How to Get Your First Nursing Job
March 6th, 2009 | The Blog
It’s a Catch 22: You can’t get a job as a specialty nurse without experience, but how are you supposed to get nursing experience without a job. Sound familiar? Here are three tips that will help you find your dream job.
Tip One: Start Building Your Resume When You Are In Nursing School.
Hospitals traditionally like growing their own nurses to fill spots in their nursing rosters. Three year diploma schools started that trend years ago, and it continues in today’s workplace. Older, more experienced nurses aren’t leaving their jobs because of the economy, so there are fewer jobs for nurses coming up the ranks. That means that nursing students who know what unit they want to work on when they graduate need to go and talk to the unit’s head nurse now. Let them know that you want to work for them when you graduate and ask them what you need to do right now to start preparing for a position on the unit. They might help you get a job as a nurse’s aid on their unit, and make sure that you get some work hours that don’t conflict with your school schedule. Get to know people on the unit, and choose a mentor that can teach you things that you’ll never learn out of a book.
Tip Two: Work PRN Until a Full Time Position Opens Up
Older nurses approaching retirement age are staying in the workforce longer because of the of the faltering economy, which means there are fewer fulltime jobs available for new nurses entering the job market. The best thing to do is sign up to work PRN in a lot of different places. This will help you get the number of work hours you need each week in order to survive in addition to opening a lot of doors for you later on down the line. Fulltime positions are usually offered to part timers first when those positions become available. Working PRN in many different areas also gives you extra job experience, which translates into a richer and fuller resume.
Tip Three: Have a Friend Introduce You To Their Boss
My father was a smart man. He always said, “It’s not always what you know that will get you ahead in life. It’s who you know that counts.” No truer words were ever spoken when it comes to the nursing profession. My last three jobs came to me by word of mouth. The jobs weren’t posted. I just put some feelers out and my friends came back with some leads. They talked to a few people who set me up with a couple of interviews. Nursing is a small world, especially in the area where I grew up. Use your resources and start networking. There isn’t anything wrong with using a few connections when you’re looking for a job.
Do you have any job-hunting stories you want to share? Come to Nursing Voices and tell us about it. We’re waiting to hear from you.
Terri Polick has been a nurse for thirty years, and is a published author living in Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C. She is currently working as a freelance writer, and is a frequent contributor to Nursing Spectrum Magazine. Terri works at a local community hospital as a psychiatric nurse.
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I graduated last year from nursing school and did not have any trouble finding a job. The largest teaching hospital in my area has a program for new nurses and it welcomes new nurses on a surprising number of units. Working as a care partner while you are in nursing school is one way to get a foot in the door. I didn’t do that but I still didn’t have any trouble getting three job offers after I graduated.
i graduated few months ago and took the board exams last week in which the results would be released at the early weeks of august. so right now i was thinking about what to do while waiting for the results,right now i want to at least have experience doing nursing stuffs but i don’t know how to start.
please asisst me if you can
Hello, I am also a new RN with a previous career/previous bachelor degree. The nursing shortage is geographical and does not apply to the Northern New Jersey/New York City area. I have had a very difficult time getting my resume seen let alone an interview. Yes, everyone wants a minimum one year experience and all I need is a way in. Although, I have encountered some open positions for nights, I do not feel I would manage that into my life very well. What do employers do when a nurse wants to transition into days? Would I be stuck with night shifts forever or is there a seniority plan within hospitals? Please help?
In response to Newbie RN - No one had trouble getting a job as a new nurse LAST year. This year however, none of us new grads can get one. All the hospitals have hiring freezes for new grads, and if they are hiring, it is for “experienced RNs only” and even those jobs are few. I am sick of hearing about a nursing shortage and that we need to encourage more people to enter the nursing profession. We have thousands of RNs who went to college to help fill this shortage, only to be turned away at the hospital doors because we are new grads - they don’t want us. I am starting to think I wasted my time by becoming an RN.
In response to Tuttle–I graduated May 09′ as an RN as well and I’m experiencing the the same thing your are right now. I live right outside of New Orleans, and have been told on several occasions, “we are looking for experienced RNs”. Then, I hear talk of a shortage of nurses, I can’t understand how, most of my nursing class has to drive about an hour or two away for work. I’m still not working yet after all the hard work I put into nursing school. How can they expect you to get experience if you can get into the field? As if they didn’t start out as RN new grads. Its very upsetting to know that you go through all that schooling with nothing in return.
I agree with you Keshana. The other thing that bothers me is that many hospitals would rather live with their nursing shortage, over work their current nurses to the brink of a nervous break down, and put patients at risk instead of hiring some new grads to fill in the gaps. Well, we can only hope it gets better. I know there will be jobs for us eventually, but my fear is being out of nursing school so long that I forget the skills I learned. Remember what it was like going back to clinical rotations after a semester break?
I used a nurse staffing agency to find my first nursing job and couldn’t be happier with my placement.
Here is a suggestion to all of you people who had no problem getting jobs and offers and couldn’t be happier. How about you actually tell us the name of the agency or the hospital that you are so happy with so some of us can get a job as well. I see you very cleverly managed to omit that from your responses.
I agree with the rest of the people that have posted things here. I keep hearing about this shortage. I even used to work as a patient care technician/nursing assistant while I was in nursing school. I was very clearly told that my previous jobs do not count as nursing experience and that the hospital needs experienced nurses. I also remember one of my mentors at clinical rotations telling me that they prefer new grad because the older nurses are very set in their ways and very difficult to teach. Also they bring with them some unhealthy work practices. You can avoid all these problems with the new grads and yet I am still looking for work. I am exhausted and disheartened. I always had two jobs before I got my license now I don’t have even one. All I have is a degree which at this point is serving no purpose at all. My heart goes out to all of you and I pray for your success, I will also pray for those that are “happily employed” that maybe God will give them some sense to do something more useful and actually help others rather than stick their nose up in the air.
I am having the same trouble getting into the hospital, but I am finding that the skilled nursing facilities are hiring. You will be able to get on there, because they have a hard time getting rn’s. Its better than nothing.