Work Experience Not Attractive

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

Dear Nurse Beth,

I'm an international nurse. I need your career advice.
I have 13 months oncology experience in my first hospital, and i had to quit the job to prepare for NCLEX. And I moved to smaller hospital which I have 8 months med/surg experience. But, one day i thought i wanted to see more cases so, I moved to bigger hospital. The problem is I am working on my immigration and I expect all the procedure is going to be ended in next 7 months, which leaves me 9 months oncology experience in 3rd hospital. To sum up, I have 13 months-8months-9months experience. I heard that less than a year experience is not attractive. What should I do? Do you think I can still get a job in the states?

Dear What to Do,

Short tenure can be a red flag for employers. At the same time, some employers do not consider nursing experience outside of the United States to be equivalent to the same amount of experience here, as the role of the nurse can be quite different in other countries.

It's going to depend on finding an agency that is skilled at matching you with a job in an area that needs nurses and hires foreign trained nurses.

Moving forward, you need to establish a more reliable work history. Right now your work history shows a pattern of holding a job for a few months, then quitting. This is a flight risk for employers who want to see a return on their investment.

Best wishes,

Nurse Beth

Author, "Your Last Nursing Class: How to Land Your First Nursing Job"...and your next!