Tips on the job hunt...What I've learned

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Hey all -

I wanted to share what I've learned about the job hunt experience over the past six months. Nursing is a career change for me.

1/ IT DOES NOT MATTER WHERE YOU WENT TO SCHOOL OR WHAT YOUR GPA IS/WAS. Once again - It DOES NOT MATTER where you went to school or what your GPA was. Once you understand this, you'll be better off.

2/ Get a BSN and not ADN. I have a BSN...along with 2 degrees in other fields.

3/ If you want to stay in the area where you went to school, go back to the hospitals where you did your rotations.

4/ If you are in a city where nursing jobs are hard to find (Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, NY, Boston, Philadelphia)...strongly consider applying elsewhere. Guess what - you can ALWAYS move back.

5/ Yes, lots of us have loans. SUCK IT UP. Don't think, "I can't move to X state because I can't afford it due to loans." Well, if X state is the place you can get a job on the floor you want, you should go.

6/ From HR managers I've spoken to:

a/ You WILL get weeded out in some hospital systems if your license is NOT from the state where the hospital is located. (How do you fix this? Get licenses in multiple states, that's what I have done.)

b/ You WILL get weeded out in some hospital systems if your home address is NOT in the state and/or vicinity of the hospital.

7/ From my own experience:

a/ Be open to different states.

b/ Get discouraged, but pick yourself up. Don't wallow in it!

c/ I think, but have no proof of this, that some hospital systems will toss out your app if your previous salary was too high. Some, not all, hospitals I've applied to have previous salary as a mandatory field. I'm not going to lie. Nursing is about integrity. If you lie there...what else will you lie about?

8/ Most jobs will go to students who did rotations at that hospital.

9/ There are lots of new grads out there looking for work. Keep your chin up. Something good will happen.

You came to nursing for the right reasons, hopefully...but if you came because it's a "high demand field that pays well"...well, then I personally think you came to it for the wrong reasons. So maybe that's having an impact on your job hunt.

I've hired people in my previous careers and true passion comes out in cover letters and interviews.

Best of luck to you all.

(Feel free to contact me if you have questions about anything I've said or about anything else.)

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I agree about being willing to relocate. I graduated from a BSN program in New Jersey but couldn't find a new grad job there. I am working in the Florida panhandle for much lower pay than I would have gotten up north, which seems like a kick in the teeth. Overall I am thankful to be employed.

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I would agree that you may have to be open to moving. I am now several hundred miles from where I went to college.

I would argue that in areas with many nursing schools - where each school sends students to each hospital it will not matter where you have most of your clinicals as chances are, 90% of the other new grad applicants in that area had similar clinical placements. Exception to this was preceptorship/practicum. That is the only rotation where a unit can kind of learn about you. I had more luck getting interviews for nursing jobs from the hospital I did my practicum/preceptorship with.

I would advise you to try to apply even if you are not licensed in the state you'd be working in and/or the position would require relocation. The worst they can say is no. Licensure is easy to sort out and get transferred/endorsed (okay sometimes there's some work but it's not rocket science or brain surgery). Moving may be a bit of an obstacle, but it's not something that can't be straightened out. Maybe mention in your cover letter that you're open to relocation.

I interviewed for my dream job and didn't get it. But if I'd gotten it - I wouldn't be where I am now (and most days I love it). Food for thought. :)

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If you are open to relocation you also need to reassure a potential employer that you are not looking to them to fund the relocation.

I am also a career changer. I have 2 other degrees, but feel it gives me more real world experience.

I am relocating from a union state to a non union state which comes with a huge pay cut. But I am ready for a change.

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Specializes in Med-Surg and Neuro.

I applied to six different states coast-to-coast where I heard there may be a need (not Cali or NYC or some other hopeless place) and ended up staying in my own state. Everyone says how saturated the market is here in FL, and it is, but my first and only application to a FL hospital led to a job. The recruiter said one of the best things about my resume was that I already lived in the town. That's worrisome. I would hope the awesome experiences I had with challenging patient populations would be what would attract a recruiter's eye, but no, it was my address. My hospital gets bombarded with applications from all over the nation, because hordes of people want to live in the FL sunshine.

The moral of my story is: put a local address on your resume! Otherwise, your resume is trash.

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i wish it was like that in NYC! As you can imagine, people from all over the US apply to NYC hospitals...especially big names like NewYork Presbyterian. And believe it or not, plenty of out of state new grads get hired while instate RNs are not. By out of state i do not mean NJ or CT...i mean farther out PA, OH, VA, FL, etc. Makes no sense, NY RNs have no jobs but they invest in hiring new grads form out of state...how about new grads from instate or experienced RNs from instate? Frustrating!

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Not everyone can relocate. Some of us have spouses who cannot be uprooted due to their jobs. However most large cities are within a fairly reasonable commute to small town hospitals. it's not anyone's first choice to drive an hour to work, but if you cannot relocate that is another option.

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I ironically relocated TO one of the worst job markets in the country for my first job--it was the first place to take me.

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Specializes in Psychiatry, Oncology.

Emoraver:

Thank you for sharing! Second career BSN here about to graduate. Question for you on #7C - what makes you think that? And what do you think their thinking is behind that? That you will expect too much? A little nervous there as I am going to be taking a paycut to go into nursing (previous field - business).

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What I have learned:

> If you don't need a job ASAP don't rush

I applied to EVERYTHING and right away got hired somewhere that had insane work hours in addition to other issues. I had to quit because my well-being went down the drain due to the chaos.

if you need a job ASAP (eg a family to support) then things are different: take the first job you can get and then apply to other jobs while working.

But if you have financial help from your family and can afford to wait 6-12 months, then wait for a good job.

I had no reason to be desperate and so panicky when job hunting. I let myself become SO discouraged by what I read online about the job market that I ended up making things worse for myself by taking a crazy job and quitting. Quitting a job looks worse on your resume than being a new nurse with no experience. Waiting 6-12 months for a job and volunteering somewhere whilst job hunting is more sensible than taking something chaotic right away and ruining your health.

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Yeah, I think some hospitals may weed out based on salary. It was only a few hospitals I applied to that had the salary field marked "mandatory." Most hospitals have it as optional.

I think they would weed out thinking you would expect more. I just accepted a job and the salary is 50% less than what I made in my previous career...and I'm totally fine with that. Once you get an interview, it doesn't matter what your previous job was. The hard part could be getting those interviews...but when you do, and you will, everything will be OK.

You bring a whole different perspective to nursing than one who is straight from undergrad.

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Great information!!!

I am in California scraping at the bottom of the barrel trying to get my RN degree. I just been accepted into a LVN program and willing to relocate for a LVN-BSN program that has a low tuition cost. Also which states are "new grad LVN" friendly?

which states offer a great program with little pre-reqs? I don't have all of them complete....I did hear florida, Wisconsin, Kansas are good places to move. I was hoping to find ADN school where I can move to instead of paying $3700 for the lvn program. help will be appreciated :)

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