adventures in .... where?

This blog was intended to chronicle my adventures as a nurse, but as of late, I'm not doing much of it. It would seem like I should maybe call this blog "Sarah's adventures getting into nursing land." I have faith that eventually it will work out, but I'll tell you it's pretty discouraging sometimes.

I was able to speak to a recruiter at one Vancouver hospital that seemed really nice and offered to keep tabs on my application. She said that they foresaw being able to hire again in March. I'll call her then to make sure.

I went to chat with an old professor of mine last Friday, who helped me do some brainstorming. She suggested I apply for jobs within Public health in Vancouver and Victoria. I'm working on that.

This week, though, my main focus has been on applying for jobs that will pay the bills. Where have I applied?

The Verse
Movie Gallery
Tony Roma's
Milestones
Chapters
Cineplex Odeon
Aldo shoes
Duffy's Pub
On the Rocks
Reitmans
Pier 1
Warehouse One Jeans
Montana's
White Spot
Boston Pizza
London Drugs
Jysk
Winners
Shoppers Drug Mart
the Keg
Value Village
A Twist of Fate Yarns

And I still have plans (and a cover letter for)

Tumbleweeds Pub

So, These last two days I've been busy send out the resumes. Today I had an open-call interview for the White Spot opening in the Holiday Inn on the North Shore that's just about to open up. I also had an interview at BP yesterday (the interviewer seemed to like me, but I don't have any experience, so we'll see how it goes). I also have an interview scheduled for tomorrow at Pier One. Mike got at call this morning for an interview at Jysk. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

What's been interesting is to see how potential employers react when they realize that I'm not a nursing student, but an actual, real live nurse. When I explain why I'm not working in my field, they're quite understanding, but their first reactions are usually pretty interesting. It usually starts with "OH!...wow...huh..."
Even though I needed money anyway, what really got me on the kick this week was the realization that I couldn't even pay for the courses to keep me up-to-date (nursing-wise). If I let my CPR + first aid courses lap, what kind of nurse would I be? It would also be nice to know that I could pay my cell phone bill, or put more than the minimum payment onto my credit card every month. Or get a gym pass so I could at least feel like I had something valuable to do with my time outside of the house. Basically, I wanted to be able to earn money for a little bit of independence. Being unemployed without a little nest egg of some sort really blows and I wouldn't advise it.

To my credit, I am definitely not the only nurse (or degree holding professional) without a job. In speaking with that professor of mine, we discussed how when I was in school, everything was "Jobs here! Come to us! 1000's of jobs!" and then within 6 months of my graduation, government funding for jobs dried up. Now the teachers are telling nursing students that jobs are very few, and they should likely take whatever job they can get, because there isn't room for picking and choosing. So I at least have that going for me - that I'm not the only one.

In the meantime, wish me uber-luck!