Nursing: A Sea of Options with an Ocean of Danger

Sarah was so excited that she secured her first job as a nurse before she graduated, even though jobs were scarce in her community.  Sarah was hired in the OR at one of her community’s largest hospitals. She was a bit apprehensive at first, because Sarah was shy, easily intimidated, and struggled with confrontation. Although she heard about how stressful working in the OR was, she was way more excited about getting offered a job!

On her first day, one of the cardiothoracic surgeons screamed at her for getting close to his sterile field. At the end of the day, the lead OR nurse told her she needed to “grow a thick skin” if she wanted to be successful. Sarah left her first day in tears. Within 6 weeks, Sarah felt she had no choice but to quit.

What went wrong?

Guest Post: Top 10 Skills Employers Seek in New Nurses

Thanks to Katy for a great post!

One of the toughest challenges recent nursing school graduates often face is competing for jobs with the experienced labor market. The good news is that there are employers looking for not-so-seasoned nurses. In fact, we found 284,576* job postings over the past 12 months seeking registered nurses with two years or less experience.

One way you can be sure to set yourself apart from other green nurses is to come armed with inside information on what employers are looking for. If you know the keywords they are using in their job descriptions, you can get one step ahead of your competition by using those same words in your resume and job application.