Will volunteering help with finding a job as new grad?

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Just as the title says, I'm trying to decide whether I should volunteer for at least 3 months at my local hospital to get my foot in the door as a future nurse?

It definitely can't hurt. I volunteered at a hospital and opened the door for the ICU. They had a door that could only be opened from the inside or by a button next to a desk. I didn't really spend much time in the ICU, but I did peek in every now and then. It helped reaffirm my desire to be a nurse. Also, on my resume, it read "ICU volunteer" so it looked good :p

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I doubt that volunteering will get you a job at the local hospital.

Nowadays, the job market is very competitive in many areas and new nurses still desire their first job in the holy grail of acute care ....

You need to ask yourself what will set you apart from other applicants and why should a manager hire you as a new graduate.

While volunteering is great from a lot of perspectives, it does not show the same commitment as a steady job for example as a CNA or any other steady job. There is also no guarantee that a CNA job in a hospital will result in getting hired after graduation - those times are long gone as well.

If you have access to an online library you can review this interesting article from this year that talks about new nurses in Canada, though I think a lot of it applies to the US as well. They found that there is a significant amount of burn-out in new nurses and that work place incivility is common :

"Overall, new graduate nurses were positive about their work experiences and committed to nursing, although the burnout and workplace mistreatment results indicate that there is still work to be done to improve working conditions for new graduate nurses".

(Laschinger, H. K. S., Cummings, G., Leiter, M., Wong, C., MacPhee, M., Ritchie, J., . . . Read, E. (2016). Starting out: A time-lagged study of new graduate nurses' transition to practice. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 57, 82-95. doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2016.01.005)

Other new studies that are concerned with the transition of new graduate nurses into the profession point out that role ambiguity is a factor in burn-out. Factors that indicate a successful transition are a positive attitude in practice, addressing staff and patients respectfully, eager to learn and apply knowledge, show that they care for themselves, desire to follow policies and procedures. New nurses seem to struggle in the communication department although that is a very important skill to connect with other nurses, communicate with providers, and patients/families.

So perhaps focusing on developing some of the above qualities while you are in nursing school will actually help you more to land a job after graduation as managers are looking for candidates who will stay in the profession for a while, are a good fit for the organization, and do not give up easily - nursing is rough and tough the first 2 years.

If you consider volunteering perhaps look for something outside of the hospital where you can develop some skills related to communication, or take some responsibility or such. If you look for a job perhaps something that will show you are resilient and can deal with "customers" is more promising - a job at a coffee shop will show more commitment and positive attitude as opposed to a low level volunteer job in a hospital.

Nowadays, you need to have some resilience and - my mantra - be comfortable with being uncomfortable - to make it after graduation. A respectful and positive attitude will go a long way but this is something you do not develop with a small volunteer job in a hospital. There are other volunteer opportunities that will do more in that department. If you are connected to a spiritual community check out their volunteer opportunities and pick something that will challenge you and will help you to overcome some discomfort - that will grow your personality and help you later in life as well. Local libraries also have volunteer info. It is not the "clean" volunteer gig that will show your commitment and ability to deal with nursing and nursing transition.

I am also a parent and one is in college. I have encouraged activities and volunteering that is not necessarily in the same area as the academic interest but more along the lines of "what will challenge you and also connect you with other people who may be diverse, have a different life-style and such. Perhaps the college has some interesting stuff you can join like a service community or such.

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Specializes in Critical care.
i'm not going to have a discussion with anybody on here who believes because we have a disagreement, i am automatically incorrect. and i love the fact you decided to respond to it. shows character.

If you had a crappy experience as an aide, then pledge to never be like those nurses. I have no problem with not having the same opinion, it was your inflammatory post that irritated me (and judging by the fact that you deleted it I'm sure you know why and deleting what you wrote- "shows character").

I'm glad the volunteering worked for you. I also live in an extremely tough market and we almost never see the volunteers.

I like Nutella's advice about volunteering some place that will challenge you and introduce you to a diverse group of people. That's exactly what I did in college. Outside of college I volunteer at the food bank and will be starting to help out at a free clinic.

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I have to disagree with some of those who say this wouldn't help.

I went through nursing school (graduate in two weeks) without having a medical related job, so I really wanted to get something on my resume from the hospital other than just my clinical experience. At the beginning of the year I signed up to volunteer at my closest hospital. They placed me in the oncology unit, where oddly enough I was currently doing a clinical rotation.

My duties there were to talk to patients, help with discharges, do some light cleaning and stocking, help out the unit manager with projects like employee recognition, and just generally be a gofer. I did things other people didn't have time for, like check all the expiration dates in the nourishment room and clean the coffee machine. I got to know the nurses, management, and other staff pretty well.

The volunteer center had a policy to write job recommendations for any of the volunteers. The unit manager also wrote a recommendation for me, and those both proved to be critical for me in the job application process, since some of the jobs I was applying for had some strict requirements about who could write recommendations.

The unit was even nice enough to throw me a small party when I finished my time there.

So in my case at least volunteering was a huge advantage.

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I see a lot of posts here stating that volunteering probably won't help you land a job solely because volunteers don't generally work with the patient population. I would just like to say that this may be true for some facilities but definitely not all. I just landed a volunteer opportunity at a cancer treatment center and my role as a volunteer is to interact with the patient population specifically. The volunteers transport patients, serve patients, and chat with patients and their families. We bring the patients to their treatments around the center and interact with those giving the treatments. So, for my specific volunteer opportunity I believe it will help me land a job later. It largely depends on where you volunteer and what types of tasks you do during your time as a volunteer. Good luck to you!

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Volunteer work looks good on ANY resume, it doesn't matter the field. No one should rely completely on their volunteer work to get them an interview or the job but it can definitely help when HR is weeding people out AND it can be an interesting thing to talk about at the interview.

I used to work in Workforce Development and had to meet with lots of people in HR in order to help our clients obtain jobs.

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Specializes in Emergency, Medical and Cardiac ICU.

YES! Do it! It took me 8months to find a job as a new grad after I passed the NCLEX. After applying to my hospital of choice and discovering there were 300 applicants for 1 job, I knew that I had to do something different. So, I went to the volunteer office to find out what my options would be to volunteer. The coordinator there placed me on a med/surg tele floor. I was very clear with the manager and charge RN's that I wanted to work as an RN there. When the job was posted, I immediately applied, informed my manager and was hired on the same floor! I can't reinforce the importance of volunteer work. It allowed people to get to know me and allowed me to get to know others. Now, I've been working there for 5 years and am so grateful. Good luck!

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If you had a crappy experience as an aide, then pledge to never be like those nurses. I have no problem with not having the same opinion, it was your inflammatory post that irritated me (and judging by the fact that you deleted it I'm sure you know why and deleting what you wrote- "shows character").

I'm glad the volunteering worked for you. I also live in an extremely tough market and we almost never see the volunteers.

I like Nutella's advice about volunteering some place that will challenge you and introduce you to a diverse group of people. That's exactly what I did in college. Outside of college I volunteer at the food bank and will be starting to help out at a free clinic.

lol the fact i DELETED it and YOU chose to respond... definitely shows the type of person i am. thanks, for noticing.

i'm glad volunteering has worked for so many of the posters above me and those who've not posted about it. there are a hand full of people i've worked with who volunteered, prior to becoming hospital staff members. and some, none. but don't take my word for it.

Jobs are vast. you probably won't even need to do either OP.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

I volunteered in an ER for 2 years during nursing school. I escorted visitors, made coffee, restocked the galley, and put together paperwork packets. It didn't help me get a job after graduation. It didn't even help me get a nursing internship or CNA job at the same hospital.

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Possibly. At my hospital, it did/does. In fact, I was hired along with another nurse after a couple years of a hiring freeze (it was after the stock market crash). The nurses were constantly remarking how they hadn't precept ed external applicants in forever. Not sure why I was hired, but my colleague had volunteered with them for a few months. She believed that helped her get her foot in the door.

To boost your chances, find a role that will put you working alongside patient care staff. Good luck!

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Specializes in Emergency, Medical and Cardiac ICU.

But weren't you so happy helping others? I was as a volunteer. Plus, studies show it improves your quality of life and adds years to your life!

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Specializes in ICU, ER.

Finding a job fresh out of college can be difficult, so volunteering can surely help with finding a job from references from peers and buddies. Besides, volunteering is always good to go out and get the firsthand experience of real life working in a hospital setting. It can help you brush up your skills and put your training to good use. Employers also prefer candidates with some experience, no matter if it is from a volunteer assignment. It may even be helpful in finding a job, as you will get in contact with other nurses, doctors and healthcare professionals. Go out, volunteer and expand your network. And think about all the sick and injured you will be helping. But make sure to get complete information about the volunteering job first. You may not want to be stuck doing something you don't like or weren't trained for.

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