Underemployed or Unemployed New Grads: What are you doing to make it?

[mandragora12]

Hi All!

I've been reading here for a while and noticed lots of threads about not being able to find a job, how demoralizing it is and what to do? I am curious about what we ARE doing now, how are we paying the bills, getting a reprieve from student loans, keeping our spirits up all while trying to find that ever elusive full-time nursing job.

About me: I graduated in June 2010, licensed shortly after that, worked during flu season giving vaccinations and finally got a job as an on-call school nurse. Appreciate the opportunity, but doesn't come close to paying the bills - shifts are few and far between and no guarantee of a full-time position next school year.

In the meantime, I am working towards my BSN while my relative poverty can result in some good grants and applying for licensure in a neighboring state, looking for part-time work in my previous field and trying to talk doctors who want medical assistants to hire me anyway. If none of these things work, then Target/Kohl's/Walmart/etc here I come!

I try to not obsess over my current situation but its hard. For cheap fun, I color mandalas, watch a few select trashy television shows and call some friends who love me no matter what:heartbeat.

So, what are all of you doing?

[SweetheartRN]

It sounds like you're having a good attitude about it....which is good. I haven't been out of school long yet so I really can't start complaining. Graduated in Dec. 2010 and passed boards the same month. I've been working as a secretary/registrar in a hospital for 6 years. I became an LPN in 2008 and when I was told that an LPN could not work in our urgent care acute care dept. I went to work at a LTC facility to gain experience while continuting to work at the hospital and continue school to finish my RN because I ultimately knew I wanted to work in the hospital setting.

I was told that I would be guaranteed a job as an RN but shortly before finishing school, my boss got fired, our dept changed to a Kids Care facility(still considered an Urgent Care but for kids) and managemnt changed. My role was changed from Registrar to Nursing Asst. New Managment had to re interview us for our positions to see if they wanted to retain us for this new dept. or displace us into other areas of the hospital. I was retained in a PRN position, as this was currently what I had been doing because of school. They knew that I would be obtaining my RN license within two months of deciding to retain me in the Kids Care dept and that I was currently an LPN and had been for two years and had also sought out LPN experience on my own. *My only other option would have been to choose to go to the Business Services umbrella which would lead me further from the clinical aspect of the hospital* so i decided to stay in Kids Care with this new management.

The story gets better.....So during this process we retained some old employees and gained new employees for the new Kids Care dept. One of which was an LPN for whose position they did not publicize for at all. Apparently the position was made for her. I come to find out that her mother works for the hospital as well. She is currently taking online classes to obtain her BSN but is only in the prequisite stage of classes I had taken before I even got my LPN. I could see if she had tons of experience but she hasn't even been an LPN as long as me, got her license a year later than I did.

Its frustrating not to be able to be promoted in a place you have given 6 years to but whats more frustrating is having someone less academically qualified than you to have to report to. She is able to utilize her LPN license and here I am an RN stuck doing vitals only.

Ofcourse i have been applying EVERYWHERE now because I no longer have any respect for the hosptial I work for and would not think twice about leaving if offered an RN position elsewhere.

There is more to this story but its almost too depressing to write it down in black and white. I feel that there have been a lot of dishonest underhanded maneuvering during this whole process but I don't know if there is anything I can do about it. HR hasn't been any help.

[Spotty44]

I've worked as an aide in physical therapy for 8 years, including all through nursing school. The biggest issue is that I went to "on-call" status when I started school. Obviously I wasn't expecting to have to search high and low for 5 months after getting my license (I was licensed 9/2010 and I'm still looking), so I'm still "on-call" trying to scrounge up what hours I can. I've cross trained to work in different areas so I've been getting 30-40 hours per week, but I don't have benefits.

Lucky for me, a full time employee in an admin assistant position just left and they've approached me to see if I'd be willing to take it. They're willing to take me on full time, even though they know I could be leaving at any time. I

I work for a major hospital in Portland, OR, and haven't even been able to get them to hire me as an RN. I've had 50+ applications with them and one interview, which I was passed over for an experienced RN (can't argue with that I guess, the nurse manager at least called me and told me that I interviewed well and encouraged me to keep trying). Outside my employer, I've had 100+ applications and two interviews.

I'm starting an online RN to BSN program next month, so at least my looming student loans will go back into deferral, but I'm barely paying the bills right now!

[Trinitas2010RN]

I just basically working a retail gig for right now. I have applied for "other than nursing" positions in the hospitals around me. But no one has gotten back to me. Also teach some Brazilian Jiu-jitsu on the side.

It's tough but I'm getting by.

[herowneulogy, BSN, RN]

I'm going back to my forte: Clerical/administrative work while volunteering, but only part-time so that I can still search for jobs. Also, I can use the fax machine to send out resumes, ha!

[Big_Mike]

Did you earn a BSN?