VA BEACH, VA

right now hospitals that plan to hire new grads only do so twice a year. usually they hire applicants from may and december graduation classes that apply early in the semester (february or september). new grads graduating in the middle of the summer or others who applied late usually have no choice but to wait until the next application cycle and cannot start until may or decmeber at the earliest. some places may be willing to take you sooner if they do not have a rn residency program or you talk to the director and let him/her know that you are not able to financially afford waiting until may or december to start.

btw, i do not know the market in va. however, if it is anything like other markets in the country that are saturated with new grad nurses, you may think about moving to a rural area nearby or out of state in order to gain employment. such areas usually are not places people from bigger cities wish to live or work and so they may still have a need for nurses (experienced or not).

Look into the hospital systems in Norfolk (Sentara, CHKD) and surrounding areas (Hampton Roads). You can always live in VA Beach and commute...

Hi Jennifer,

I hate to tell you, but there are very few to almost no openings for new graduates in Hampton Roads right now (Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Hampton, Newport News, Suffolk)... nearly half of my graduating class from May still do not have positions.

The positions that do open up have 6-9 RNs, both new grads and experienced according to my manager applying per position, plus several of the hospitals and local government agencies are currently in a hiring freeze. As much as you may not want too, I would stay in the small town and work for a year to get experience, and then look into moving.

:heartbeat Good luck!

I agree. no one in my graduating class has jobs yet unless they worked at the hospital while in school. we are all having a horrible time finding emplyment. i live on the border of va beach and chesapeake (in chesapeake though) and i am going to have to commute about 35 mi to the denbeigh area of newport news to find a job. some of my class mates are moving out of state to find employment. i suggest you stay where you are for now....