I'm a 24 year old male, recent BSN graduate, obtained my RN license this month. I've applied to 20 RN & GNP (Graduate Nurse Permit) positions within 7 different hospitals in my city and surrounding cities (I applied for about 3 positions per facility). It has been 3 and a half weeks since my applications have been submitted and all 20 application statuses online either say "closed" (yes I know closed means the positions have been filled) or "un-qualified" or "pending".
Keep in mind, all 20 nursing positions I applied for have a minimum experience requirement of either "less than one year" or "graduate nurse" with a minimum education of an associates. No other requirements were posted. I met All desired preferences on every position I applied for with either ACLS certification and or education/ BSN and prior experience.
I have 6 letters of recommendation from either clinical site instructors and or nurse assistant professors at my university. I maintained the presidents list throughout nursing school and graduated with a cumulative GPA of 3.8. I have 700 clinical hours, 200 in critical care, 200 in med surg, 100 in Ob/peds. 100 in psych and 100 in community. (And yes all of this information and more is on my resume). I was also a nurse tech prior to nursing school and made sure to network during clinical rotations.
So why can't I get a job? I have a bachelors of science in nursing, 700 clinical hours, 3.8 GPA, I was in the SNA all throughout my program, volunteered at local children's hospital during my breaks, recent RN license, 6 letters of recommendation for hire, I've made sure to apply for positions that are for graduate nurses or RNs with less than 1 year of experience.
I've even made the effort to meet with unit managers in person that were hiring, even gave a few a hard copies of my resume and recommendation letters to them directly and bypassing HR. Still, nothing!
I'm just bent over backwards at the fact that everyone keeps saying "nursing is in so high demand right now, you will get a job so fast bla bla bla" when in reality it's been 3 and a half weeks since I've applied for 20 positions and not a single call back. All of the other open RN positions are for either charge nurse or require a minimum of 2-3 years experience so I can't apply for the others ones.
Why can't I get a job? What am I doing wrong? Advice?
As this is what I had to find out on my own as a new grad. As I and fellow cohort were told over and over again how high of a demand nursing is right now. But I see now that the icing on the cake was overdone. Even though my city has about 700 RN positions currently open, more than half are for charge nurse and majority of the rest require 2+ years of experience. No room for new grads
I will be even more brutal: it's not just the icing - the entire cake was overdone, in your experience, sorry to say.
How long did it take you to get a job as a new grad ?
It took me about 4-6 months; and I had experience as a Licensed Practical NURSE, which counts in the Clinical Ladder Model-recruiters wanted to me have SOME RN experience before even entering into an acute position.
I did get an acute care position but we parted ways due to not being a "fit" at that time; I took positions outside of acute care that helped hone my skills in my current Acute Care stint at a Pedi ER-which I am doing very well in.
Wasn't brutal at all, no need to be sorry. Wasn't your fault nor mine we were given false hope about job placement right out of school. This simply gives me a better reason to stand tall and keep applying. Actually it's a confidence boost you gave me more than anything to expand my applications outside my city and close cities. :)
P.s some overdone cake tastes delicious with overdone icing lol.
Very impressive :) so I'll take a deep breath and calm down. It seems that it does take some time. I guess I overreacted because nearly half my class already have jobs lol
The city I live has over 12 nursing programs, so my area has more than plenty enough new grads.
And it takes months sometimes for HR to come across a resume. My current job, which I didn't even apply for, came about from applying to another position about 6-9 months prior to receiving a call for an interview. HR and Nursing managers work at their own sweet pace.
Don't worry, there is nothing wrong with you. I had a somewhat similar background and it took me 9 months to find an RN job. I got my RN license July 2011 and even with that ended up working in a hotel to try to pay off loans while still searching for an RN position. You may not want to hear it, but you have to patient. I eventually found a job in 2012, but I moved 3 hours away from my hometown. I think it was totally worth it because now that I have 3 years of solid experience recruiters and hospitals are after me. Keep trying! Don't give up and look into the city of Fresno, CA they hire a lot of new grads!
In a way you make a point. Just my first time making a nurse resume, wasnt exactly sure how to format it so I just formatted mine the same way fellow cohort did with theirs who got jobs.
Wow, so it's seems to be a pretty common thing with new grads, waiting for job placements. Thank you for the post, I'll stay confident and keep applying. If I have to do what you did, movie from my hometown, so be it. Plus I'm not to fond of my city anyhow lol
The city I live has over 12 nursing programs, so my area has more than plenty enough new grads.
And it takes months sometimes for HR to come across a resume. My current job, which I didn't even apply for, came about from applying to another position about 6-9 months prior to receiving a call for an interview. HR and Nursing managers work at their own sweet pace.
Yes. Also, your friends may have been hired for a Summer orientation or whatever, and they won't do another until Fall or Winter.
Even back in the day when jobs were plentiful they hired in waves.
Only reason I listed my clinical hours on my resume was due to the fact fellow cohort who got jobs had listed their clinical hours and told me to do it as well.
I will never forget my first nursing job interview. My clinical hours were listed on my resume. As the nursing director was reading my resume, her eyes widened, and her tone of voice immediately changed from sweet to serious director mode. She goes, "You have all of these jobs listed here! This is a serious red flag!" We both laughed after I clarified that those were my nursing school clinical experiences (even though it clearly stated that on my resume ).
Anyways, it took me 10 freaking months to find a job. I did lose a little hope every now then, and I played some awesome frisby with my nursing license around the 6th month... but I never gave up and it all worked out.
Steady as she goes OP. As PP said HR and Nurse Managers work at their own sweet (agonizingly slow) pace.
I don't call it the black hole of HR for nothing. Resumes go in and never come back out. I got a job once when I was working agency with a nurse who was leaving her job for management. She said apply at her hospital to which I said I had already submitted an application in HR two weeks ago. Miraculously I got a call from the nurse manager a couple days later.
Question: Do student nurses not work part time during school at hospitals to get their foot in the door anymore? I worked as a student in one of the hospitals we had clinicals at and had a job offer as soon as I graduated.
If your attitude in RL is like your writing here, you sound like an asset a nurse manager would want pronto.
).
roser13, ASN, RN
6,504 Posts
I will be even more brutal: it's not just the icing - the entire cake was overdone, in your experience, sorry to say.