Nursing connections in the mountain west?

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 :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.

More importantly, does she want to move out west?

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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Originally Posted by farmer

More importantly, does she want to move out west?

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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.

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.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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.

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.

^^^ 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.

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.

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.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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!

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 ;)

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

Any new construction going on at all?

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.

Also see:

Pediatric ER posting

Some interesting, if a bit old, info here too

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.

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Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian

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

Any new construction going on at all?

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

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Originally Posted by Asspen

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

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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.

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.

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Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian

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

Any new construction going on at all?

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Construction is definitely on the up tick

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Originally Posted by grskier

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

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

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Originally Posted by 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. ...

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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.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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In our experience this is true.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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.

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Originally Posted by Shredhead

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

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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.

Salida?


Definitely looking into more of the warmer/lower elevation towns.


I assume year round work for a grunt like me could be pretty tough though. Work at monarch in the winter and build stuff in the summer?

My wife went back to school in her mid 30's, and the Aspen Valley Medical foundation paid almost all her schooling costs. After getting her RN license, the same hospital (Aspen) would not hire her as a new nurse. She has worked the last few years as an ER nurse at Valley View (Glenwood) to get some experience under her belt. In time she will hopefully get into the Aspen hospital, as we live in Aspen.

The Valley View hospital is awesome. I am having rotator cuff surgery there tomorrow.

WG, I work as an electrician. The economy is turning around, but it is still pretty competitive here with cheaper work traveling a long way to get work.

Interesting to hear the American perspective on this. I am in Alberta, Canada. I live in the Rockies close to skiing and drive 50 minutes each way to work.Working as a nurse in the city(childrens hospital: ER, PICU and critical care transport RN) and skiing/biking on days off with out having to venture far from home. The general theme seems to be similar. Many jobs, then no jobs however the common ground is that if you have somewhere you can get experience stay there for a year or two then start looking elsewhere. Use your connections to develop your skills as there is a huge difference between a new grad and one with several years experience. Also GPA doesn't mean shit if you don't present/interview well. We are going through some interesting times up here with government cutbacks/ health care reorganization etc. One thing sort of going for us is that we are unionized so that helps to an extent.
I know several nurses who have worked south of the border as well as several American nurses who have worked up here. Completely different systems with different perks i guess. One thing they all say is that Nursing is cyclical. Be persistent and keep your eyes open and eventually something will work out.
I too am hoping to travel south sometime in the future to work in SLC or Denver Children ED if the opportunity should arise. Never hurts to experience more skiing !!
If anyone has any questions about the Canadian system or coming north let me know!

SLC is reputedly one of the lowest pay areas for RNs near skiing, along with MT in general. I hear they are starting new grads at $18/hr. :(

Of course the biggest Denver hospital system is starting starting new grads at $20.50/hr.

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Originally Posted by grskier

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.

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Is VV still making new grads sign a 3 year contract?

Phish: I assume she is in a BSN program from what you said? If not her fight is all the harder.

It is a hard market for new grads. Bottom line: don't move without a job, and if she gets that ICU job have her work it until she gets another job. Moving with no job is shooting craps... too easily yields desperation that turns into choices between night shift med/surg and day shift at a nursing home after 12 months of fruitless searching, a shitty place for someone with their heart set on critical care.

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Originally Posted by Summit

Is VV still making new grads sign a 3 year contract?

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I am not sure what the current policy is.. In 09 my wife did that. That is only for a new hire out of school. The hospital invests in a lot of training of new graduates

Signing on for three years or even two as a n00b just seems like a bit too long of a recipe for "permission to fuck my schedule and minimize raises." I hear CO HCA new grad programs are two year contracts. Where you start can make a huge difference in pay... in CO new grads can make anywhere from $20.50 to $28.50 base pay and benefits vary wildly from 2 weeks PTO + crappy health insurance to 5 weeks vacation + 3 weeks sick time with great health plans. Some places have no vacation at all because low-census call-offs burn up all your PTO in order to keep your benefits.

Summit, she is in a 2-year program at a teaching hospital. She figured it would be best to learn by actually being at a hospital everyday instead of going to a BSN program at the local university. Why is BSN so much better? Students in her school have more one on one with patients than students at any other program in the state.

Not sure what valley view is doing with contracts and new grads.

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Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian

Summit, she is in a 2-year program at a teaching hospital. She figured it would be best to learn by actually being at a hospital everyday instead of going to a BSN program at the local university. Why is BSN so much better? Students in her school have more one on one with patients than students at any other program in the state.

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As I understand you, she is in a hospital diploma program and won't have a degree in nursing. I am glad we are clear on this point. Why/what/when/where of the diploma vs degree doesn't enter into the practical answer to your original question. That doesn't make her incapable, incompetent, or anything, but it is a huge factor in your question. I want to be clear I am not judging anyone's competence whether they are diploma ADN or BSN. I am however talking market reality.

Bottom line, she is going to have an EXTREMELY hard time getting a job in a western hospital with no degree, no experience, and no connections. Odds aren't as bad as Powerball, but they aren't much better. That is what the job market is. The market wants new grads to have BSNs to work in hospitals, (4 year degrees in other fields not considered as substitutes), particularly new grad programs. Not even having an associates in nursing is a problem in the West. Diploma programs have their merits, but they are almost completely extinct because the market wants degreed nurses. BSN nurses will be the majority of new grads within the next year or two. Annually, only 4% percent of new nurses in the US come from hospital diploma programs, and almost all of those are in the North East. If her goal is to work in an ICU in the mountainous west, he would be a fool to do anything but get in where she has connections out there (where a diploma might be respected by the hiring manager) and while she earns her 1-2 years of ICU experience she should earn her RN-BSN whether she pays or her employer pays. With her previous degrees she could do it in one year and mostly online. She would be very wise to choose a CCNE or ACEN (NLNAC) accredited RN-BSN program. Not doing so will permanently be a limitation on her employability.

Feel free to browse the ads out in the mountainous west. You are going to see 90% of the hospital jobs reading:
"Active RN license, 1 years experience required, 2 years preferred, ADN required, BSN preferred"
"Active RN license, 1 year experience preferred, BSN required."
"New graduate program, BSN required"

Yeah anything less than a BSN anymore and you're gonna be working in the nursing home. If she can get an ICU job back there out of her current program it would be wise to take that. I kind of assumed she was getting a BSN as that seems to be where everything is going now.

With two years of ICU experience she should be able to find a job in almost any market though. If she can further her education economically in the meantime that's a good option. Is this a certificate program? I don't really understand what it is. I only have a ASN myself but when I entered the field it was a different animal. It's much more competitive now. If she has to sign a two year contract to get some good experience, it's worth it IMO. Getting screwed on your schedule in a good hospital job is better than sitting pretty in the nursing home, and two years goes by pretty quick.

Oh yeah, the pay in the Salt Lake Valley is pretty bad but it's not much lower than Denver, like Summit said, a couple bucks. Living is a bit cheaper here too, as is real estate.

^^Back in the day (and even still today, rarely), people would put together a program in a hospital without a university attached to it. They couldn't grant an ADN, so they got diplomas. Still usually takes 2 years, but they cut some of the classroom crap that it takes to get an ADN(sociology, etc).

Summit, I should probably point out a loophole for you to look at, when she has her two years of experience. She can get into travel nursing. The pay sucks, but it gets your foot in the door. You just make sure you don't sign a contract stating you won't work for the hospital for 12 months after you complete the travel assignment. Close to the end of the contract, you can inquire about staying per diem. This has lead to 3 full time offers for me. If she does strong work on her contract, they will want to keep her around. If she can function in the unit, they won't give a shit about her degree.

Huh, didn't know such a thing existed. Still seems like regardless of your degree, if you have solid experience you're gonna be OK.

Just asked a new grad on my unit what she makes and it's $22/hr with an ADN. As a rule, we don't take new grads, especially ADNs, unless they were nursing student interns with one of our cohorts or critical care interns but she was an HCA (CNA) in good standing on our unit for a few years.

Yes, she will graduate in June with a diploma not a BSN. Her reasoning is that BSN = more research experience and less clinical time actually working with patients.

She has done alot of research during the summer interning for a family friend/MD at Bronx Hospital while she was getting her BS in Biology. Yes, I am sure it is harder for her to get a job without a BSN, but she isn't just some girl straight out of HS. Her undergrad Biology degree from a top school, perfect 4.0, class president, holding 2 positions on the state board, already having interned in the ICU, research experience at a major city hospital, as well as being fluent in multiple languages, etc will have to count for something.

I am just selfishly hoping we can gtfo of NJ sooner rather than later. This place is killing me.

Truly a BSN (or BScN) is more valuable than a diploma. that being said, its worth varies in different locations and settings. To be truly mobile and to take advantage of the multiple career opportunities a BSN is the ticket. Some states / provinces will not recognize a diploma program as entry into practice, some health care facilitates prefer it when hiring new grads.... will her other degrees add value, yes. but to a regulatory body, no.

My advise, get licensed in the state/province you were educated in first (rather than trying to originally register in a state/province that you were not educated in). Then, begin the licensing process for the state/province you want to work in. This can take several months.

If there is an area or facility you really want to work in, take a casual job first (unless there is something better available). If you want something more permanent, then you can usually apply internally to the positions later.

Nursing can be old school, almost militant. Many hiring managers trained back in the day of uniforms, staff dorms, and saluting doctors. work experience and time in go further than actual credentials.

I would avoid signing commitment contracts, unless they offer transferable credentials.. IE a fully funded critical care course may be worth a 2 year commitment (but that's a cost benefit equation you need to do your self).

If she had a year of critical care experience and valid ACLS, I could promise her a job in British Columbia's Interior.