When to apply for first job

Nurse residency programs frequently hire pre licensed nurses contigent on passing your boards. Most hospitals want a license before they hire. It doesn't hurt to get your feelers out there, but unless you know someone, I wouldn't expect to hear back until you pass NCLEX

Thanks for the input!

There was one nurse residency program in my area that had a couple month application period, so you applied even before graduation; I don't know if you have any like that in Texas, but they would make a note of it on the company's HR website. It's worth a check, just in case, but most jobs won't talk to you until you are licensed.

Thank you for your input! I am looking into several residency programs now!

I agree with the other posts in that unless it's a residency program, you won't likely get any calls or interviews until you pass NCLEX. Unless you have inside connections, such as family/friends in high places. For me I had a great resume and applied a few weeks after graduation while waiting on NCLEX. Never got a call back. But once I took and passed NCLEX, I had 4 interviews in the course of 2 weeks, all of which offered me a position. My advice is to look for the new grad residency programs but otherwise don't spend too much time applying before you can put that nursing license on your resume!

I only applied to residencies when I graduated; most opened their applications 2-3 months before graduation though some opened their applications at 4 months prior. I would say August and September would be the best months for you to job search. Good luck!

Thank you! I am currently looking for residencies, hopefully I will have more luck with those!

Alright awesome! Thank you so much!

I just graduated on May 1, 2015 and was offered a job April 30th. I attended my schools career fair and basically was inquiring and applying the entire month of April. However, the career fair is where I got the job. The graduate nurse residency programs are the way to get hired as a new grad. That's what I did. I accepted the first job I interviewed for and had to cancel several other interviews. Good luck to you!

That is great! Thanks so much!

A few of my fellow cohorts actually applied for jobs about 2 weeks before our graduation date. One of them even scored a job 1 week prior to graduation on NICU and started the week after gradation, she had to get her GNP (graduate nurse permit) since she was not licensed yet.

Most of the hospitals in my area will take on new grads prior to taking NCLEX as long as they can get their GNP. The state board can issue new grads with a GNP as long as the hospital that is hiring them sends in an Intent to hire form with the nurse preceptors license number you will be practicing under until you take the NCLEX.

None of my cohort did the residency program after gradation since the hospitals here offer grad nurse positions with a GNP. Just look for jobs that are titled "Graduate Nurse" if you can't find any, look through the jobs requirements and see which ones say hire with GNP.

As for the rest of my cohort, most started applying for jobs around our gradation date. Majority was the week of graduation. As for myself, I didn't apply for my first job until about a week after graduation as I celebrated and went on a cruise with my girlfriend literally the day after gradation lol.

Some of my cohort already had job offers well before graduation as they already worked on the unit they wanted to work on as a tech prior to nursing school.

Two of my fellow cohorts also did military nursing. They didn't need to apply, they simply maintained a certain GPA, got with a recruiter, signed a contract and got it. I'm actually considering doing AF Nurse reserves myself.

Anywho, hope this helped a bit :)

I agree with the other posts in that unless it's a residency program, you won't likely get any calls or interviews until you pass NCLEX. Unless you have inside connections, such as family/friends in high places. For me I had a great resume and applied a few weeks after graduation while waiting on NCLEX. Never got a call back. But once I took and passed NCLEX, I had 4 interviews in the course of 2 weeks, all of which offered me a position. My advice is to look for the new grad residency programs but otherwise don't spend too much time applying before you can put that nursing license on your resume!

Interesting. The only hospital in my city that has nurse residency program only take in new grads after they have their NCLEX results, as I was told by the residency coordinator "we select applicants based on their NCLEX score". Wonder why they do it differently here.