will find its way to you.

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Specializes in None yet..
In LTC volunteers are much more acceptable part of the whole picture than they are in acute care setting. They are allowed to do more things, interact more with clients, make bonds and therefore become useful and eventually accepted. In hospitals, they can be not even allowed to go into patients' rooms.

Plus, searching for job as CNA and doing the same as new RN are two quite different animals.

True and good points, and I really don't know anything at all about applying for work as a nurse. I guess I was just hoping that some of the same principles and practices would apply in at least some nursing jobs. It makes sense that volunteers don't get anywhere near an acute care setting but are there some other nursing jobs where they might have a chance to interact with nurses and managers? I'm still learning about the dizzying variety of jobs that nurses do.

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