Find a Nursing Job
When you are ready to begin your search for a nursing job, you’ll quickly realize that there are a number of ways that you can land a job – from online sources to referrals from friends.
But you should be methodical in your search so that you don’t end up wasting a lot of time and effort. Because the field is so vast, it would be easy to get sidetracked and stray away from the specialty or area that you’ve decided that you want to work in.
If you’re starting your job search, here is a step by step guide that will help you land your perfect job.
Step One: Prepare Your Resume
A professional resume tailored to nursing should inform the potential employer about your education, skills, training, and job history. You will be asked to submit a resume to every place that you apply, so you should have a neat expertly-written resume prepared in advance. For more information on creating a resume that will get you noticed, see the page titled “Nurse Resumes” on this site.
Step Two: Start With Your Friends
The nursing field is a small world, and many times the available positions aren’t even advertised. Because of this, you should always put out a few feelers with anyone you know in the industry and ask them for referrals. Employers love to give job interviews to people who have been referred because it’s a great way for them to find qualified professionals without having to do a lot of work.
Step Three: Ask Your School
Once you’ve graduated, you should tap into the database that’s offered by the college or university that you attended. They usually have up-to-date data on companies that are hiring and the available positions. In addition, check into the databases of other colleges and universities as well – some of them offer their databases for use even to those who didn’t graduate from their school.
Step Four: Be Open
When you are first starting out in the nursing field, you should be open to all sorts of job positions – as long as you don’t stray from the specific area you want to work in. For instance, instead of only looking for full-time positions, you should widen your searching parameters to include training positions and even part-time jobs with flexible hours. This will not only increase the number of jobs that you can consider, but it will allow you to work in a particular environment for a while to determine whether or not it’s the right one for you. Remember, when you are just starting out, your goal should be to get your foot in the door, and then branch out from there.
Step Five: Sign Up with the Experts
There are recruitment agencies that specifically work with those looking for jobs in the medical field. They will ask you to submit your resume to them, and once they have interviewed and approved you, will begin sending out your resume to those companies that have hired them to find employees. Most of these employees don’t make their job positions public, but rely on the vetting process of a recruiter. This is a great way to get your resume seen by many people with a small effort on your part.
Step Six: Apply On Foot
Hospitals, doctor’s offices and clinics all have recruiting centers or human resource offices that handle the interviewing and hiring of nurses. Identify which ones you would like to work for, and then begin visiting each one – with your resume in hand – and fill out the required applications and related paperwork. Even if they don’t have any open positions at the time, request that they keep your resume and application on file, and then consider you when a position becomes available.
Step Seven: Apply Online
It’s also possible to submit your resume and cover letter online to numerous employers – all in one day. There are great general job sites, such as Careerbuilder.com and Monster.com, where you can search “nurse jobs” or “nursing jobs,” and see hundreds of nursing jobs to apply for. You’ll be able to limit your search to specific areas or even specializations. In addition, there are targeted healthcare job boards that specialize in jobs within the medial field. Some of these sites are nursingjobs.org, nurseoptions.com, nurse.com and medhunters.com.
As you can see, the search for a nursing job takes many forms, and people go about it in different ways. But by following the simple steps outlined above, you’ll be sure to explore every avenue available, make the best use of your time, and stay on course with your desired career goals.