What was your new grad job as an RN or LPN?

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Hello,

I am considering whether to attend an LPN or ADN program and wondered where people found their first job, either as an RN or LPN. I notice many job postings say no new grads or one year experience required. Where am I most likely to get this one year of experience just out of school? Thank you!

I started as a new ADN grad in the ICU in 2006. At the time, most of the area hospitals had new grad critical care programs where they would accept 1-2 per graduating season. Not sure if it's the same now as I don't work in that type of environment. I had done an extern program at the hospital while I was in nursing school and spent 4 weeks in the ICU. By the time I was done, I was pretty much in for the job and I loved that experience! It really was a great first job for me. Overall the other staff was really supportive and invested in helping us learn. I'm not sure if I was just really lucky or if many others have had the same experience in that type of environment. Also, this was a general med/surg ICU in a smaller hospital, so that may have helped.

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Specializes in oncology, MS/tele/stepdown.

RN telemetry/oncology. I lived in a competitive market for new grads and had worked on the floor as a nurse extern. I couldn't get anyone else to even call me back to turn me down haha. But I had a good crew. Oncology as a specialty deals with a lot of stuff that you'd find on any MS/tele floor, so it's good experience that translates to other floors if you want to change later.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

RN (ADN), freestanding psych hospital. I graduated right after the job market crashed and it was tough for new grads to get hired anywhere. The major hospital chains had their own diploma programs so their grads got first dibs on jobs. Also, there was only 1 new grad program in town, but they pretty much took only internal hires.

A classmate worked at the hospital as a tech before graduation, and stayed there as a RN. She recommended me to the DON. The job I landed was actually a per-diem position, but they were often so short-staffed that I had no problems getting 40 hours a week. After a year, I signed on for a full-time position there.

That first year was largely trial by fire :) While I would have loved a new grad program/residency, doing things this way taught me a lot and taught it fast.

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Specializes in psych.

RN- emergency psych ED. Been there since I graduated two years ago with my ASN.

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Specializes in Med/Surg/Infection Control/Geriatrics.
Hello,

I am considering whether to attend an LPN or ADN program and wondered where people found their first job, either as an RN or LPN. I notice many job postings say no new grads or one year experience required. Where am I most likely to get this one year of experience just out of school? Thank you!

For me, it was 1991 and at the time I was in Idaho. My first job as a new grad L.P.N. was a med/surg unit. I stayed in that specialty, (though not in Idaho,) for most of my career, taking it to home care in 2003. But my first R.N. job was also in Med/Surg at a hospital.

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Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.

Where I live you can do pretty much anything as a new grad RN if you have a BSN, with the exception of labor and delivery which is generally on the decline. As an LPN, your choices are limited- LTC, home health, maybe urgent care. As an RN with an associates degree your choices are somewhat limited as many hospitals will not accept you and the few that will require you to be enrolled for your BSN, but you will be paid the same as folks with a BSN.

I got a job in psych because that's what I wanted. My friends went to ICU, ED, Tele, med surg, etc, because that's what many new grads tend to want.

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Thank you so much to everyone! It is really helpful to know where people have worked and what their experiences have been at those jobs. I would be curious to know if many of those first years were overwhelming but worth it for the amount of knowledge gained. I feel like that is what I am hearing.

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My current and new grad job as a R.N. is on a med surg floor at a hospital, overnights. We have had a lot of new grads on our floor. I think it is a great place to start as you acquire so many skills...it can be quite busy and chaotic at times when you are new because time management skills are still being developed..... BUT .... I feel that time spent on this unit is preparing me to work in ANY other area of the hospital. We see just about everything....not vents of course but we do most everything else including drips.

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RN in the Pediatric Hospital setting

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Float, PICU, NICU.

I started 12 years ago as a new grad in the PICU.

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Thank you very much everyone!

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Where I live you can do pretty much anything as a new grad RN if you have a BSN, with the exception of labor and delivery which is generally on the decline. As an LPN, your choices are limited- LTC, home health, maybe urgent care. As an RN with an associates degree your choices are somewhat limited as many hospitals will not accept you and the few that will require you to be enrolled for your BSN, but you will be paid the same as folks with a BSN.

I got a job in psych because that's what I wanted. My friends went to ICU, ED, Tele, med surg, etc, because that's what many new grads tend to want.

May I ask what you mean about L&D being on the decline?

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