Tips needed for getting that first job out of state

expatnurse · Jul 5, 2005

My profile says it all I guess. I'm leaving Florida after graduation to live and work in Pennsylvania. It's less than 6 months away now and I'm in my final semester when school starts up again in the fall. I've done some research and have a friendly nurse contact up there who has been a tremendous help with local info.
I'm beginning to send out online applications. Actually, I've only sent out one:rolleyes: Can anyone who's been this road give me some tips? I'm concerned that I might get less consideration than the NS that's graduating locally. Should that be a problem? Tell me what worked for you.

If you have a friend who has been useful see if you can go spend some time with them pick places on your most wanted list and visit them informal. Then send a thank you card for them having you. Then send your application. The places will be sure to remember you. And it really shows you are very intereted. Hope this helps :balloons:

perfectbluebuildings, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2005

I graduated out of state- the only thing for me was that it took a little longer for me to be eligible to take the boards, since I hadn't graduated in that state, which was a little annoying since I had to miss a few hours of orientation to take them. I am the only one, I think, of the whole 40 who didn't graduate in the state, but I don't think that's because they give preference to in-state people, I just don't think many out-of-state people applied to work there. It can be a little hard when the other folks have worked there as PCAs or been students there before and seem to know more than you about some things in the hospital, but it levels out eventually. That is just speaking from my own limited experience. GOOD LUCK!!!

wonderbee, BSN, RN · Jul 29, 2005

Thanks for the advice and good wishes. I have interviews scheduled at the beginning of August. I was going to PA anyway so scheduling interviews seemed to be the best thing. Once I told them I was going to be in town, the rest was easy.

straba · Aug 2, 2005

I went to school in Oregon, and applied for and landed a job in Boston, MA. (my home). When I started to look for jobs, I narrowed my search to hospitals with good websites. I was interested in working for a large hospital, so this worked out quite well. There were other hospitals that I was interested in knowing about, but I couldn't find out enough info on them online, so I decided to wait to check them out after I got into Boston. I found 4 or 5 hospitals that had great websites, including general info about the hospital as well as info about the nursing dept., the individual units, and current job postings. I applied for all the jobs that sounded interesting to me right online, and got email and telephone replies from the nurse recruiters within a couple of days. I set up interviews while still in Oregon. The day after I arrived in Boston, I had my first interview (and job offer later that afternoon). This is what worked for me, hope this helped. Best of luck!!