New nurse graduates face many challenges when graduating from nursing school. Common challenges are:
- Passing their licensing and certification exams
- Finding a job
- Moving to a new place
- Dealing with a new job orientation.
- Navigating the social structure of a new job
Besides dealing with these issues, many new nurse graduates are still recovering from the stress filled years of nursing school.
One way to cope is to develop a strong support system and arm yourself with information. You probably had a strong support system of family, friends, and fellow nurse graduates that cheered you on while you were in school. Also, you plan to land a job with a awesome new nurse orientation program to help ease your path as a new nurse.
- Many of your family and friends may not have the frame of reference to truly understand your challenges. They may not have the lived experience or the knowledge to assist you in your career needs (unless they have previous experience in the healthcare field). Also, your fellow nurse graduates are facing the same challenges and may not be able to help you.
- Jobs for new nurses are competitive. The only thing more competitive than getting a job as a new nurse is getting accepted into a nurse residency program. An online network could alert you to jobs, programs, and opportunities. Social networking can lead to informal mentoring such business advise and career tips.
Another tactic is to apply a personal social approach for business networking. The majority of people connect with their friends and coworkers on social media. You quickly find out who their friends are. Always connect with in-person colleagues and business connections on social networks. This allows you to leverage an in-person connection in the online atmosphere if needed.
This post was written as part of the Scrubs Blog Carnival. Are you a nurse blogger? Feel free to join us.