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?
I'm three months and well over 100, probably closer to 200, applications into my search as a BSN new grad myself. As everyone has said, three weeks isn't long at all. Give it more time and continue to be diligent. Continuing to seek out managers and contacting them personally, even if there isn't a posting listed, could also possibly help. From my experience, when a job posting is posted on the hospital's website, sometimes the manager already has someone in mind for the position or has already started interviews. So, when you see the job posted as "open", even if it was just posted, they're essentially filled and your application is futile.
For example, I had an interview for a postpartum position on Monday (which I obtained by going to the hospital's career fair and emphasizing my interest in this area, as well as the NRP and STABLE certifications I had because I know this is patient population I want to work with and the scheduled ACLS certification in the works). I had my peer-interview first and my formal interview with the manager and assistant manager a week later. The manager had mentioned she just posted the three positions she was trying to fill right before my interview. Two of the positions she posted that morning were already filled, and she was already interviewing myself and several others for the third and last open position.
While this may not be the case for every position out there, it COULD help your search if you contact managers, make a great impression, and mention that although you know there aren't any open positions posted, you wanted to introduce yourself and ask them to keep you in mind. Best of luck. I'm a single mother and understand the desire and the NEED to attain employment.
I'm three months and well over 100, probably closer to 200, applications into my search as a BSN new grad myself. As everyone has said, three weeks isn't long at all. Give it more time and continue to be diligent. Continuing to seek out managers and contacting them personally, even if there isn't a posting listed, could also possibly help. From my experience, when a job posting is posted on the hospital's website, sometimes the manager already has someone in mind for the position or has already started interviews. So, when you see the job posted as "open", even if it was just posted, they're essentially filled and your application is futile.
For example, I had an interview for a postpartum position on Monday (which I obtained by going to the hospital's career fair and emphasizing my interest in this area, as well as the NRP and STABLE certifications I had because I know this is patient population I want to work with and the scheduled ACLS certification in the works). I had my peer-interview first and my formal interview with the manager and assistant manager a week later. The manager had mentioned she just posted the three positions she was trying to fill right before my interview. Two of the positions she posted that morning were already filled, and she was already interviewing myself and several others for the third and last open position.
While this may not be the case for every position out there, it COULD help your search if you contact managers, make a great impression, and mention that although you know there aren't any open positions posted, you wanted to introduce yourself and ask them to keep you in mind. Best of luck. I'm a single mother and understand the desire and the NEED to attain employment.
Best of luck to you, too. It sounds like you are doing what you can.
Not a nurse here, but just a general job searching tip:
You might want to tailor your resume for each job opening, or at least job type. When I was on the hunt for a defense job a few years ago, I had separate resumes for targeting analyst, training, biometrics analyst, and HUMINT analyst positions. Its hard to set yourself apart from others when you all have the same or similar experience or education. It will take longer to tailor your resume, but it shows you are sincere and not just spamming your resume at every opening you find.
- When I graduated I moved from Michigan to Florida to get my first job in a new grad internship. I had a friend graduate last year and she refused to move to a new town....so the only job that she could get was in a long term care facility and it took her about two months to even get that.
- Write a cover letter. That is where you can tell them about your passion for nursing, your volunteer work, and what sets you apart. I suggest writing a customized letter for each position and hospital that you apply to. Tailor it to sell yourself best to that hospital.
- Make follow up calls!!! You say its been over two weeks and you havent heard back from anyone? Did you call them back? I suggest calling to follow up on an application 5-7 days after applying. This can set you apart and can even be the thing that gets you the interview. Sometimes you have to be a little bit of a squeaky wheel - if there are 30 spots open and 500 applicants....sometimes you gotta say "hey! over here! I really want this job!!"
- When you do get an interview, write a thank you note after. I suggest taking a thank you note with you, and writing it in the car immediately after interviewing. Take note of the names of the people you spoke with so that you can write their names on the card. Then go immediately to the post office to mail it so that it arrives ASAP while you are still fresh in their minds.
It's only been 3 and a half weeks? Lucky~ When I first stated applying for a job, it took over a year and literally more than 100 applications/resumes being sent out. I only received three interviews out of all of that.
I lived in a very small town and could not find anywhere to work where I was so I had to start applying in bigger cities in my state and out of state. Once I started doing that, I finally got responses so maybe you just need to branch out more...
Not sure where you live, but there are several rural hospitals in Pennsylvania that hire a lot of new graduates. I was even offered a ED position in one of them right out of school, which I ended up not accepting. The one I started at, five hours away, had new nursing grads from all over the country and everyone knew why they were there, including the hospital. You may get lucky and land something locally, but be willing to move temporarily to get some experience.
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?
Well......some grads have waited over a year to get a job...hang in there.
You're right actually. My city has literally 6 Nursings school, 4 associates and 2 BSN programs. The associates shoot out 20 new grads every 4 months, but the BSN program shoot us out yearly. Most of the major facilities in town are moving toward magnet status and only hiring BSN RNs but it doesn't seem that way ATM lol as I have my BSN
So 60 grads a year between the three schools? I was under the impression the AD programs ran on an annual basis like BSN programs, Sept - May?
Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.
I think you should take the very part time work you were offered and keep looking, it will give you some experience, and you might be able to transfer within that facility if something opens up. I agree that 20 jobs is not a lot. Also understand that networking means 1) telling everyone you know and meet that you are looking for a nursing job and 2) making it your business to meet people who might be able to hire you, or people who know such people. Know that most people really, intensely prefer hiring someone they know even remotely than some dude from the internet. Half the time, HR is required to put the job on the internet, even though they know they're going to hire that girl that Suzy's friend's sister knows.
1. Many new grads land there first job within 6 months to a year. 3.5 weeks is a little to soon to be stressing over not finding your first job. You are not the only new grad applying for those positions. I'm sure the HR directors are getting hundreds of resumes for that same position.
2. Listing your GPA on your resume is pretty futile. Having a high GPA means absolutely nothing to managers or nursing directors. A high GPA to them means you know how to test well and it doesn't relate to not making a med error or worse possibly killing someone. Save the GPA for when you apply to graduate school if that's your goal.
Applying to nursing positions as a new grad is similar to applying to medical school. You apply EVERYWHERE and pray someone calls you back. You don't have the experience yet to limit you search to 20 positions. Managers are not checking for new grads like that. Send out a hundred or two resumes and someone is bound to call you........eventually.
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.
In my area, it's a lot more difficult to get a job as a CNA than a job as a nurse. It's difficult enough to get a job as a nurse, but I had put in hundreds of applications for CNA/PCT positions before/during nursing school and I never got a call back. I put in less than 20 RN applications before I got my first job, and I was hired as a RN before I graduated nursing school. The only way I finally managed to get a CNA job was being lucky enough to be selected for an externship during the summer between my junior and senior years, and staying on as a CNA afterwards, and even that didn't get me hired at that hospital as a RN. CNA job competition is absolutely brutal. It's such an easy certification to get that if there are dozens of people posting for each RN job here, I can guarantee there are hundreds applying to each CNA job. Not to mention hospitals need way fewer CNAs than nurses...
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ForeverDreaming
48 Posts
I'm three months and well over 100, probably closer to 200, applications into my search as a BSN new grad myself. As everyone has said, three weeks isn't long at all. Give it more time and continue to be diligent. Continuing to seek out managers and contacting them personally, even if there isn't a posting listed, could also possibly help. From my experience, when a job posting is posted on the hospital's website, sometimes the manager already has someone in mind for the position or has already started interviews. So, when you see the job posted as "open", even if it was just posted, they're essentially filled and your application is futile.
For example, I had an interview for a postpartum position on Monday (which I obtained by going to the hospital's career fair and emphasizing my interest in this area, as well as the NRP and STABLE certifications I had because I know this is patient population I want to work with and the scheduled ACLS certification in the works). I had my peer-interview first and my formal interview with the manager and assistant manager a week later. The manager had mentioned she just posted the three positions she was trying to fill right before my interview. Two of the positions she posted that morning were already filled, and she was already interviewing myself and several others for the third and last open position.
While this may not be the case for every position out there, it COULD help your search if you contact managers, make a great impression, and mention that although you know there aren't any open positions posted, you wanted to introduce yourself and ask them to keep you in mind. Best of luck. I'm a single mother and understand the desire and the NEED to attain employment.