Advice: trying to find employment in a hospital...

[azuldelcielo]

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I've been looking for a hospital job for about 3 months, and so far, I haven't had any luck. Out of the 15 positions that I've applied to at 4 different hospitals (transporter, nurse assistant, lab assistant, patient sitter, etc.), I know that I didn't get 12 of them. I truly thought that I would get an interview for the patient transporter job, as the qualifications were being a high school graduate and being able to read, write, and speak English. However, yesterday, I received an email saying that the position had been filled 🙁.

I've volunteered in the ER before, so I've had some patient contact experience. I'm a certified nurse assistant, but I do not have any experience (outside of training by the Red Cross) so I feel slightly under-qualified for nurse assistant/patient care tech jobs, and my sister thinks that I'm over-qualified to be a patient transporter.

I know that my resume is in good shape and that my references are good too, and I haven't had a single interview. I have no idea what I might be doing wrong. I really wanted to get some more patient contact experience (preferably, paid employment), but I'm starting to feel like this jobsearch is useless and have a feeling that I won't be getting a job before the summer's done.

Any thoughts/advice?

 

[deleted74029]

Its really hard to find jobs in hospitals. The only time i've have ever had any luck was because I knew a doc that practiced there. Actually when I think of it, every job I have ever had was because I knew someone.

 

[chad5871]

Just keep applying. It took me 3 months and over 40 applications to get my job as a unit secretary in the ER. You also might want to look into doing some clinical research if there's an academic hospital near you, or trying to find an ER scribe program nearby.

Good luck!

 

[shaggybill]

I waited until I saw a job I wanted in the ED and then had my friend call her friend, who is the Director of the ED. 😀

Having connections is always nice...

 

[TheMagicCookie]

I feel your pain. It took me 4 months to land the position that I got in the hospital...and I had doctors who worked there going to human resources recommending me. I, too, applied to about 5 hospitals and many different positions. All I can tell you is to hang in there. I almost lost hope, but ended up in an awesome establishment working in the OR and I absolutely love it.

 

[azuldelcielo]

Thanks for all of the info. I know that there is one hospital near me that is very difficult to get into (I haven't seen any openings there), but I didn't think it was like that everywhere.

I'll try to keep my patience and will continue to apply.

 

[trustd1]

something you can consider while you are searching for a job is volunteer at a nonprofit clinic. from my personal experience, nonprofit clinics are almost always looking for volunteers. having prior training (i.e. nurse assistant, EMT, RN) opens up many doors to have responsibilities that involves plenty of clinical exposure and patient interaction. for me, I am volunteering as an EMT-B so my responsibilities involves triaging and collecting the vitals for incoming patients.

as for paid employment, i'm in the same bubble as you. no luck at any hospitals or clinics as of yet. since i am bio major, i am also looking into lab temp positions for that science/lab experience.

hope this helps. good luck!