How do I find a nursing job in a tight job market?

Maybe this is obvious, but does your résumé have an address on it, and if so, is it in Baltimore?

http://ask.metafilter.com/225381/Nursing-shortage-HA-HA-HA old thread might be helpful. Here's how I got a job in this terrible, terrible market: I dressed up in nice clothes. I took a pile of resumes. I went to every hospital, SNF, infusion center, dialysis center, etc I could think of in my area. I went straight up to the floors and tried to find the nurse manager for that floor. Sometimes I was turned away at the front door. Sometimes the manager wasn't in. Sometimes she didn't want to talk to me. But when she did, I smiled. I said some version of this script: "Hi! I'm so sorry to interrupt, I know you're very busy, but I wonder if you have a minute to talk to me. I'm a new grad RN, and I would love to work at this hospital because..." [or] "and I'm wondering if you'd be willing to give me some advice about how to make myself a strong candidate when you start hiring new grads again." I did this at maybe 25 places. As a result of these cold walk-ins - I got a job in a SNF, which sucks, but is something. It sucked so much I actually had to quit, but I shouldn't have. A year of SNF work can get you an acute care job. - I got cards for people in a bunch of different hospitals. - When my local county hospital opened a new grad program, I applied immediately, and then I sent a personal email to the person I had 3 months previously connected with through a cold walk in, thanked her again for meeting with me, explained I had applied, and again asked how I could increase my chances. She put in a word with HR and I got an interview. Err on the side of being a pest. A polite, respectful pest, but a pest none the less. Work every connection you have - frieinds of friends etc. Check the hospital HR website daily - jobs may only be posted for a very short time. Good luck!

With all due respect to jesourie, you need to check Maryland's nursing practice act before you even consider working as a CNA/Tech with an RN license. In some states, regardless of job title, you are still held to your highest license - meaning you are held accountable as if you were an RN even though you are not employed as one. This doesn't mean that you can't work as a CNA with an RN license, just that you would be held to a higher standard without (in your case) the appropriate training (or pay). Call Maryland's state board of nursing and ask them this question before you throw any time or money at obtaining CNA certification. If you do consider expanding your search to other areas, I'd encourage you to look for teaching hospitals with nurse residency programs. These are typically 12-month programs designed for new BSN grads. An evidence-based research project is usually part of the program. Something like this will look great on a grad school application. Also, is grad school a sure thing? Meaning, have you already been accepted? If not, for the sake of improving my credentials, I'd rather move to get a job at a teaching hospital with a residency program than stay in Baltimore and work at a nursing home or SNF.

Latkes and jesourie both have great suggestions and I've found those are pretty much the only way any of the new grads I know have gotten jobs. The way I got jobs even AFTER I had a few years of experience were all by showing up somewhere physically, in person, dressed nicely and with resume in hand. When I was a new grad, I also signed up for all those dumb free nursing and healthcare magazines (like ADVANCE Nursing and Nursing 2013 or whatever) as well as kept an eye on my local nursing union's publications even though I wasn't in the union. I'd look them through every month and put all the hospital job fairs and open houses on my calendar and just show up. HR can be a black pit of despair and I found that every hospital ever says to just submit an online resume (which, yes, you should still do) but that even though I applied to pretty much every hospital within a 30 mile range of where I was, I never got a single callback with those. Every time I showed up to an open house, though, I got a card of a manager or two, they saw my face and my bright shiny eagerness and I got some face time with the company. And I got jobs at two of those places.

Are you interested in Home Health Care? I have no specific job leads for you, by MeMail if you would like some information about my company, which always seems to be recruiting nurses.

When I got out of school I moved to a rural area where I got a pretty good med surg job. I was lucky to get it. I'd condider moving to an area where they need people and will orient you. As a new grad you really know nothing - I didn't! You might just plan on spending a year or two working. The money is good, and you will be making a great basis for further study.

Have you asked EVERY SINGLE PERSON YOU KNOW whether they have connections in Baltimore? Especially nursing school classmates and nursing professors (bonus if they are connected with your Baltimore grad program). In my experience searching for RN jobs, professors can be incredibly generous, and are always eager to hook up promising grads. And you may find that the sister or brother of a nursing school colleague has a sister at Hopkins who knows the nurse manager of her unit and can put in a good word . . . You don't have years of nursing experience on your side, but you do have recent contact with all of your school connections.

Don't forget to look for jobs in clinics, too. I know a couple new-grad nurses who did telephone triage for a year or two (one in an OB clinic, one in a peds clinic) and then switched to acute care.

They ask that applicants not call to check on application status, ask that we not contact nurse managers, say that there is no need for us to contact anyone after submitting an application, as HR will let us know if our resume is being considered. Unless you already know someone at the organization through some other means, follow these instructions. I think your best option is to try to get to know people at the organizations through other means. Have you considered looking for nursing associations or the like?