that awkward time: after you pass the NCLEX, but before you find a job

So getting here was hard enough. Nursing school literally drained the life out of you and clinicals made you feel like you never stepped foot in school, none-the-less a nursing school. Now you're out of coffee and your mom isn't even picking up your phone calls any more. You've passed your NCLEX and applied to any and every RN job posting you've ever seen in the history of your internet search. Tensions are high and job opportunities seem null. What now? Fellow nursling, WHAT NOW?

I recently docked the boat you are in and found this new boat that is a nursing job... We will get to how... First, remember that every single RN there ever was has been in the same boat. My friend, my incredible, intelligent, and sexy nurse friend, there is hope in the hopeful. Here are the steps that I took to find my job, nail my interview, and beat the post graduation blues.

I went to Target and got more coffee.

Then, I tried my hardest to perfect my resume and cover letter. This came to me after the realization that everything on my resume had been said before. Yes, I had 275 hours of clinical experience, yes, I had maintained a 3.0 throughout my college career while balancing two jobs, etc. etc. But so does every other nursing student on the face of the planet, and they wrote that on their resume too! What I forgot to mention the first few times were the emotional and physical accomplishments I made throughout the course of my nursing career - this is especially important in your cover letter. I learned that children are extremely resilient and respond worlds better to most treatments than any adults. I learned that compassion and honesty and knowledge will make you the best nurse not just for patient, but for yourself. Is this hard for you to summarize? Remember the hardest times of your student nurse career, the times you wanted to go home and not come back, the time you wanted to storm out of clinical, burn your white scrubs, and apply to McDonalds. What made you stay? What helped you re-learn that your heart and fire-burning passion lies within the care of other humans? Now write it down and make it sound fancy. And don't apply to McDonalds... you deserve so much more!

I literally applied to every single posting there was on monster and local job search sites. I recruited friends and family to notify me of any postings they saw on the sides of buildings or on those fancy light-up signs in plaza parking lots. I talked myself up to anyone who I knew who had a position in healthcare in any capacity. I enlisted the help of my fellow nurslings who were lucky enough to have a job already (Spoiler alert: this is key). Remember to write down the names of places, phone numbers, and positions that you apply to... (This was my most rookie mistake.) Because the importance is in the follow up phone call (a standard one week following the submission of your application.)

Then you wait. You wait and wait and wait, and contemplate whether or not you could somehow manage a career from your couch and viewing a certain amount of episodes on Netflix in one day. Maybe you could. Who knows, not you, you will never know that because you're going to get a call, and it may not be today but it will absolutely be tomorrow. 

You can't be picky. Get your foot in that hospital door, the weird circular one that moves like a giant butter churner because those doors are way cooler than the regular doors next to them. Take the graveyard shift, mess up your sleep schedule, and just learn every single thing you can because the more you know, the more healthy you can make your patients. Thats what we came into this to do, right? Like Dr. Shepard said, literally every single day, "It's a great day to save lives." (Which I never understood anyways because isn't any day a good day to save a life? Like, are you gonna say no to performing the Heimlich on someone when the day just doesn't suit you?) I mean, really Shonda.

Then receive that call. Receive it like the champion nursling you are! No, seriously, stop watching Netflix and ignoring the number that you don't know, and pick it up! 

My call was approximately 24 hours after one of my friends emailed the nurse recruiter for the hospital she works at for me. After interviewing I was offered a position in the ICU. I am terrified to begin, but for those of you looking to start out in critical care I will surely keep you updated.

So my questions to you are, what are your experiences with the job search grind? How did you cope? What worked/didn't work?