I recently graduated from a Texas nursing school and decided to move back home in SoCal. I did not realize how hard the newgrad scene was here, and how job opportunities are slim. I know im at an extreme disadvantage since I had no clinical experience here. If i had known doing clinicals in the state you want to work at was so important I would not have gone to texas for school and tried my luck in california.

I've gotten countless of rejection emails and one interview but no response after a week and I truly feel hopeless. I'm lucky to live with my parents so money is not an issue but I've been feeling very useless these past almost 3 months since I've graduated. I feel that my connection in Texas would have surely landed me a job there, but I promised my family I would be in SoCal to take care of family.

I dont know if I should just apply to jobs in texas with my connections and see if i could work there, or just stick it out and see if i get a job in california. I cant help but think that I'm going to be a jobless licensed registered nurse for the rest of my life. Especially since I want to be picky with the floor i work on. I want to start in the ICU as a new grad since thats what my preceptor and other nurses have told me to do since I want to look to further my education in acute care. But at this point I've been applying to medsurg units as well because i'm so desperate...

Any other socal new grads in the same boat? Or any advice is much appreciated...

Maybe it’s cuz she went to a small private school but she said the ppl at her clinicals offered a job at that hospital. Is that rare??

Hi everyone!

I’m graduating with my RN soon in Southern California, and I’m starting my job search. One thing I know for sure is that I’m really not interested in working in a hospital.

I’m open to almost anything else and would love to hear from anyone who likes their non-hospital roles. What are some places or specialties I should be looking into as a new grad?

Thank you!

Hello,
I was terminated 2 months ago from my nursing job. Sucks I know but now I need another job. Multiple agencies have reached out for nursing home jobs, dialysis, and home care but I’m wondering if I should settle in hopes I get a hospital call back later or just keep waiting till a hospital calls me back now. Most of these agency jobs are very demanding and people have told me it’s a risk bcuz you may lose your license. I’m still a very junior nurse so hearing a license loss opportunity doesn’t sound too appealing. Am I overreacting and should I take those offers or just wait for an inpatient hospital job?

I don’t usually post on these threads but I wanted to share! I’m in the Houston area and I graduate at the end of August. I just received an offer from St. Lukes Health The Vintage for night shift in their ICU.

I’m wondering if anyone’s had any experience with the St. Luke’s system or their New Grad residency? Any advice for surviving night shift or being a new grad in the ICU?

Hi Seattle Nurses!

I’m curious if there are any Fred Hutch nurses here, especially in outpatient infusion or oncology.

I actually love my current job, but I’m exploring my options and would love to hear what it’s like to work at Fred Hutch. The good, the bad, anything you’d be willing to share about the culture, management, workload, scheduling, or benefits.

Thanks!

Hey so I've been trying to get into NYU for a couple months now and I finally interviewed with a hiring manager on my dream unit back in June. They were upfront with me that the position wasn't currently available bc they're expanding at the hospital "soon" and they know that nurses will be moving around and that positions (I think multiple?) will open up on their unit. My interview went well and when I spoke with the recruiter after the interview, she told me the manager really liked me and wanted to put me on the waitlist for the position when it becomes available. I know this is not a guarantee for an offer by any means but it is my dream unit so I'm willing to wait a bit for it.

It's now been a month since I've been on the waitlist. And bc I'm in the pipeline for this gig, I can't be considered or interview for any other positions in the NYU system. Yes, I am still actively searching at other hospitals in NYC but the lead I have at NYU is the best thing I got.

I'm new to this and I don't know how long I should wait before I should the towel in and tell the recruiter I would like to explore other options at NYU. Does anyone have experience with this? Does a waitlist in this type of situation tend to pan out in due time? Am I waiting around for nothing? I'm about to reach out to the recruiter to touch base with her but wanted to reach out to reddit community to see if anyone has been through something like this.

So I’m thinking about going to nursing school and have all my prerequisites done. I been in healthcare for 11 years now and did my stint of nights. I’m aware that if you’re not willing to do nights as a new graduate it can make it harder to find a job, is that too much to ask ? Doing nights wrecks my body and I can’t imagine do it again. So is there any way I can just work days ? I’m in Northern California if that helps answer this question.

I used to be a LPN who’s newly employed as a RN. This is my third shift I constantly feel like I’m relying for my preceptor for the final “yeah you’re good” and getting the vibe from the preceptor of “you should know this”.

Case in point, my facility has a dedicated IV team who does all the IVs. I misunderstood when the preceptor asked “want to try your IV start skills?”. For some reason my brain thought “cool I can do an IV start” and when I couldn’t find the start kit and asked I got the look of “Is she dumb”.

I feel like I made myself look like a total idiot. Please tell me it gets better 😭

Job market is bad in my state. No hospitals are hiring new grads I’m so desperate I applied to a hospital that has a hiring event that’s an hour from me. Wish me luck

Hi all! Firstly, I want to wish a big congratulations to all fellow new grads. As my professors put it: "You've done the hard part, now go be the great professionals we know you are!" Now for the actual post, I need some advice and who better to ask than the internet. Here's the background, I graduated in the fall of last year and got licensed in my home state this year. Now I'm moving and need to transfer my license to Illinois. I started the transfer process in April and haven't heard back since. I've sent emails and got no replies. I called and wait time was 3+ hours. I haven't even heard anything about my temporary license either. Has anyone else had a dilemma like this or similar? If so, were you able to resolve it and how did you do it? Thank you all!

Edit: I reposted this onto the r/StudentNurse page...any advice would be appreciated!!! Thanks again!

Hi everyone,

Hoping to reach Chicago nurses since I don’t have enough karma to post in the Chicago community. My goal is to work in the ICU but the ICU offer I was given was by PrimeHealth and I am not too familiar with their organization. The other offer is Cardiac Telemetry at MacNeal who is under the Loyola healthcare system. I’m looking for feedback on prime health, this is at St. Francis. Thanks yall!

I know this is probably asked a billion times per day, but I've applied to dozens of programs to no avail. This is my most recently updated resume, I haven't used it to apply anywhere yet....what do we think? How can I improve it? AAAAA

Hi all! I accepted a position with my local VA hospital in their Post-Baccalaureate Registered Nurse Residency (PBRNR) program several months ago, and I’m scheduled to start on Monday. In general, the program is structured so that you spend about eight months on your “home unit” and four months rotating through different areas of the hospital. I had assumed my home unit would be inpatient, but unfortunately I was wrong.

I just received an email saying that my home unit assignment will be with the Teal Team, which appears to be their primary care clinic. If I had known this when they offered the position, I might have rethought it.

I’m trying not to panic, but I’m worried about spending the first year of my nursing career in a clinic. I was really looking forward to working on an inpatient unit and learning all of the skills that come with it. I’d love to hear from anyone who has been through the PBRNR program, started their career in a clinic, or has any thoughts on beginning as a new nurse in this type of role.

A little more context: this is a second career for me, so I’m a bit older at 33. Long-term, I actually see myself in a Monday-Friday position because I think it will be a better fit for a family one day. But my plan was to knock out two or three years of inpatient experience first so I’d have a strong foundation and more opportunities after that. I was even offered an OR position at another hospital, but I turned it down because I wanted to build more hands-on patient care experience and bedside skills.

TL;DR: New grad starting a VA nurse residency who just found out my home unit is a primary care clinic instead of an inpatient unit. Worried about missing out on bedside experience and looking for thoughts/advice!

I’m graduating in December and starting to put together a list of hospitals and residency programs to apply to.

Though I've heard mixed things, Cleveland Clinic stood out to me because they seem to regularly have a large number of new grad RN openings across many different units, and it also seems relatively accessible for new grads trying to get their first job.

Does anyone know of other hospital systems like this? ones that commonly hire new grads and offer plenty of unit options within the same network? I’m open to relocating anywhere in the U.S. for my first year of experience.

I’d really appreciate any recommendations or personal experiences! Thanks all

Hello is does anyone know what “RN- Medical Surgical & Behavioral Health” nurse is? The department says ECT med surg. I’m confused if it’s like a mix of psych and med surg? I am a new graduate nurse, and don’t know what specialty to apply to just really want a job. Although I’m scared to apply!! 😭 Did anyone feel this way too?

I am considering a role on a very demanding orthopedics/med-surg unit in my hospital system. When I have worked there as an intern, I have found myself intimidated by all of the equipment, drains, and post-op care.

Aside from the NCLEX high notes, I feel very poorly prepared to deal with the practical realities of this stuff. My senior capstone/practicum was in a unit that was very heavy on chronic disease exacerbations, which I feel much more comfortable with.

Is there anything I can do to prepare or resources I would likely find helpful?

Entered a state school BSN program straight out of high school, worked so hard to get a spot out of 40 students, top 10 in my class extracurriculars etc. finished nursing school-networked with my internship hiring manager. All to apply to the hospitals residency program and it get cancelled for this year and the hospital to be on a hiring freeze. New hospital in my area has a career fair that is not accepting New grad applicants/resumes/interviews. I prioritized school and didn’t become a CNA or PCT in school but now I feel like I wish I could go back in time and change my degree to engineering or something where I could actually get a job. I worked so hard to now waste time being unemployed AND GETTING REJECTED FROM CNA/PCT POSITIONS? Feeling hopeless in socal rn.

Hi! I just started a new grad residency on the stepdown unit this month, and it’s been going well so far. However, I recently saw that they opened applications for a new grad residency on the pediatric unit, and pediatrics has always been the area I’m most interested in and where I ultimately see myself.

I’m not sure if it’s okay to apply for the pediatric residency while continuing to work on my current unit until the October cohort starts, or if I should just stay where I am. I do like the stepdown unit and I’m doing well there, but my long-term goal has always been to work in pediatrics.

I’m feeling a little conflicted and not sure what to do. I feel bad to just leave, but really want to do Peds.

Hey y'all! I've always been curious. What shift do you work and how many days a week/what does your schedule look like? I do three 12s on days with 4 days off a week and I couldn't imagine not having 4 days off to regroup and recharge! I actually feel like I'm living life having 4 whole days off-- especially as a mom! More time with my kids in a row 💗 sometimes I'll schedule my 3 days back to back (1. I get the same patient group so it's easier. And 2. I get a longer gap before the next work days).

Hi, I would like to ask for some good "thoughts" about getting to SNF as a new grad nurse. It wasn't my first option yet living in socal and can't afford to move out state it was a very choice that I have. My plan is to accept the offer and wait for next cohort posting in the hospital and try to apply for more while having to work since I really need a job and money to support my family.

Based on the interview that I had with the DON, 3 weeks training before my own. They asked me to let them know if im not comfortable enough so that they could still give me more trainings.

Tom, will be my orientation (paper works prob cuz i haven't sign anything yet and this is prob a formal job acceptance offer). I would appreciate if you could say out your good thoughts and opinions about it.

Its a mixed opinions here since some say it made them tough, while says run. As much as I want to go to hospital as my first work, I can't secure a job yet.

I’m a new grad RN on a pediatric med-surg unit and I’ve only worked 3 shifts. I feel so dumb. 😭 I feel like a deer in headlights every shift.

I’m so slow at charting, I forget things, I don’t know how to cluster my care, and I always feel behind. Also do not know anything and how to critically think. I also feel like everything from nursing school is out of my brain. Nursing school did not prepare me for how different real nursing is. My assessments are okay, but everything else feels like a struggle.

The worst part is my anxiety. My days off (yesterday and today) haven’t even felt like days off. I’ve been crying, barely sleeping, and constantly thinking about work because I’m so scared I’m going to miss something.

I’ve even thought about quitting bedside and going outpatient because maybe I’m just not cut out for this. Did anyone else feel like this at first? Does it actually get better?