Was your first job out of school your dream job?

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Hi guys,

I still have a couple years till I graduate from my BSN program, and I'm just curious to know what units everybody started off in once they graduated, and if it was the job they've always dreamed of.

I have previous health care experience, I currently work as a Nursing Assistant at my dream hospital- it's just not my dream unit. I hope that if all goes well, in about a year I'll be able to work as a Nurse Tech in the ICU, and eventually get my first RN job in the ICU.

I've been told that since I'm already employed at the hospital i want to continue my career at, and that I have some nursing experience and am going for my BSN, it won't be as hard for me to find a job I want, what was everybody else's experience like?

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Defiantly not

I worked as a tech in an ED and did my practicum in the ED hoping to land a job there.....it didn't work out management changed.

I started doing flu shot clinics and home health until I got hired in a SNF/LTAC

Then another SNF

Then a pediatric LTC

Then pediatric acute care

Now at my dream job in pediatric emergency

What I thought was my dream job....the ER I started in as a tech really wasn't

They were a small community hospital

Where I am now is a level 1 trauma center and I get to specialize in pediatrics

The "dream job" may change because while you might be in the speciality you like the unit might not be a good fit

Or what you like may change as you get exposed to more in school

Unless you get it in writing that you have a job waiting for you once you graduate nothing is guaranteed

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No. Where did this idea that newer students have, that you should be able to walk into your "dream job" fresh out of school, come from? What happened to starting out being happy to get a job and working your way up to your "dream job" over time? (I know, I know, I'm a ridiculous old fogey now. I used to walk 18 miles to school each day, uphill both ways ...) Lots of people come out of school not knowing what their "dream job" would be. A lot of new graduates who think they know what they really want find out over time that they're more interested in something else entirely.

I graduated from school most interested in psych nursing, but also knew that, in the city I was in, employers did not hire new grads into specialties; you needed two years of med-surg experience to be considered a desirable applicant (yes, you read right, two years. The notion that a single year of experience means anything at all is also a fairly recent concept). I took a med-surg job (and, after being hired, the hospital moved me to a different unit than the one I had wanted and been told I would be on, because they hired an experienced RN, right after they hired me, who wanted the same unit, and they gave her the slot and told me I'd be on a different unit) and started looking at what my options were for getting a psych nursing job somewhere else. I ended up relocating three hours away to take a psych nursing job which, again, was not my "dream job" but it was a start in psychiatric nursing and ended up being a really good experience.

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Specializes in NICU.
No. Where did this idea that newer students have, that you should be able to walk into your "dream job" fresh out of school, come from? (I know, I know, I'm a ridiculous old fogey now. I used to walk 18 miles to school each day, uphill both ways.

I'm a ridiculous old fogey that decided to go back for my nursing degree. I didn't have time to waste so I went for my dream job and got it right out of school.

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Specializes in OR Nursing, Critical Care, Med-surg.

Now a days, I don't believe it's as difficult to get into your desired job, because there are so many internships which is great! However, it may be pretty competitive as lots of new nurses want to specialize.

Me? I did not have any previous hospital experience before my initial job and I relocated to another state.

I graduated in May, moved in June, took NCLEX in July - passed. I thought it was going to be easy to get a job, as far as just applying online but it was not.

So, I begin to go to job fairs. The first one I went to, I got no call backs. I gave my resume to pretty much all of the managers; it was a lot of managers there! Very discouraging when I got no calls.

The 2nd job fair, me and other potential employees did a panel interview on the spot. One of managers were interested, took me on a tour to the hospital's unit - pretty much offered me the job that day. It was a LTACH (long term acute hospital, very high acuity patients!) - not my 1st choice, but I did not want to turn it down and be back at where I started. I got an offer that August, started in September.

Worked there for 9 months, transferred to OR and been there since :-) I love it! And I love the people!

I did not have a specialty in mind really; it was definitely not the OR. Things change once your begin your career. OR is still not my dream job as I do not see myself here forever. I'm now a grad student.

Good Luck!

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Starting my first job on a medsurg floor at the end of July. This wasn't my "dream job" but I am very happy to have gotten it. I think I got the job I was meant to have thus making it my dream job. The truth is we all went through nursing school thinking we knew what we wanted but I think you don't know until you start working it as a nurse.

We had such a small amount of time in each field and pretty unrealistic to what we would actually be doing. I know so many people who got their dream jobs, hated it, and switched to something else.

And for your situation it might help you some yes, but just remember there's no guarantees. I think at the end of the day any job is better than no job. [emoji16]

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Specializes in Neonatal Nursing.

I graduated in May, and I have been applying since December. I have always wanted to work with children, especially babies. My dream facility is Arkansas Children's Hospital and last month I was offered a job there! I will start working on the NICU floor in 23 days!! OP it is totally possible to work in your dream area.

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Things worked out for me and I got my dream job at the time. I knew when I graduated nursing school that I hated med surg and really didn't want to do adults period. I really liked newborn nursery. I graduated in May 2008, moved to another state and took my NCLEX in June, and was thrilled to find that the closest hospital to me was hiring for nursery. I only had the one interview and was offered the job. I loved it at the time. But things have changed a lot over the years, both in my unit and the hospital as a whole, so that it is not the same place as when I started. I'm ready for a change but I think that change is leaving nursing.

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Specializes in public health.

The very first job I had right after graduation was a part time and temp position, so no it's not ideal. But my first full time position after graduation is my dream job.

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Since I can't travel the world for a living, I'm happy with being a nurse on a cardiac progressive care unit for now. It's a hard job but I'm enjoying it and I like my coworkers a lot. It's a great place to start because I want to eventually be a nurse educator/NP/CNS or something along those lines.

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Started out in med surg. In a hospital 3 hours from my desired location. Nearly 20 years later I got the required certification for school nursing and got my dream job. Been there 10 years. Next dream job-retirement!

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