If you can’t tell by now, I am a pediatric nurse. I absolutely love taking care of children and wouldn’t change my specialty for the world. Children have an incredibly unique way of showing resilience and are truly tiny warriors. I have been a nurse now for 3 years and have been a peds nurse for a little over a year. So, finding my first pediatric job was not a walk in the park by any means. One of the most frequent questions I get is “How did you land a position in pediatrics?”. It really depending on who was asking me the question, a nursing student or an experienced nurse. For a while, I didn’t have an answer, because it was just that hard for me to gain this position. I’d always reply with, gaining general experience, because that was true for me. But now that I’m in the field I can give my feedback on some tips and tricks I wish I knew sooner, on how to market yourself when applying for a pediatric position. Or hell any specialty position for that matter. I will specifically reference pediatrics, but you could just about use all these tips for any other specialty as well. I’ve also decided this post will replace “making connections at clinicals” because I’m going to outline some of the same points.
If you’re currently still a student nurse and know for sure pediatrics is your specialty of choice, the ball is really in your court because there’s a few things you can do to market yourself prior to having experience. Often, nursing institutions will offer a capstone program for its nursing students. At my school during the last year of the program, they offered an opportunity for a select number of students to be able to have a capstone experience to take the place of one of their clinical rotations. In this capstone, the student was able to pick from a variety of specialties that matched their interests, plus shadow and work under a nurse on that unit once a week without the big class. This provided such a great opportunity because you were alone, which then gave you multiple chances to be more hands on and learn as much as you can without having to rotate tasks amongst the other nursing students. It also aids with getting a better sense of how a day to day work life would look like, because you came in at the top of the hour with the nurse you were assigned to listen in on huddle, report, and stay the full 12-hr shift. If you know you want to work pediatrics, make sure you secure a spot on that unit (the same goes for if you want to work ED, ICU, Surgery etc.). Unfortunately for me when I was in school, the hospitals my school partnered with rarely dealt with pediatric patients so that really wasn’t an option for me. The next best thing would’ve been Labor and Delivery, but another student picked that option before me. Needless to say, I missed out, don’t let that be you! Seriously. Know the unit you want to be on and talk with your professors about it early on. (Although, I didnt get the unit I wanted, I ended up doing my capstone on a medsurg/orho unit, which ultimately helped later on. I got hired on that unit as a new grad, so it still proves its point)
Like the capstone experience, many schools and hospitals will offer student nurse externships which is like the experience I described above, but with a bonus. You get paid for it! What a better way to enhance your nursing skills while still in school, than to get paid for it! I absolutely recommend this option, because it’s hard enough to work while in nursing school, so if you must work, why not work in a setting that’s going to be beneficial to your career? You can learn about these types of opportunities through your institution or some hospitals will hold these positions independently. Just look on their websites for more information.
Furthermore, look for volunteer opportunities. I knew way before I graduated that I wanted to work with children. One of my clinical instructors recommended volunteering at this wonderful small children’s hospital in Chicago, as she described it. Who knew years later I would be working there! For one of my summer breaks, I took on that challenge. I got the opportunity to shadow some of the floor nurses and even met a travel nurse, who gave me so much insight on something I knew I wanted to do later in my career as well.
All in all, it was great! Remember, networking is just as important as that hands-on practice. Don’t be afraid to just talk to people because the travel nurse I met was not my preceptor. Closed mouths don’t get fed!
All of the above are a great ways to show future employers that while you don’t yet have any professional nurse experience you’re serious about being in the specialty and you’ve got a good amount of clinical and volunteer hours working and learning about the pediatric population!
Let’s say you’re no longer a student nurse and missed some of those opportunities listed above, you’re now a new grad or an experienced nurse. No problem, there’s still some options for you. As I mentioned many of the things, I’m about to outline I missed my beat on! So, what I ultimately believe got me my position in peds, was my experience as an RN overall and how I presented myself on paper.
You guessed it, let’s talk resumes! I have had past employers applaud me on how I present myself on paper and the neatness of my resumes. Your resume is your first impression. Make it look damn good. I always have a resume, cover letter, and reference sheet, with two copies of both. In a blog post coming soon “How to get the most out of bedside nursing”, I will discuss attending nursing seminars. I have had many opportunities to attend educational healthcare dinners. For the life of me I don’t know why I never looked into attending pediatric seminars, but that’s why I’m going to spill that tea for you guys! Most of the seminars I attended were FREE and at a top tier restaurant. Sis get you a free meal, educational information, and networking experience that will ultimately boost your chances of landing your dream job! You can’t beat that. More recently they are having Zoom webinars, but same purpose and jam packed with so much information. Explore hospital websites for these types of things or simply call them and ask to speak with their education department. You can even look on your favorite nurse or nurse practitioners IG page, because now a days social media is branding tool. Many of these individuals are hosting great events, with the same purpose. You can add that experience in your cover letter. In addition to seminars, as nurses we all have to complete continued education (CE) modules to renew our license, why not do some of the CE's in the specific specialty you want to work in? Most are free and easily accessible.
For this next tip, you may have to spend a nice penny, but so worth it. If you’re working in pediatrics, your employer will more than likely pay for you to obtain your PALS (pediatric advanced life support) Certification, but of course were discussing how to market yourself for the position. If you have the money to spare, look into getting your certification beforehand. Obviously, you’ll still learn more once in the position, but again these types of things matter to employers. After you obtain the position, talk with your hospital about reimbursement potentially.
If all else fails, I will say it again, I live by my experience. While I had no prior experience in peds, I had my fundamental and foundational nursing skills, that had to count for something! Fun fact, at the time I only had my associate degree in nursing, which could’ve totally been a factor for sure. While I was at my interview, the DON told me straight up, they don’t typically hire associate degree nurses, but quickly followed up with, that doesn’t throw me out of the race! While also noting that I wasn’t far from completing my BSN. I say that to say, I still landed that interview and ultimately got the job. They knew prior to having me come in for an interview that they don’t hire ADN nurses, so why was I picked? Could it have been my volunteer work at their hospital? Honestly, couldn’t tell you because I also applied to them when I was fresh out of school and was denied, possibly to due to me being a new grad, with an associate degree. This was now 3 years later, me trying again. So, what do I get from all this, my experience spoke for me before I physically spoke for myself, I showed perseverance, I never gave up. Deny me once, but not twice baby! When you want something bad enough and work for it, whether you qualified according to their guidelines or not, the right position will present itself at the right time. Never give up, but always looks for new ways to market yourself for your dream job!
Quick Recap:
Capstone Programs
Nurse Externships
Volunteer Experience
Networking
Resumes, cover letters, references
Nursing seminars & webinars
Continued education (CE)
Certifications
Overall experience