When to apply for jobs?

[DL-SNUP]

Hi everyone

I graduate this upcoming year, and I'm getting pretty nervous about finding a position in this economy. I do have CNA experience, a pretty good GPA, and will have a BSN.... but it seems like that is a far cry from any sort of promise of a job lately. When do you recommend applying to hospitals and LTC facilities? I want to start as early as possible, since I'm getting the feeling there are going to be months of rejection letters in store....:/

Thanks all!

Devin L, SNUP

[sbostonRN]

You can start early but don't be prepared to get anywhere. I graduated this past May and started sending out resumes in February. The great thing about that was that I got my resume really refined over those few months...I tweaked my cover letter and resume frequently and got some practice calling recruiters. I even had a couple of interviews in there for jobs I didn't end up getting. I did end up getting a job after I graduated but before I took NCLEX, and that is where I currently work. So if you decide to apply for jobs before graduating, don't expect to get many call backs, just think of it as practice for when you finish school - don't let it stress you out. Oh, and I suggest making a list of the jobs you're applying for. I made a big Excel spreadsheet with the facility name, city, the job, hours/shift, recruiter/manager and phone number. Once you apply for a hundred jobs they all start to run together and it will be a huge help for when you get a call back!

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Don't worry about resumes now...you should be networking now. The valedictorian of our class still doesn't have a job, but he's not networking as much as he probably should. (Apparently, he butted heads with the last clinical preceptor, so that's a no-go...) All other jobs by my classmates were through networking, including mine. Many have jobs on the same unit on which they did their last clinical rotation.

Networking is really the key for any job in any sector these days.