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After the stress of passing the NCLEX there is only one thing between you and being a nurse. The job search and interview.
https://www.erincondren.com/“>When you do get that interview a planner or notebook from Erin Condren will help you keep dates and notes organize and together.
#1 Don’t sign up for every single job search site
The day I received my license I was job searching. Several of my classmates had found jobs right out of school, many of those were already working at a hospital as a patient care tech or radiology tech and guaranteed jobs in their facilities. The day I received my license began my job search. Some individuals may start applying for jobs before taking the NCLEX, my superstitions prevented me from an early job search. In an excited whim, I made profiles for several of the job search websites. The jobs that populated were not what I was looking for, or a position was posted multiple times. Amongst the nursing jobs, I would find random retail postings. If I had experience as a nurse, I would be able to see more opportunities, but as a new graduate, there were a minimal number of job opportunities.
#2 Look at your resume
The time between graduating from nursing school to my job interview included updated my resume almost weekly. Graduating from school, updating my CPR class, beginning an RN-to-BSN, my licensure number, and professional organization all required an update on my resume. Initially, I had a general objective, “graduate nurse looking for a job.” Once deciding what I wanted the target of my resume was made more apparent. I wanted to start on a Medical-Surgical floor and work nights.
#3 Be Patient, Be Persistent
I graduated in May, took my NCLEX in August. My first call back for an interview was in November. A friend of mine who graduated from a more extensive private university with a BSN took over a year and a half to find a job. I began to feel like a fraud as the months passed searching for a job. I thought to myself I wasn’t a real nurse; I was fake. The more time that past the more in-depth the thought of deception seeped in. I knew what I wanted, and I waited for the right job.
#4 Go to the source
My biggest mistake was going right towards the job search site and posting my resume. Nothing makes you feel worse than emails from sizeable corporate retail and restaurants with job offers. Not saying they are not fantastic places to work but when you are a registered nurse and survived nursing school, it does make an individual a little sick. My job came from a posting I found on the hospital website. Many classmates did not leave the area and knew where they wanted to work. I moved cross-country. I searched for hospitals in the area and began my research there. Some hospitals had rolling hiring, and some would hire with orientation cohorts. Some hospitals had new graduate programs, some hired you and got you right into training. The hospital website will state services, specialty, the organization’s mission statement and goals. If it’s a place that you want to work, all their available positions are there, not the random few you would find on the job search site.
The process could be tedious and lengthy. I just kept thinking that all the work and waiting will pay off eventually.
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