Dear Nurse Keith......

I just received an email from a nurse who shared with me a very common dilemma. She's been out of nursing school for about a year, but finding employment is a challenge. Meanwhile, I'm aware that even some seasoned nurses are having trouble in the job marketplace. The following is my edited response, which goes out to all nurses, but especially those in this writer's particular conundrum.

Dear Nurse,

Thank you for writing, and I appreciate your candor.

Many new grads find themselves in a similar position these days. Those who do the hiring in the industry have not yet caught up with the paradigm changes that are occurring in nursing and healthcare over the last few years. So, new grads are stuck not being able to find Med/Surg positions, but are then less than desirable for non-Med/Surg positions, according to outdated hiring standards.

And since you mentioned the topic of holistic nursing, there are indeed many paths out there, and I'm in touch with a large number of those maverick nurses, many of whom have been interviewed on my podcast, RNFM Radio.

I've been talking to many nurses who find themselves in this particular conundrum, and this is an example of what I do for them through my particular brand of career coaching:

• Talk about the nurse's complete employment history
• Get a sense of the nurse as a person, not just a professional
• Assess the nurse's skills in interviewing and following up
• Assess the nurse's resume, cover letters, thank you letters
• Help the nurse to maximize their use of Linked In as a powerful network-building tool
• Help the nurse maximize his or her face-to-face networking skills
• Consider more non-traditional nursing roles as options for employment

There's a lot more to it than that, but this is the gist of my current thoughts on the nursing profession and career coaching, especially for newer nurses.

If you'd like to have a complimentary 30-minute consult by phone or Skype, I can make myself available quite soon, so please do be back in touch. 

I'm sending you my best from snowy Santa Fe, and hope to hear from you soon.

Keith