Nursing connections in the mountain west?

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

A big part of getting myself back out west depends of my GF getting a nursing gig. She graduates from nursing school in less than a year. She is currently in a "teaching hospital" program meaning she is in the hospital daily and not just learning from a book. She already has her BS in Biology and a BA in French. She has a 4.0 in nursing school. She is class president. She is an elected member of the NJ Student Nursing Board. She is currently externing in the ICU at the hospital this summer. Smarts/personality/caring/etc she freaking has it all.

There is a good chance she will be hired into the ICU here when she graduates. The head nurse has already mentioned this, but if there was an opportunity out west that would be amazing.

Anyone have experience with this? Do "out of state" nurses get beat out for jobs by locals always? I know there are a TON of nurses now, but I see lots of job postings online. Assuming she kills it on the NCLEX, is it possible to get hired remotely for a decent nursing gig?


The guardian must return to the whiteroom ASAP

[systemoverblow'd]

Taking her away from her connections of industry people right out of school is probably the worst thing you could do for her. She will have more opportunity there I imagine as she has already proved herself. Starting from scratch entry level sucks.

[farmer]

More importantly, does she want to move out west?

[BC13]

The demand for Nurses is varies from place to place. Most of Jersey has a surplus of Nurses. Areas of NY still have shortages of Nurses (Albany, Buffalo, parts of NYC) while others (Syr, Utica, Rochester) have plenty of Nurses.

If she can get a year of specialty experience she will have a lot more opportunities no matter where she wants to relocate. On the flip side, if she is the whole package...as a Nurse....she will end up with a full time gig if she wants one. She may just have to work in a Med Surg unit that may not be her 1st choice.

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[Whiteroom_Guardian]

More importantly, does she want to move out west?

Yes. I got lucky. She has only been to California with me and has yet to visit CO/UT/WY/MT, but her roommate in college was from Durango and basically told her, "If anyone should ever live out west its you..." She lived in South Africa and London for about half of her life and like I she realizes that damp + cloudy weather = teh suck. Plus she loves the outdoors, hiking, camping, biking, etc.

Obviously, we wouldn't move anywhere sight unseen. If she didn't like some place we wouldn't live there. Maybe the high mountains will be too cold for her, so we really aren't limiting ourselves very much. Access to good skiing would be huge, but some really good singletrack, nice weather, and cooler people would be great.

The reality of us staying until 2015 seems logical. She can gain alot of experience by staying here and working for a year in the ICU.

[Sirshredalot]

FWIW, my old Bozeangeles roommate moved back East, married a nurse, and then went out to Boulder after she finished her grad degree. He made it sound like she had no problem whatsoever getting hired from across the country.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

FWIW, my old Bozeangeles roommate moved back East, married a nurse, and then went out to Boulder after she finished her grad degree. He made it sound like she had no problem whatsoever getting hired from across the country.

Boulder seems like the logical first stop. I know the town after living there for 7 years. Close to many hospitals. Not actually in the mountains so she won't get the shock of the elevation/pre-dawn cold at 9000ft. Better chance I can find some work.

[Mathematics]

Went through the same thing with my gf about a year & a half ago, she had a guaranteed job doing exactly what she wanted (ICU) at the hospital in Anchorage, but we decided to move to CO right after she graduated instead.

That was a huge mistake on our part.

My gf was similar in that she had a 4.0, great references, etc etc. We spent 9 months in Denver and even with some connections into the various hospitals (including in Boulder), all she could get lined up was a part time gig at a nursing home, so we said F it & moved west, figuring smaller towns = better odds. She spent another 6 months working (FT at least) at a nursing home in Montrose, and then finally, thanks to a family friend, got into the hospital there to start doing what she's wanted to do all along. Denver/Boulder area, with zero experience and no "in" to a hospital setting, the only jobs she'll really have a chance at are nursing homes. And hearing the stories about what nurses have to do & see at a nursing home...kind of depressing. Any nurse that works at those places is an absolute saint as far as I'm concerned.

Anyways the "nurses can find jobs anywhere" thing is only true if you've got 2-3 years experience. We were lucky in that I travel for my job, so we could up & move wherever we needed to for the gf to work. If your girls got a guaranteed gig lined up out of school, she'd be foolish not to get atleast a years experience before moving anywhere.

[systemoverblow'd]

^^^ exactly. I wasn't talking out my ass up there. My ex was the residency co-ordinator for OB-GYN depts for a couple major Boston hospitals. The horror stories I heard of for very in demand people were frightening. Throwing a job away so you can get your ski on is borderline criminal in this economy.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Yeah, we would only move after we flew out, she interviewed, and was offered a job. Definitely wont move just hoping she will have a job when we get there.

[beaterdit]

Talk to me when you're a little closer out and I might be able to help out if you're interested in Salt Lake. We've got two level one Hospitals here and several lesser facilities. I work in one of the ICUs at the U of U. Right now we're short and considering some new-grad applicants. I know they've been hiring new grads in the ED. Not sure how things will look a year from now.

Internships and clinical recommendations are more important than grades. If she can get ICU experience she'll be much more marketable.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Talk to me when you're a little closer out and I might be able to help out if you're interested in Salt Lake. We've got two level one Hospitals here and several lesser facilities. I work in one of the ICUs at the U of U. Right now we're short and considering some new-grad applicants. I know they've been hiring new grads in the ED. Not sure how things will look a year from now.

Internships and clinical recommendations are more important than grades. If she can get ICU experience she'll be much more marketable.

Good stuff man! She is in the ICU interning as I type this. She has been getting right into the mix and while assisting the head doctor last week he came right out and offered her a letter of recommendation when she needs one!

[grskier]

My wife is an ICU/PCU nurse, got hired on at Aspen Valley Hospital right out of school (in Cincinasty)...


There is usually some demand for nurses around here.


Oh, and the economy is starting to recover out here... so there is that too

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Nice gr. Aspen Valley / Carbondale is on our shortlist of possible locations.

Any new construction going on at all?

[schuss]

Yeah, get the experience where you can, my friend had to stick it out in Minot, North Dakota to get good experience. A year or two of good specialty experience and she'll be able to go wherever the F she wants.

[beaterdit]

Also see:

Pediatric ER posting

Some interesting, if a bit old, info here too

[BS720]

OP, this nugget that beaterdit threw out is awesome. Solid hospital system, and a better place to live year-round, if you ask me. SLC does not hurt for snow or terrain, obviously.

FYI, there's no "killing it" on your NCLEX. If you passed it in 75 questions, you missed a max of two questions, possibly none. Your future employer has no way of accessing this information. They just know if you have a license or not.

Hospitals are in a constant states of flux. When the contracts change, or hospitals change their treatment of their nurses, nurses leave. That's a good time to get a job, but a bad time to be joining an angry workforce. As part of the hiring team at my current job, I will say that the last five employees came as friends or coworkers of current employees. We had the option to sift through travelers and students, and choose who we liked the most. No chance in hell we would hire a nurse across the country that had a letter of recommendation from some doctor we've never met. One of our former travelers is looking for a job. No chance she gets hired over my buddy that I've worked with, who has three years of big city trauma experience. If you manage to run into a hospital that's doing a new grad training program, that's a huge opportunity.

Oh, and contrary to some of the other information around here, I would highly recommend that she NOT get acls, pals, cen, ccrn, atls, tncc or anything else until her job makes her take it. It makes you sound like a know it all when you get into the interview process.

[Percy Rideout]

Nice gr. Aspen Valley / Carbondale is on our shortlist of possible locations.

Any new construction going on at all?

Definitely some nursing gigs around town. What kind of construction you in?

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Definitely some nursing gigs around town. What kind of construction you in?

A little of everything. Framing/carpentry, floors/tile, light plumbing, masonry with block and natural stone, drywall/trim, windows, painting, etc.

Have helped on some renos and new construction of houses. Would like to eventually do my own thing, but it would be nice to find some good work wherever we land.

[Z]

Yo Phish! Long time, hope all is well!

Anyhow, my lady is a nurse as well, 8 months experience total now. Seems like 1 year of experience is the ticket.

That said. We've been thinking of moving to Bozeman. Took a trip up there last week, homegirl rolls in to Deaconess hospital with a resume...Gets an interview on the spot, then offered a job at the end...Seems like there is a lot to be said for going to areas you want to live and talking in-person to nurse-manager types. Just one data point here, but it seems like nursing is a pretty good way to live comfortably ski town style and ski 4 days a week.

[grskier]

Nice gr. Aspen Valley / Carbondale is on our shortlist of possible locations.

Any new construction going on at all?

Construction is definitely on the up tick

[Shredhead]

My wife is an ICU/PCU nurse, got hired on at Aspen Valley Hospital right out of school (in Cincinasty)...

She work with Mary Fran? Good skier, good girl.

[Dromond]

A big part of getting myself back out west depends of my GF getting a nursing gig. She graduates from nursing school in less than a year. She is currently in a "teaching hospital" program meaning she is in the hospital daily and not just learning from a book. She already has her BS in Biology and a BA in French. She has a 4.0 in nursing school. She is class president. She is an elected member of the NJ Student Nursing Board. She is currently externing in the ICU at the hospital this summer. Smarts/personality/caring/etc she freaking has it all. ...

Your situation matched our almost exactly 3 years ago. My significant other has nearly those same qualifications, including two degrees. She was graduating from school in MA be we really wanted to move to Seattle. All her classmates were having hard times finding their first job. She had a job hookup in Maine but there is no opportunity for me there. She got a medical assistant job for Planned Parenthood and we moved out here. While moving to Seattle was fantastic, working at a job under her qualifications for 6 months (which felt like 6 years!) was incredibly difficult. She applied to more than 180 (you read that right) nursing jobs in Seattle without getting a single interview. She was desperate to start her career and it was just really difficult. Finally, she got a recommendation from someone she worked with for an entry-level nursing job at a hospital in Seattle. Over two years later, she is doing extremely well at work, loves the hospital and pretty much never wants to change jobs.

Seniority within a hospital is big in nursing, so if your partner starts working where you live now it might be harder to uproot. Then again, with a few years experience I'm sure it would be infinitely easier to find another job.

Taking her away from her connections of industry people right out of school is probably the worst thing you could do for her. She will have more opportunity there I imagine as she has already proved herself. Starting from scratch entry level sucks.

In our experience this is true.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Yo Phish! Long time, hope all is well!

Anyhow, my lady is a nurse as well, 8 months experience total now. Seems like 1 year of experience is the ticket.

That said. We've been thinking of moving to Bozeman. Took a trip up there last week, homegirl rolls in to Deaconess hospital with a resume...Gets an interview on the spot, then offered a job at the end...Seems like there is a lot to be said for going to areas you want to live and talking in-person to nurse-manager types. Just one data point here, but it seems like nursing is a pretty good way to live comfortably ski town style and ski 4 days a week.

Yeah dude, its been forever. Glad you got dialed into a ski nurse lady. My toughest thing will be convincing/showing my girl that mountain dry cold isn't as bad as the swamp temperate zone cold. She doesn't do so great in the winter unfortunately.

[grskier]

She work with Mary Fran? Good skier, good girl.

Yes. One of her good friends at the hospital. She is a great skier.

Phishy...

Have her look into Valley View in Glenwood Springs, and Aspen Valley Hospital in Aspen. A lot of very cool nurses at both hospitals.