REAL NURSES, REAL CONVERSATIONS
advertise with us find a job post your topic join the community log in
RealityRN
Managing Your Career articles
« Newer Entries Older Entries »

Managing Your Career
Preparing new nurses for the long-haul.

Your first day on the job, did you quiver when you did an IV start? Most new nurses feel ill-equipped and insecure their first year. And according to Jean Roberson, a nurse educator who implemented a residency program at Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, IL, their stress will peak at the six-month mark--once orientation is over.

Fortunately, some hospitals have begun to recognize the benefit [...]
read >  


Managing Your Career
The 7 questions you must be ready to answer.

It’s not about what you would do, it’s about what you did do.

That’s the essence of behavioral-based interviewing, which aims to discover how the interviewee acted in specific employment-related situations.

Why is behavioral-based interviewing so popular? Because, according to Carolyn Steffel, a recruiter at Edward Hospital, a magnet hospital in Naperville, IL, “You can teach someone skills, but you cannot easily teach someone a behavior. Despite [...]
read >  


Managing Your Career
Making a lasting impression.

With the touted nursing shortage, you’d think you could bomb an interview and still land any job you want. Think again. Hospitals—especially, reputable ones—are selective. Recruiters use the interview to predict your performance and if you’ll be a good fit. Based on interviews, nurses are often rejected. That’s why Carolyn Steffel, a nurse recruiter at Edward Hospital, a magnet hospital in Naperville, IL, says to [...]
read >  


Managing Your Career

Part one of a two-part exclusive interview with Sally Lemke, winner of the 2007 Super Star in Community Nursing award.

It’s a conundrum: How could the recipient of the VNA Foundation’s “SuperStar in Community Nursing Award”—a $25,000 prize—get the axe a mere few days later?

Sally Lemke, who was a nurse practitioner in Chicago’s Cook County healthcare system, became a local celebrity when this unthinkable scenario played [...]
read >  


Managing Your Career
What nurses can do when the system undervalues you.

Part 2 of a two-part interview with Sally Lemke, winner of the VNA Foundation’s Super Star in Community Nursing award.

It had the potential to be one of the most rewarding times of her life—being honored with the VNA Foundation’s Super Star in Community Nursing award. Thirty-plus news agencies swarmed to the story about Sally Lemke, a Chicago Cook County nurse practitioner making a difference in [...]
read >  


Managing Your Career
How a new nurse can build a resume.

The way you start your career as a new nurse is important—but often overlooked. With so much to learn, we tend to focus mostly on the job – we’re so worried that we’re going to hurt a patient. It takes a while before we discover that we’re never going to know everything. So as you start your new job, think about launching your career. Here’s [...]
read >  


Managing Your Career
How to make connections that will help your career.

Like every other professional, nurses need networks because they are an invaluable source of information and opportunities. A network is like a treasure chest. And you can put wonderful things in it that you never know when you’re going to need to pull out. For example, you might dig into your chest when looking for a new job, when looking for advice on the job [...]
read >  


Managing Your Career
Yes, you’ve got what it takes!

What would prompt a 45-year-old mother of teenagers to pursue a career in nursing?

Delusional thinking, some might say. At times I thought I was mad. How could I keep up with those tireless, technology-savvy twenty-somethings? Still I couldn’t ignore my inner rumbling. I wanted to do something significant with my life.

When I was younger, nursing was my dream. But I wasn’t the student I needed [...]
read >  


Managing Your Career
Know yourself, know your options.

Stuck. You’re in a position that just doesn’t feel right and doesn’t work, period. You feel paralyzed, petrified of looking for something new. You think, Will a new position make a difference? Will I be able to find a place where I’m respected? Will I be able to find a job that works with my schedule? What if it takes a long time?

You’re not alone. [...]
read >  


Managing Your Career
Stop dreading your job.

“I knew something wasn’t right when I wasn’t enjoying it.”

So says oncology nurse Melissa Granger of her first position working nights on a general medical floor. A self-proclaimed optimist who dreamed of being a nurse since the age of five, Melissa never expected to dread going to work.

Melissa now knows she should not have waited to pursue the job that fit her personality.

“I always wanted [...]
read >  

« Newer Entries Older Entries »
search realityrn


sign up for weekly cartoons, tips, and blog posts
email
first name
last name

Register to win a pair of RX Medical Silver Fox Crocs


Nursing Jobs