Finding Your First Nursing Job as a New Grad

What’s up guys. Today we’re going to talk about how to find your first nursing job. This can be incredibly intimidating and terrifying for a lot of you guys, but I want to give you a strategy to help you find that job and we’ll spend most of the time there. And then we’re going to talk about how to write a resume, what it should look like, and how to get references. So the first thing I want to do guys is I want to introduce you to my little friends, Google, indeed and all nurses. These are going to be your three best friends when it comes to finding a nursing job. Specifically, here’s what you do. You head over to Google and you type in keywords like this new grad RN, new nurse residency, nurse internship, nurse residency program, and other variations of words like that, like a resident internship, graduate.

As you do that, you’re going to get a massive list of jobs, even at top hospitals, top universities that have internship programs for new nurses just like you. So very easily in just a matter of 10 seconds. You found a huge handful of places that you can apply for a new job. What you can do from there guys is you can take those searches and you can bring those over to indeed and you can dial down even more geographically so you can say within 50 miles of Dallas or a hundred miles of Phoenix, new grad, RN, new nurse residency, and you start to find these programs. As you find those programs, you can go to those web pages and a lot of times you can find either a Facebook group or some sort of instructions on this specific time to apply the specific date and exactly what they want to see from you, whether it be resume references, clinical experience, whatever it is. 

You can find that, take all that information into a Google doc and start storing up. These are different requirements for different hospitals and things that match your criteria. Once you’ve done that, another place that you can look at is all nurses. So for example, if I do a new grad RN and I find that in Dallas, Baylor has a new grad residency program and then I find their Facebook page and I learn all the different requirements for me to apply for that job. I then take that over to all nurses and I do the same thing. I say Baylor’s new grad are in residency. And in there you’re going to find reports and data and posts from people who have gone through the residency that you’re looking at going into. So you’re going to find out about the manager, you’re going to find out about the hours, you’re going to find out about the opportunity.

But as you do that, guys keep in mind that forums are anonymous and sometimes people can be overly negative or sometimes posts can be really old and things can change in a hospital. So let’s go over those couple of processes again really quick. And what I see a lot of people do is they just go to specific hospital websites and look for new grad RN. Don’t do that. Start with Google, new grad, RN, new nurse residency, things like that. Find the hospitals that you want to work at or that you’re wanting to apply to. Determine the requirements. Take those into a spreadsheet and keep track of all the places you want to apply to with the dates, with the requirements, with the contact information, and start reaching out to those people. It’s okay to send them an email. It’s okay to let them know that you’re planning to apply, but realize that this is an incredibly competitive process.

Recently at the hospital that I did my internship at, they got 800 applications for 22 critical care spots, so this is incredibly competitive, but doing this process and keeping track of all the places you want to apply, will make sure that you apply at the right time with the right steps in the right process. Now, another thing I would recommend to you guys is be a little bit willing to move. Don’t be so fixed on having to work at the hospital down the road or at the hospital that your sister works at or but be willing to move a little bit to relocate to interview. Because what we’re trying to do to do is get you that first job. Once you get that first job and you get some experience, subsequent jobs come just like that. So that first job is the hardest. So follow this search process to find your first job.

Now realize guys that references and connections don’t lie. References and connections mean everything when it comes to searching for a job. When you apply for a job, don’t use your mom. Don’t use your best friend. Don’t use a coworker who always misses work as a reference. The best people that you can use as a reference would be the Dean or president of your college. If you have any sort of connection with this person, ask them for a reference even if you don’t have a great connection. If they know that you worked hard and that you have decent grades, they could be a great contact for you. Another one would be a difficult professor even if you didn’t get an A in their class, but they know that you worked really hard, that you studied. This could be a great contact for you. Maybe a clinical instructor who’s actually seen you working on the floor.

That’s another great reference. A physician that you have a relationship with that knows how you work on the floor, that knows your understanding of medicine and then also maybe the highest up manager at your job, not your buddy who’s not a great worker, but a manager at the place that you work, even if it’s not healthcare-related so they can see that you’re developing relationships with management, that you’re developing relationships with other great workers because what they want to see you guys, they want to see that. Is this a professional? Is this someone who’s going to show up to work? Is this someone who’s going to work as a team? Is this someone who’s going, to be honest when they come to work? When I applied for my first nursing job, I use the Dean of my college, a difficult professor, a physician friend, and a coworker from another job.

These were enough references to get me an interview and to show that I was a hard worker, that I was going to be there on time, that I was going to work as a team. Now, the reason this matters so much guys, is it all comes down to this quote that I really, really love. It’s by a motivational speaker called Jim Roan. What he said is, he said, you are the average of the five people you spend your time with. Your manager is going to get a picture of who you are by simply talking to your references. If they get a view that you’re not someone who’s gonna be there and be dependable, you’re not going to get the job. So find people, start developing those relationships now that are going to represent you for exactly who you are. The next thing I want to talk to you guys about is your resume is a picture of you. 

I’m going to show these graphics here. The average recruiter looks at a resume for six seconds. So look at these two pictures of me and tell me which one of me would you hire? You got six seconds. It’s easy, right? Unless I’m applying for a job at seven 11 and I’m a big gulp spokesman, you’re probably not gonna hire that guy. Your resume should be the best picture of you and it needs to tell that story in six seconds flat. That’s not very much time. So let’s talk about how we can lay out these resumes. You want to be showing it the, you have a history of hard work and dedication, that you have some unique skills that you have an interest in nursing and since you’re just starting out, show some of your clinical hours. I’ll show you a couple examples of different resumes where you can see the new students can post their clinical hours that they had as a student right at the very top of their resume. 

Especially if you’re trying to apply for a specialty place like ER or ICU, show that you’ve got some experience there that you know what it’s about. That is not just this whim that you want to try out. You can see, you can put some of the courses you took, some of the hours that you have there in exactly maybe how many hours you worked in there. Then look for ways you can stand out and show an interest in nursing. Are you part of the NSNA? Do you have a CLS? If you don’t have a CLS, can you go get it? What are these different things that you can do to stand out before you start that first job and make sure you call those skills out? If it is just a job mowing yards, it’s something like that. That’s great. If it shows longevity in that you worked really hard, but replace that with things that show your interest in nursing and that you understand what this career is. 

If you have those things, if you don’t have them, go start gaining these skills, volunteer in the hospital, whatever it is so that you can start putting those things on your resume. Now, the last thing I want to tell you guys is that if you’re just thinking about this right now, you can probably tell that it’s too late. Nursing is a very small world, especially if you work in a city like here in Dallas. Yeah, there’s a ton of nurses here. There’s a ton of hospitals, but word starts getting around what the hospital’s the best to work at. What floor is the best to work at? Which nurses to avoid? Start developing your resume. Start developing your skills and start developing your connections and your references. Now it’s going to matter a lot if you have time. Take an ALS, take a BLS course, start volunteering in a hospital, shadow some nurses. 

Do whatever you can to show that you truly care about this profession and you want to be a part of it. This process works. This is exactly how I got my first job. This is exactly how many nurses get their first jobs. Be willing to do a little bit of work. Getting a job at the right place on the right floor makes all the difference in the world. So I invite you to try this technique. I know it’s going to work for you, and as we always say here, guys, go out and be your best selves today. Happy nursing.