Questions About Washington DC Opportunities

U.S.A. Washington DC

Published

My wife and I are thinking about moving the the DC/Northern VA area, because of a job opportunity for her. I am a retired NYC firefighter with a BSN and 5 years of experience as a home/community health nurse. I went back to school while I was working for the FDNY and the flexibility of being a visiting nurse was very appealing. Now that I'm retired, I'd like to venture down the road I would have taken if I had the ability to work full time in a hospital. I'd like to work my way up to being an ICU nurse.

I'm an EMT, TNCC, and I have BLS & ACLS as well as IV and EKG certs. I plan on enrolling in one of the two RN refresher courses as soon as we move.

I was wondering if anyone had any insights on what the job market is like in the NOVA/DC/MD area, and any advice on actions to take, or places to look to get myself the opportunities to get to where I want to be.

Thanks in advance!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I just moved to the DC area 2 months ago due to my husbands job. Before I moved I noticed there was always a lot of jobs posted daily in Indeed. After we moved I began applying for jobs. Most of what I found was jobs from nursing recruiters for positions that required experience. I thought it was going to be very easy to find a nursing job in this area, but I was very wrong. Out of approx 25 jobs I applied to, I only received 3 calls. I even applied to the local hospital, and didn't get a call back. Not sure why. I hope you have better luck when you get here. I live in MD, and only applied to jobs in MD. So maybe you will have better luck on the VA side. We decided on MD over VA because our friends who live in the areas said VA kills you on taxes. Good luck!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Medstar Washington Hospital Center in DC has great onboarding residencies for new nurses or nurses switching specialties. With your background, I would at least call their recruiters to speak about available opportunities. INOVA is slso another large hospital group in VA

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Awesome, thank you. Now if I can only figure out how to get past the great wall of online application and get someone on the phone!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Do some research on which units specialize in what, call each unit you are interested in and ask for the directors name. Ask to be transferred to their phone line and leave a tantalizing voicemail and your contact info. I am sure you will get some calls back.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment