Locate The Nursing Jobs You Want
Nursing is an exceptionally good career choice. Health care is always needed, and nurses can always find a job. Nurses have incredible career flexibility in terms of locations and types of positions. Since nurses are in such high demand there are several resources for finding
nursing jobs everywhere.
While there are nurses who stay in the same location for their entire career, other nurses choose to relocate frequently. For these nurses, it is good to be familiar with the many resources for finding jobs.
Hospitals and large clinics often have a recruiter on staff. Keeping a large hospital staffed with nurses is an ongoing challenge for hospital administration. As an interested professional, you should contact the recruiter by phone and ask for an appointment to meet with him or her. Meeting in person is the ideal situation. However, if the recruiter will not agree to meet with you, simply thank them for taking the time to speak with you. Let them know that you will be sending a copy of your resume for future consideration. You are no longer just a piece of paper or an email. You have made a personal connection.
Online nurse recruiters are essentially search engines with a database of available jobs. In the general population, these search engines may not be all that effective. However, since nurses are a particular part of the employment pool, their search engines can be a good resource. You can apply for as many positions as you like, as the applications are done completely online. Follow up your online resume by sending hard copies to each prospective employer, noting in your cover letter that you also submitted an online application. References you list should be from professional and academic sources.
Nurse staffing agencies are more than just a search engine. These agencies will go through the vetting process for all the nurses listed in their roster. Employers appreciate this distinction. The staffing agencies also differentiate between the candidates for various types of nursing positions. There are positions for travel nurses, per Diem, temporary, international, nurse manager and more. The staffing agency works with the employer to match the candidate to the needs of the employer.
There are travel nurse websites and travel nurse employment agencies for those who want to see the country or the world. If traveling is important to you, these sites and agencies should be your first resource. Once established, traveling nurses should maintain a working relationship with their recruiter as the nurse may need these services again in the future.
Professional associations are another good resource. There are various associations at the geographic levels of national, state and county. Their main focus is more academic, yet they often have some information on job placement. Associations often publish newsletters for their membership, which may include resources for job opportunities.
Nursing is a necessary, important and well compensated profession. Nurses find the work personally rewarding. The career path for new nurses is very promising. Nurses can choose to focus on niche areas of care, such as becoming a labor and delivery nurse or a pediatric nurse. Once you become familiar with how the job search process works, you will be free to make future job changes as you please.