Graduation. It’s the moment that all nursing students look forward to, but what happens after this highly anticipated day? A lot of what happens next depends on how well you prepared during your last semester.
Here are a few tips to help guide you.
Apply for licensure with your state’s Board of Nursing and register for the NCLEX exam with Pearson VUE.
In order to be eligible to take the NCLEX after you graduate from nursing school, you must apply for licensure/registration with your state’s Board of Nursing/regulatory body, as well as register to take the NCLEX exam with Pearson VUE. The cost of applying for licensure and Pearson VUE registration varies from state to state. Be sure to set aside several hundred dollars for this purpose. It also takes some time for your registration to process, so plan ahead and talk to your instructors about how far in advance they recommend applying for your specific state.
For more information on this process, visit the National Council of State Boards of Nursing website here.
Start applying for jobs.
If you are hoping to have a job soon after graduation, you will need to start applying 3-4 months prior to graduating. It may seem counterintuitive to apply for a nursing job before you have your license, but it can take a while for your applications to be considered. Human Resource departments receive vast numbers of applications, and it can take them several weeks to work their way through them before deciding who to interview. Having a job lined up that is contingent upon passing the NCLEX helps relieve the stress of having to job hunt while you are studying. [et_bloom_inline optin_id=optin_18]
Prepare for job interviews.
It is very important to prepare for your job interviews so that you can impress future employers and stand out from the crowd. You can do this by polishing up your resume and lining up your references during your last semester. It’s also helpful to write a strong cover letter that can be tailored to each position you apply for. Take several copies of your resume, cover letter, and references to each interview.
Another major way to impress employers is by looking professional. Invest in a nice suit jacket and slacks or a skirt. This will help you feel confident going into the interview so you make a great first impression.
Be prepared for the questions that the interviewers will ask you by making a list of possible questions and having several detailed stories ready that you can use to illustrate your answers. Practice these with a friend beforehand so that you can become comfortable talking about yourself under pressure.
Sign up for an NCLEX review course.
One of the best ways to begin studying for the NCLEX is to take a review course. There are several types of review courses. Some classes are purely online, while others are in-person, lecture-based classes. Think about your learning style and pick a class that fits with the way you like to study.
The focus of each class will also vary. Some classes will be strategy-based, meaning that they will teach you how to answer NCLEX-style questions. Other classes will be content-based, meaning that they will give you the basic foundation of knowledge that you will need to have in order to pass the NCLEX. To decide which one is right for you, think about why you typically miss a sample NCLEX question. Is it because you don’t know the information needed to answer the question? Or is it because you don’t understand what the question is asking and how to answer it with the best response? Think about the primary reason for your mistakes and choose the type of review class accordingly.
Make a study plan.
Much of your time following graduation will be spent studying for the NCLEX. It is important to make a study plan so that you can use your time efficiently. Set aside a chunk of time each day to sit down and study. There isn’t a magic amount of studying that will help you pass the NCLEX, because each person is different. Some people will only need to study 1-2 hours a day, while others may need to study 4-5 hours a day.
It’s a good idea to pick a topic or focus for each day. One day you may work on memorizing lab values, while the next day you may focus on answering questions about psych patients. Picking a focus for the day will help to keep you from feeling overwhelmed.
Celebrate!
Don’t forget that graduating from nursing school is a HUGE accomplishment, so be sure to celebrate! Give yourself a couple of days to relax and spend time with friends and family. It is really important not to jump right into studying for the NCLEX because you may burn out quickly.
Jolene Scatton, RN, Director of Nursing at Lehigh Valley Hospital–Hazleton always dreamed of becoming a nurse.
“The biggest joy of my career is connecting with patients. You’re like their guardian angel and their safe place,” says Scatton. “On weekends, holidays, birthdays, even during snowstorms – there are always people in the hospital who need you.”
Scatton leads a team of nursing and nursing support colleagues on the fifth-floor medical-surgical telemetry unit at Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH)–Hazleton. Scatton has spent her 17-year nursing career with Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN).
Daily Nurse has recognized Jolene Scatton as Nurse of the Week for fulfilling her dream of becoming a nurse, pursuing a path to nurse leadership, and serving as a role model for nurses.
In 2007, Scatton started as a licensed practical nurse (LPN) in the same unit where she now works as director.
“I went straight from high school to the LPN program. I was not even 20 years old when I started as an LPN,” she says. “I remember being overwhelmed on my first day because it was my first job out of school, but I was amazed by the nurses around me. They knew so much. I always looked up to them and the way they interacted with patients. It inspired me to keep growing in my career.”
While working full-time at LVH–Hazleton, Scatton pursued her dream of becoming a registered nurse (RN) by enrolling in Luzerne County Community College classes. She graduated in 2016 from the top of her class and remained on the telemetry unit as an RN for a year before taking her next step.
“I took a position in the emergency room and fell in love with the critical nature of the role,” says Scatton.
Her time in the ER also sparked an interest in pursuing a leadership role, and after four years, she was well on the path to nursing leadership.
“I became the first Stroke and Chest Pain Coordinator for LVH–Hazleton, a brand-new role for the hospital,” says Scatton. “The autonomy to grow this new program helped prepare me for my first role in management.”
Returning to Her Roots
When a patient care coordinator role became available on the fifth-floor medical-surgical telemetry unit, Scatton knew it was her calling.
“Ultimately, it was the career path I was meant to take,” says Scatton. “On the telemetry unit, a person’s heart is monitored 24 hours a day. We care for people who come to the hospital with chest pain or for observation after surgery or a stroke, and monitor their heart rhythm.”
Nurses on the medical-surgical telemetry unit care for people with various health needs, so their skills must be general and specific. She learned to read heart rhythms early from her fellow nurses and now helps teach new nurses.
“I started on the night shift,” says Scatton. The night shift team trained me and taught me how to be a nurse. Now, I enjoy mentoring nurses who are new to the unit.”
She worked as a patient care coordinator until the position of unit director became available. Now, she is doing what she was always meant to do.
“Nursing directors oversee daily operations, including staffing, workflow, and scheduling. We assist on the floor at times if needed. What don’t we do?” says Scatton.
More than anything, though, Scatton is an advocate for her colleagues.
“I have the best colleagues,” she says. The people I’ve worked with from when I started 17 years ago all the way through now are what make LVH–Hazleton especially such a great place to work. It’s like a family, and you have the support of being part of a larger health network. It sounds cliché, but my colleagues are kind, caring, and compassionate. They really have become my family.”
Back to School
In 2023, Scatton earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and will soon begin classes to earn an MBA in health care management.
Her advice for nursing students in the thick of schooling? Keep going.
“Nursing school is so hard,” she says. “Long hours, long nights of studying, but the career is rewarding. I go home and think, ‘We brought a patient back after a code,’ and there’s nothing like that feeling – knowing you saved someone’s life. I’ll never regret my career path – it’s always been nursing.
Remember when being a nurse was all so fresh and novel? Remember when your scrubs felt too new and stiff, and your stethoscope seemed too shiny? Remember when your brain went blank, and you felt like you hadn’t learned a single thing in nursing school, and why did they think you could be a nurse, anyway? Were they lying when they told you that you’d passed the NCLEX? What, were they crazy to think that you could now be legitimately licensed to be responsible for patients’ very lives? Who did they think you were? A nurse?
Looking back on your novice nurse self can sometimes feel embarrassing in terms of how naïve you were, but it can also be the key to something else: renewed self-compassion and compassion for others.
When You Had Ten Thumbs
New career jitters are nothing new in any profession, including nursing. Those first days, weeks, and months of your very first nursing job can bring back other memories of your very first clinical rotation when you felt like you had ten thumbs and couldn’t even remember your name, let alone how to calculate a drip rate without the help of a computerized pump. Math for meds trauma, anyone?
Even when you’re a seasoned nurse, switching specialties — or even just switching to a new unit — can throw you into self-doubt. When we fall into self-doubt, our brains can shut down, and even the things we should know somehow inexplicably fall into some cognitive abyss of forgetfulness, leaving us to feel helpless and alone in our lack of clinical confidence. It happens to the best of us, but it still feels crappy.
There’s value in connecting with the nurse you were when you clocked in for your first day on the job after passing the NCLEX and getting your license. That fresh-faced, petrified novice of a nurse was a previous iteration of your current nurse self, and the through line to them is never quite as far away as you might think.
Do you feel compassion for that nurse you were back then, or do you feel shame or pity? It wasn’t their fault they didn’t know much — no one graduates from nursing school knowing a whole heck of a lot in the larger scheme of things, and if there’s one thing your first job can teach you above all else is that you genuinely don’t know what you don’t know.
If you don’t feel compassion towards that squeaky new nurse with the equally squeaky new sneakers or clogs, it’s never too late to look back and say, “Yup, I was new, I learned a lot, and look at me now; I redeemed myself, and I became the nurse I always wanted to be, even if I did start with ten thumbs.”
Training Wheels are Universal
The fact is, we’re all beginners at something throughout our lives. Whether new to marriage, having our first child, buying our first home, or starting an IV, we’re given multiple opportunities to ride with training wheels.
When you see a new nurse struggling with that pesky new IV pump, do you let them sink or swim or lean in and ask if they need help? When you’re faced with a novel patient situation and don’t know how to approach it, do you beat yourself up for not knowing, or do you ask the nurse educator for support?
No one is infallible, and no one has a monopoly on knowing. And when we don’t know, we must recognize our fallibility and show ourselves well-deserved compassion. Is the new nurse struggling with that pump? That was you years ago. That patient facing a new diagnosis and feeling lost in their ignorance? They could be your mother or your father.
The state of not knowing is a universal human condition, and no matter how one’s ignorance manifests, compassion is the best response. Your novice nurse self can be an archetype you carry with you in your heart, an example of when you were green, ignorant, scared out of your wits, and perhaps feeling just a little bit like an incompetent impostor. This archetype can remind you of what it’s like to feel ignorant or inexperienced and consequently bring out your sense of self-compassion. And when you’re in touch with your self-compassion, compassion for others is close at hand.
You’re a nurse and likely a darn good one. But you were once all thumbs and completely unsure of yourself. Keep that novice nurse self on call, and they will serve you when you need a dose of humility and a reminder that we’re all just beginners. We can’t ever know it all, and we can be kind when we — or anyone else – demonstrate our lack of knowledge or experience. Training wheels aren’t forever, but the potential for compassion for yourself and others in the face of being a beginner most certainly can be.
Your nursing career has a unique narrative that propels it, and your resume is one place where it’s essential to get the story right if you want prospective employers to notice you or other opportunities to come to fruition.
In a complex, evolving, and often competitive job market, having an up-to-date resume ready to go at all times is simply smart. But no matter how important it might be, many unprepared nurses only dig out their resumes in a panic when they hear about a fabulous job, fellowship, grant, or other opportunity, and the deadline to apply is the next day. That stress is entirely avoidable if they only look over their resume once a year.
If you haven’t checked your resume for more than a year — or you don’t even know where you have a copy, digital or otherwise — then some resume resuscitation is needed ASAP. But remember: before you try mouth-to-mouth on that decrepit old resume, remove the cobwebs first.
A Relic in the Attic of Your Life
If you’re one of those nurses whose resume is gathering dust in the attic of your life, there’s no time like the present to find that relic of a document and expose it to the light of day. After all, if an incredible opportunity comes, will that resume antique do the trick? Probably not.
Whether you’re a new nurse, a nurse with several years of experience, or a seasoned nursing professional with several decades under your belt, you must always have a resume that’s free of dust and ready to use, perhaps with a quick tweak or two.
The bottom line is that you don’t want to stay up until 3 a.m., worried and exhausted, rewriting your resume from scratch because a deadline for an application snuck up on you and is due tomorrow morning. Who needs that kind of unnecessary stress?
But I’m Not Going Anywhere
“But wait,” you say, “I have a great job, and I don’t expect to go anywhere until I retire!”
In response, I’ll say that even if you’re comfortable in the same position you’ve had for years and think this doesn’t apply to you, my message is this: the need to have an updated resume always applies to everyone. Period.
It’s no secret that 21st-century healthcare is a moving target. Acquisitions and health system mergers are common, and when corporate restructuring happens, any position — no matter how solid it seemed — could end up on the proverbial chopping block, including yours.
You also never know when some amazing opportunity requiring a resume may come along — including those within your place of employment. Being involved in all sorts of activities looks great on your resume, especially if you are interested in leadership and other career-building strategies. Whatever your ambitions, these types of opportunities might include:
Important interdisciplinary workplace committees or special projects
Applying to be on the advisory board of a non-profit
There are many scenarios when you might need your resume, and you don’t want to be caught unprepared when the opportunity knocks.
Updating a Resume: It’s Not Rocket Science
Updating your resume isn’t rocket science but takes little thought and effort. You can program your calendar to remind you to review it annually on New Year’s Day, your birthday, or any other date that works for you.
If you don’t currently have a resume, there’s plenty of help, including career coaches (some of whom are nurses), videos, articles, blog posts, and downloadable resume templates.
Ultimately, there’s no viable excuse not to have your resume primed and always ready for action. After all, once you get it written and in tip-top shape, updating it once a year is extremely easy.
So, if you’re a nurse and want every possible door to be open to you as you move along the yellow brick road of your career, keep your pencil sharp, your resume up-to-date, your head on a swivel, and your mind open to the possibilities.
You deserve every chance of success and satisfaction, and a resume is an essential slice of the career mobility pie. And you can pass on the cobwebs.
Lori A. Smith is like a prayer answered from above, spending the last 34 years descending in her FlightCare helicopter onto some of the most critical emergency response scenes across mid-Michigan.
Smith, the longest-serving flight nurse among Michigan’s seven air medical transport programs, recently retired, ending a professional experience that launched when George H.W. Bush was still president.
Daily Nurse proudly honors Smith as our Nurse of the Week, celebrating her 34-year sky-bound career.
The propellers on Smith’s career began spinning in 1986 on a turnpike in Cleveland. The then-25-year-old Hurley Medical Center nursing school graduate was driving home when traffic stopped because of a vehicle crash.
“Then a helicopter landed right in front of me, right at the scene,” says Smith, who watched emergency responders tend to the crash victims. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh, what is that?’ I was fascinated.”
One year later, the FlightCare program was founded at Ascension St. Mary’s Hospital. She joined the unit in 1989, beginning her long career.
Smith received certification as a flight paramedic and a flight nurse, which involved additional training in aviation medicine.
As a member of FlightCare, Smith worked the 7 a.m.-to-7 p.m. shift, stationed in the unit’s headquarters on the northwest corner of Ascension St. Mary’s hospital campus in downtown Saginaw. There, the 15-member team — divided between two shifts — remains stationed in an office that doubles as a house while waiting between emergency calls. A hangar stands a few feet away, housing the EC-135 model helicopter that mid-Michigan residents sometimes watch and hear racing across the sky, day and night, at heights reaching 2,000 feet.
Smith has lost count of how many emergency calls she’s engaged as a member of FlightCare. Since its founding three years before Smith’s arrival, the unit has transported 12,000 patients. Smith estimated she responds to about three emergency calls each shift.
Most of those trips happen within mid-Michigan borders. However, Smith and her FlightCare colleagues sometimes pick up or drop off individuals that need quick transportation to or from medical facilities offering specialized emergency care.
The closer-to-home emergency calls often send the FlightCare craft to scenes on highways and roads during situations where individuals in need of critical care are positioned dangerously far from the medical care that could save their lives.
Some of those people forge lifelong relationships with Smith. For example, she regularly receives phone calls from patients she helped rescue during FlightCare missions.
“You don’t walk away from as many critical patients as I have without it touching your heart,” she says.
Her nursing work in the FlightCare helicopter happens in close quarters. There’s not much room to move in the EC-135. With a pilot in the cockpit, Smith and one of her colleagues have two seats in the fuselage. There’s barely enough space to fit a stretcher and the patient who rests on it. The remaining room in the aircraft is barely big enough to store the medical equipment necessary to keep that patient alive.
“Oh, we’re right on top of (the patients) when we’re in there,” Smith says, “but we need to be.”
Smith called her FlightCare colleagues “a family.”
“The people I work with kept me here for as long as I’ve been here,” she says. “It’s been a great, great run. I always say, ‘I did a couple of things right in this life.’ My career choice is one of those things.”
Nominate a Nurse of the Week! Every Wednesday, DailyNurse.com features a nurse making a difference in the lives of their patients, students, and colleagues. We encourage you to nominate a nurse who has impacted your life as the next Nurse of the Week, and we’ll feature them online and in our weekly newsletter.
