Where did you find your first job after becoming a CNA??

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& how did you find your first job...word of mouth, careerbuilder, through your school? Thanks!!

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I took my CNA class at a facility, and the facility hired me upon completion of my clinicals.

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Specializes in Med Surg - Renal.
& how did you find your first job...word of mouth, careerbuilder, through your school? Thanks!!

I applied to every hospital in my area, thinking they would just JUMP at the chance to hire a prospective nursing student with a bachelor's in another field who was launching a career change!

I can still hear the crickets....I got NO response.

But one day, while I was riding my bike I saw a nursing home. I walked in, got an interview and started there the next week.

Little did I know it was one of the worst nursing homes in the state. Just brutal, but boy did I learn a lot. After a couple years of paying some hard dues, I got hired by a hospital as a CNA.

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I applied to every hospital in my area, thinking they would just JUMP at the chance to hire a prospective nursing student with a bachelor's in another field who was launching a career change!

I can still hear the crickets....I got NO response.

Same here. I got my CNA license after my first semester of nursing school, and applied everywhere! Never got a single response - for a year and a half.

Finally, I got my RN license and had better luck with that.

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hah I found it on craigslist in the medical section for jobs. A lot of facilities here in southern california are actually putting up their ads and saying they're hiring. What also helped me when I really needed a second cna job, I got all the phone numbers for nursing facilities in my county, and sat there and called every one of them asking if they were hiring. some said no, but the job I've been working at now for 8 months, was one of the jobs that said they were hiring... so do that;) !

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The facitlity where I had been volunteering through Hospice, hired me. I think the one thing that maybe impressed them was that I had been volunteering through Hospice (and thus trained extensively through Hospice) and went to cna school after a few years of being around nursing homes, etc. That told them this was not a lark or fluke or whatever, but that I was really interested. I am just guessing at that, but since I am 59 and many 20-somethings and 30-somethings were not hired and I was, I assumed it was for this type of reasoning.

Good luck with your job search. Take anything to get some experience, and keep climbing the ladder.

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I actually have looked online at 2 hospitals near me and they both have several CNA jobs listed on their website. I wonder though if they are really hiring? As far as nursing homes in my area, I have not seen any job listings. I wondered if the nursing home where my clinicals is being held ever hires any of the students. Thank you all for your replies.

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& how did you find your first job...word of mouth, careerbuilder, through your school? Thanks!!

In my case - still looking. During class we (briefly) discussed this matter, and it tends to be borne out by prior experience during my IT days; a lot of positions simply aren't advertised. While the advertised hospital positions ultimately DO get filled, they're going to be very selective, and you're going to be going up against some stiff competition (people with prior experience, nursing students, etc.) which is why it's tough for us newbies to crack that particular nut.

If you decide that LTC's/SNF's/NH's are worth looking at, here's what I've been doing:

Medicare has a very useful page called Nursing Home Compare; the link is -

http://www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/Home.asp

Using this, you can get a list of nursing homes in a given area (radial distance from a ZIP code, within a city or county, etc.) and can sort them by various criteria - I've been sorting the list by overall rating (5 stars being best). Pull the addresses & phone numbers for the best facilities, call 'em and tell 'em that you're a recent grad of a CNA course and you're looking for work, and ask 'em if they have any positions available. Some will - most won't. In all of the places I've contacted (about 10 so far) they've encouraged me to fill out an application (even if they had no openings) which they keep on file. When you go out to the site - dress professionally, and if you have volunteer experience, childcare experience (paid or unpaid), elder care experience (paid or unpaid) - tell 'em! Put it on the application, put it on your resume, put it on a cover letter - but, tell 'em!

The Red Cross NAT program I went through actually did refer me to a potential LTC employer (1 star rating, 25 miles from la casita, and $9.00/hour to start), but frankly you're better off looking for your own - more legwork, but with the info from Medicare you can pick top-notch employers rather than being stuck with what someone else hands you.

Far as your clinical site picking you up - it happens; couple of my classmates got offered positions at the alternate clinical site (the one I wasn't at). They both had prior hospital experience and one of them got snapped up by an area hospital before he completed the course; the other one didn't want to work LTC. The site I was assigned to (5 star - very nice!) has an unwritten policy of not hiring male CNA's; but, they will hire male RNA's. Maybe later.

As always, the very best of luck to you, missie!

----- Dave

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Thanks Dave...your so helpful!

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You're most welcome, ma'am! :specs:

Incidentally - if it seems like I'm going over the top on the explanations (figure at least 80% of my previous post was likely old news for you) what I try to do on informational posts is give as complete an explanation as I can on the assumption that other CNA's may be reading this. Not intended as an insult - chalk it up to me being a frustrated wannabe teacher.

Take care,

----- Dave

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Specializes in Geriatrics/home health care.

Home health. I found my current job by complaining about having certification but no job at my last job. I worked at walmart and I would talk to customers and one happened to be a cna who offered me a refferal after I told her what happened to me.

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I went to a Home Care job fair sponsored by Red Cross where I got my training. There were 12 companies and I chose to interview with Visiting Angels because they are local and made a good impression. Happily I was hired and I like the office staff and have worked with stellar caregivers on mutual cases.

Furthermore, I have been blessed with wonderful clients and families for the most part.

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