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 know the feeling. I have applied to 5 hospitals in Morgan County Alabama, total of 20 applications filed. Haven't heard from any of them in more than a month now. One blogger here said its really who you know most of the time..which is such a sad sad thing... So all I have to do is wait I guess, I'll give it 6 more months then I'll probably put in for a Doctor's clinic RN position. Sigh.
Specializes in Med-Surg, Oncology, Neurology, Rehab.
Why can't I get a job?
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 would suggest giving it a little more time. Three weeks is not a very long time. Best wishes and keep your faith alive.
Did you start applying during your last semester of nursing school? I applied to several nurse residency programs and literally got interviews at every one. I accepted the first job I interviewed for as it was for an ICU position and cancelled the other four. I live in Florida if it helps. Good luck to you.
It is probably your resume holding you back. I went weeks without getting calls for jobs until I redid my resume and reworded it by using lots of key words without to much extra text with it. From what I've heard Computers select applicants based on key word matches. With technology now days the online applications are a tremendous load of work to sort through individually, so it's sorted by computer. The more KEY words you use the more the computer recognizes a possible match for what they are looking for and those are the applications that get further review. Example- if two new grads submitted a resume and your resume had 10 key words, but the other new grad used 40 plus more key words then they have a greater chance of getting their resume selected for further evaluation. If you have no prior work experience prior to nursing school, then just use all you learned in nursing school clinical's for a resume. Examples of Key words can be Degrees, languages, specialized skills. If needed you can also change resume to fit the need of each unit you apply to. keep us posted if changing resume wording got you the job.
A 3.8 GPA while unemployed is not very impressive. You are competing against other students who worked during college and didn't take it as easy as you did. If you weren't working at all you should have gotten a 4.0 and at least some sort of volunteer experience.
This comment is 5 years late and also very uncalled for. It's hard to get a 4.0 even if you don't work! IDK what perfect world you live in. A 3.8 GPA sounds amazing to me!
nursejad
2 Posts
I know the feeling. I have applied to 5 hospitals in Morgan County Alabama, total of 20 applications filed. Haven't heard from any of them in more than a month now. One blogger here said its really who you know most of the time..which is such a sad sad thing... So all I have to do is wait I guess, I'll give it 6 more months then I'll probably put in for a Doctor's clinic RN position. Sigh.