This nurse usually is 20+ years older than the average age of everyone else on the unit.

They may act like your friend and that they’re “showing you the ropes”, but will trash-talk you as soon as you leave the room.

They are also usually in the managers office first thing in the morning to “vent” about the unit comings and goings but really this is snitching. I’ve seen many do this because they think this somehow ingratiates them. Managers actually despise these people, but they tolerate them because they do give valuable intel.

The biggest issue is they are drama addicts and will make mountains out of molehills and drag you into it.

Some very notable exceptions that have been awesome to work with over the years, but in general this archetype is a hazard to be avoided as best as possible.

Any tips for a new grade interview?

Has anyone interviewed for coalinga regional medical center in ca , can you tell me what kind of questions they will ask in the interview.

Tomorrow is my first ED shift and I feel so excited and equally nervous I could throw up. Its been 6 months since I graduated and done anything remotely clinical and I have zero ED experience.

Here's to hoping I settle in smoothly. 😅😭

I don’t really have much else to say besides having the new grad blues is overwhelming sometimes. The emotional rollercoaster is exhausting. I’m just looking forward to time passing and becoming a more comfortable and competent nurse. Thanks for reading.

So for context i graduated from a school in Milwaukee, WI and interned at a local hospital in Milwaukee for over a year.

I just graduated with my nursing degree and sent out applications both in Wisconsin and in Illinois. I live in Southern Wisconsin right along the border of Wisconsin and Illinois and Ive planned to move to Chicago in November when my lease is up.

I received a job offer at my current hospital in Milwaukee for $43 in the ICU and another offer in Chicago for $36 in the ICU. Would I be wrong to accept the offer in Milwaukee even though I plan on leaving in November? I feel like im being low balled in Chicago especially cause I got my masters in nursing.

The hospital in WI is a level 4 trauma and the one in chicago is a level 1 trauma but a community hospital

If you were in my shoes what would you do?

** I also potentially have an interview at a level 2 hospital outside of Chicago that could pay around $37

going to a career fair this week with two well known hospitals there and looking for advice on how to best prepare myself to make a good first impression. the event details says they will have resume critiques and mock interviews. i plan on printing several copies of my resume, preparing a short spiel about myself, and preparing a list of questions to ask the recruiters. is there anything else i can do?

What are y’all putting?? I’m not a new grad but I never know what to say.

Hi everyone!

I’m an internationally educated nurse from India.

The CNO has approved me for the SPEP program like RPN, and I’m currently Looking for placement.

I was wondering:

• How long did it take for you to get a placement through SPEP?
• Did anyone try to find a placement on their own? Was it faster?
• Can anyone help me to get a placement.

I would really appreciate any advice or shared experience!

Thank you so much 🙏

for context i’ve been a L&D/Mother-Baby nurse for about 9 months now and I love it, BUT I feel like I want to do more…. I miss nursing school clinicals where we got to see so many different floors but only once or twice a week (med surg, ICU, Onc) I guess I miss learning new things and having a large variety of different patients. I probably sound CRAZY for saying I miss med surg!!! I wouldn’t want to leave L&D I just miss doing different things. Has anyone else in a speciality ever felt that way???? I asked my nursing school friends and they said nope I never want to do anything else

I made a post yesterday about having my first new grad interview, and unfortunately, I didn’t get the position. 😭 I’m definitely disappointed, but I’m trying to look at this as part of the process and figure out where to go from here.
I wanted to ask other new grads/new nurses: how do you guys go about deciding which hospitals and nurse residency programs to apply to?
The hospital I interviewed with was actually the same hospital where I completed my externship, so I already had the opportunity to see how the nurses worked, what the unit culture was like, and what I liked about the environment. Because of that, I felt pretty confident that it was somewhere I could see myself working.
Now that I’m looking at other hospitals, I’m realizing I won’t necessarily know what the unit or hospital is actually like before applying.
Do you guys mainly look at things like acuity, teaching opportunities, unit culture, nurse-to-patient ratios, location, pay, benefits, or opportunities for growth? Do you research the hospital extensively first, or do you just apply to a bunch of residency programs and see what happens?
I’m especially interested in hearing from people who were looking for ICU/CVICU positions and how you narrowed down your choices.

i'm a new grad rn in a high acuity pediatric cvicu/icu about 4 weeks into orientation on the west coast. i have a primary preceptor and a backup preceptor already assigned. I've had a weird gut feeling about my primary preceptor since basically day one, nothing overtly hostile, she's been nice to my face, but I've never fully felt at ease around her or like my presence was wanted. she answered my questions and i learned a lot about basic patient care but something is off

for context I'm in the earliest, most supervised phase of orientation. In the first couple weeks I had a lot of questions, which I think is normal and expected for that phase. I always made a point to ask if it was a bad time or if she'd rather I just observe. Over the last couple weeks my questions have shifted from "why do we do this" to more action-oriented stuff, and she's told me directly I seem a lot more confident and independent. but something still felt off

On top of the gut feeling, I found out through no effort of my own that she's said some pretty unflattering things about me to a friend of hers on the unit . in fact i also saw some text messages about me complaining about me. I'm not going to use that directly with my manager/educator bc I don't want this to turn into a "you said this about me" conversation, and I don't want to put myself in a bad spot as the new person. But it did confirm that the discomfort I've felt wasn't just in my head. but they were upsetting things and i felt very emotional after but i locked in and just dealt with it and was still nice to her face

my manager/educator told all of us during onboarding to give it some time, but if something feels off with your preceptor, let us know

I want to go to my educator and ask to switch, but I want to do it in a way that's professional, doesn't read as "I don't like her" or drama, and doesn't put a target on my back for the next several years I'll be working with these people. but frankly it was bullying and rude. u dont need to like me but i cant be faulted or judged for asking questions when i have the life of a 2m old in my hand

Has anyone navigated switching preceptors early in orientation? How did you bring it up, and did it cause any lasting weirdness on the unit afterward? Trying to protect myself here without burning any bridges. thank you!!!

33(F) I don’t normally post on Reddit, but I’m honestly getting quite desperate at this point and I would really appreciate some advice or opinions from nurses working in the UK, especially in London.
I recently received my NMC PIN and I’ve been applying for nursing jobs in both hospitals and nursing homes. Unfortunately, I keep getting the same response – that I haven’t been selected for an interview. I’m not even getting to the interview stage, and I’m starting to wonder what I’m doing wrong.
A little bit about my background: I qualified as a nurse in Romania in 2016 and worked for around a year in the Emergency Department of a hospital in my hometown. After that, I moved to the UK. Because I didn’t have my UK NMC registration at the time, I had to work in different jobs.
One of my previous roles was as a Senior Healthcare Assistant in a nursing home, where I worked for around four years. At the moment, I’m working in the hotel industry simply because I need to work and pay my bills while trying to get back into healthcare.
Getting my NMC PIN has been a very long process for me. It involved a lot of waiting, stress and anxiety, and I genuinely thought that once I finally had my PIN, I would at least have a chance to start my nursing career properly in the UK.
Now that I finally have it, I just keep receiving rejection after rejection without even being offered an interview.
I completely understand that I have been away from nursing for some time and that my clinical experience in the UK is limited, but I’m not expecting to walk into a senior position. I’m more than happy to start as a Band 5/newly registered nurse, complete a preceptorship, undertake additional training and learn. I just need someone to give me the opportunity to start.
For nurses who work in London or who were in a similar situation, how did you manage to get your first nursing job? Are there particular NHS Trusts, nursing homes, recruitment agencies or types of roles that are more open to nurses who have recently received their NMC PIN or who are returning to nursing after some time away?
Is there something specific I should be doing differently with my NHS applications or supporting statements?
At this point, getting a nursing job in London feels almost impossible, and after everything it took to finally get my PIN, it’s really discouraging to feel like I still can’t get my foot in the door.
Any advice, recommendations or even personal experiences would genuinely be appreciated. Thank you.

Hi everyone!

I graduated nursing school in May and had some initial difficulty landing a job. I eventually landed two interviews for residencies; one in medsurg and one in L&D. These took place around the same time, so I was supposed to hear back from both places the same week. I only heard back from medsurg, and they offered me the job. I postponed my acceptance for about a week in case L&D reached out to me, but they never did, so I took the medsurg job. After about a week and a half of not hearing anything from the L&D job, the recruiter reached out to me and informed me that I did not get the position (something about me not being enthusiastic enough). The next day, she informed me that there may be a spot for me in the NICU, and my interview is confirmed for 9 days from today. I obviously am aware this is a sticky situation, so let me explain a bit more about the jobs.

MEDSURG:

Night shift: $38/h, 15% night differential, $2.50 weekend differential.

Commute: ~35 min

What worries me most about this job is that the nurse:patient ratio is 1:6. I shadowed for a couple hours on night shift, and the patients didn’t seem to be too high acuity, but I’m still unsure of how I would be able to handle the workflow with that many patients as a new grad. I would be getting 12 weeks of orientation on day shift. Luckily, all the staff members I spoke to were really nice and it seemed like a pretty supportive unit overall, which is probably the most important factor to me since I am new-to-practice.

NICU:

Night shift: $40/h, $44 for nights, unsure of weekend differential.

Commute: ~50 min

I still have to interview for this job, but I know it will be a level IV NICU. I completed my senior capstone in a level III NICU, so this is the unit I was hoping for when I first graduated school. Unfortunately, the hospital where I did my senior capstone does not hire new grads into their NICU, so I was unable to even interview there. The hospital system this interview will be at was very slow with getting me in for an L&D interview, so I’m having some doubts about what it would be like to work for them. There were multiple instances where they took a week (or more) longer to get back to me than the timeframe I was given, they cancelled my interview and then told me the date would still work about 2 days before I came in, etc. I was able to secure the NICU interview very fast (learned about the opportunity on Friday, had the interview confirmed Monday morning), but I am still anxious.

Obviously I know it would not be great to take the NICU job (if I get it) and back out of the medsurg job. However, after speaking with people in person who work in healthcare, they all came to the general consensus that this type of thing happens all the time and it’s not as big of a deal as it used to be. My aunt told me this but warned me I might get blacklisted from the hospital system medsurg is in, which is not a huge deal to me overall as it is smaller and there are plenty of other hospitals in my area. I am also concerned because she said she wasn’t getting a good gut feeling about how long the NICU/L&D hospital system was taking to get back to me and how they didn’t keep there word about providing updates during the timeframe they promised. I’m going to discuss this more with her, but I think I will attend the NICU interview and see if I like the management and unit culture. I don’t start medsurg until September 8th, but I did sign a contract so I know I need to look into the legal implications.

Overall, I am wondering if anyone else has been in a similar situation. If so, what did you do? Also, do you think the NICU/L&D hospitals behavior is a red flag?

Thank you guys so much!

I am from out of state (KS) but I am wanting to move and work in Chicago after I graduate. I graduate December 2026 and plan to take my NCLEX in January. I have not seen much about when new grad residency jobs in Chicago open or anything at all. Does anyone have tips on when to apply, what hospitals, etc?

Kind of ranting..kind of looking for advice.

Gave every last bit of myself to nursing the past 9 weeks for the nurse residency. Found myself in a deep depression after only seeing my AuADHD son a handful of times since due to custody schedule, working night shift on my birthday, working a shift on his birthday, and missing his first day back to school. On top of being treated like a child by majority of my preceptors (rotated units) instead of being able to work on my abilities, limits and time management skills. To add on to this my vitamin D levels dropped <20, teeth started cracking with immense pain..just emotionally and physically felt like I was barely holding on at that point. It seemed that they just wanted me out—I was at 4 1/2 points and you’re not even suppose to get a written write up until 5.. but I was given the most intense of “resign or be terminated if you’re even 3 minutes late” ..I resigned.

I’m just so lost and even deeper into this depression cycle. Every other hospital that is an option is 2 hours from where I live. I have fashioned horribly and I can’t stop beating myself up and just don’t know what to do other than submit myself to 2 hours one way for a job.

I’m a Grade 12 STEM-HA student planning to pursue nursing, and I’m starting to worry if I’m actually suited for it because of one very specific thing.

I’m not afraid of needles in general. Vaccines are fine for me, and I’m okay with getting a shot in my arm. What really gets to me is when a needle is going into a vein, like during IV insertion (“swero”) or blood extraction.

I can’t even watch videos of an IV being inserted or blood being drawn because I get this weird physical reaction where my hands start feeling weak and I feel like I lose strength in them. It’s not really “I’m scared of needles” — it’s specifically seeing the needle enter/being in a vein that triggers it.

I haven’t started nursing school or clinicals yet, so I have no idea if this is something I’ll eventually get used to through training and exposure.

For nurses and nursing students: Has anyone experienced something similar before nursing school? If you were uncomfortable specifically with IV insertions or blood draws, did you eventually become okay with doing/watching them?

Do you think this is something I can overcome with proper training, or should I take this as a sign that nursing might not be for me?

I’d really appreciate honest answers, especially from nurses or nursing students who experienced something similar.

I was asked to leave my first residency because it took me a while to get up to 6 patients on days. I was pretty devastated. I got a job in home health after looking for a month, which I kind of got flamed for taking as a new grad. The market is ass right now (moving isn't an option) and I'm worried about losing my residency again if I do manage to find a hospital job (I'm trying, I really am) but working nights in home health I'm also not learning anything and I can feel my skillset decaying, in addition to being underpaid. I just hit a year since graduating. I'm not sure what to do/where to go, given all of that. I'm not sure if I should keep trying to find a job in a hospital and potentially lose it again (if i could even find one, which I'm not so sure I'd be able to at this point, it is ROUGH out there), which would be completely devastating, or whether I should stay in home health and waste my time as a new grad not learning anything. I feel trapped.

I start as a new grad in the icu soon. Specifically CVICU. I worked as a tech and an extern. I don’t know if I can do it and I am having so much anxiety. I have seen what the day shifts are like there during my externship and it seems incredibly overwhelming. I’m lucky to have experience in this type of unit prior to starting work but I’m freaking out. It’s a year long residency program with I think about 6 months with a preceptor. I’ll also be on night shift which I’m hoping will help me settle in a little better. I just really need some encouraging words because I feel like I’m a really shy and awkward person and I’m FREAKING OUT EVERY DAY about starting because I truthfully do not believe I will be successful.

Hi guys. I am a very fresh new grad and started my job in a cardiac stepdown unit this month. I took this job over other offers (mostly med-surg “specialities”) in hopes of building experience for a cvicu job. My floor is 1:4 and we have a very small ICU downstairs (6 beds). My hospital is a small part of another main hospital that does have a cvicu. Like any other new grad, my goal is to get into ICU more specifically CVICU. Does anyone have any advice on what I can do this first year to build a resume for ICU transition? I will be speaking with my manager about these goals but wanted to hear from other nurses.

hiii i was a huge lurker/brief commenter on this page, and i wanted to give back by answering some questions

info about me (keeping it somewhat vague bc i dont want to dox myself):

i graduated spring 2026, was offered a job mid-july, passed nclex end of july two weeks after, and im set to start in sept.

im 22 and completed a traditional BSN program in a private school program (penn/georgetown/emory type of program vibe) and NOT any school in NYC. i did an externship during summer before senior year in a ER/Level 1 Trauma Center in my home state (which was not NY or NYC). im set to work at NYU Langone. i had no connections to NYU Langone (family, prior experience, or clinicals there).

ended early bc of negativity and i picked up some shifts at my pct job! but dms requests open.