What path would be easier to get a job in with no experience?

[Eeramsey]

I'm interested in management and leadership or nurse practitioner. I am currently in an ADN program. What path would be easier to get a job with without much experience. I've never worked as an lpn either.

[OlivetheRN, ADN, BSN, RN]

Do you mean that you're worried about getting a job as a new grad once you're finished with nursing school or you're worried about getting a job in management without experience? If the latter, you're right to be worried. First, because you'd be hard pressed to find a place to hire you into a management position without experience. Second, any place that would you should run for the hills from. Any facility that would put a new grad into a management position is clearly a poorly run facility desperate for warm bodies. I do not say that as a reflection on you as a person as I don't know you, but mearly as a statement of fact. I was a new grad not too long ago and remember enough about that time that I know that if anyone had tried to put me in a management position, they would clearly be in a place of desperation, because I just would not have been ready for something like that. No new grad is.

Beyond that, you would be hard pressed to get any kind of respect from the people working for you. Again, that's not a reflection on you as a person. I recently left a position in an ER and while I loved my director as a person and had been a unit director before she had never in her life worked as an ER nurse. She tried to run things like an inpatient unit in a lot of ways and lost a lot of really good, experienced ER nurses because of it. While she's not why I left, she's a part of why a lot of people did.

In order to be a good manager you have to have the kind of experience of the people that you are managing. How else are you going to be able to back them up, know where they're coming from, and properly manange the department? The short answer? You can't.

[OlivetheRN, ADN, BSN, RN]

So are you currently in an ADN program? Are you going to be looking for a job after finishing your current program?

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

With all due respect for everybody....

OP will be able to get into a decent NP school in certain specialties and find job after it with just as much problems as everyone else in her class. It was pointed out more than once on this very forum that previous nursing experience plays minor to no role in obtaining the first NP job. Again, as it was pointed out right here, some students are able to jump straight into provider role, and some are not. Same goes about academia.

Only one problem with going straight into NP school with the goal of either clinical work or recearch is that OP will limit her choice of specialties. CRNA, NNP, CNM and many high-ranked FNP/ACNP and other programs require bedside experience.

The situation will be different with leadership. Leadership grads are valued for their knowledge of people and system first and foremost, and educators are valued for their communication and, again, system knowledge skills. Someone who never worked within the system won'the be able to function satisfactory straight from school. It was, again, brought up on this very forum that new BSN grads sometimes hired for leadership positions, mostly in SNF. Most of those posts were far from being positive experience.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

There is nothing wrong with being ambitious. But while you are on your way to your advanced practice or management destination, slow down and enjoy the journey. No point in being concerned about your future employment options when you are just starting school. You might even totally change your mind about what your final goals are during school when you get some exposure to different areas of nursing.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

With all due respect for everybody....

OP will be able to get into a decent NP school in certain specialties and find job after it with just as much problems as everyone else in her class. It was pointed out more than once on this very forum that previous nursing experience plays minor to no role in obtaining the first NP job. Again, as it was pointed out right here, some students are able to jump straight into provider role, and some are not. Same goes about academia.

Only one problem with going straight into NP school with the goal of either clinical work or recearch is that OP will limit her choice of specialties. CRNA, NNP, CNM and many high-ranked FNP/ACNP and other programs require bedside experience.

The situation will be different with leadership. Leadership grads are valued for their knowledge of people and system first and foremost, and educators are valued for their communication and, again, system knowledge skills. Someone who never worked within the system won'the be able to function satisfactory straight from school. It was, again, brought up on this very forum that new BSN grads sometimes hired for leadership positions, mostly in SNF. Most of those posts were far from being positive experience.

And it has been emphatically pointed out on this very forum what an uphill climb is ahead for advance practice nurses with no experience to help them claim the "advanced practice" title.

[Eeramsey, BSN, RN]

No I'll be going into a BSN program.

[OlivetheRN, ADN, BSN, RN]

If I may ask, why didn't you just initially do a BSN program to start with, instead of an ADN program, if you didn't plan on working as an RN while completing your BSN?

[Eeramsey, BSN, RN]

I was really young and uneducated about nursing schools available.

[amoLucia]

Hmmmmm. Let's pretend I'm an employer. And I'm looking to hire someone for an important management leadership position, or I'm looking to hire an NP for a position in my clinical practice.

Among the many, many applicants are multiple nurses with good educational preparation, but far and wide, they all have excellent working experience in their respective areas of expertise. And then, there's OP - no experience.

Who do you think I'm going to hire and whose resume will make it to the 'round file'?

Hmmmmm.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Moved to the Nursing Career Advice forum.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Many new grads have obtained BSN positions without experience. However, as previously mentioned, the ease of securing employment without experience tends to be dependent on one's geographic location.

[Eeramsey, BSN, RN]

No. I love working the floor, but it's just a good time for me to get my education done. I don't have a husband or kids.