want L & D job, but no experience...any ideas

[Gretchen 11]

I am a nurse with 4 years clinical experience under my belt, a good degree and lots of medical and good people skills. I have been out of floor nursing for 3 years, but desperately want to get a L and D job....but I have no experience. Any ideas to get the nurse managers to look twice at my resume.

Thanks.

[nursinghumor]

L&D jobs are notoriously hard to find. It's a relatively happy place to work most of the time, your patients come in, have their kids and leave happy. When nurses are plentiful, you usually have to wait till someone "dies" for a spot to open up. When nurses are hard to come by, like now in most places, it might be a little easier.

My advice would be to look for open L/D jobs and apply, though your chances of being hired directly in are slim.

Consider:

Going on staff at a facility with a large L/D section, and apply for the L/D openings as they become available. Especially if you've worked in a facility for a year or more, you'll have a better chances of transferring into that department.

Check into professional organizations for L/D nurses. One of the largest is:

Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN):"Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) is a leader among the nation's nursing associations, serving more than 22,000 health care professionals in the U.S., Canada and abroad. AWHONN advances the nursing profession by providing nurses with critical information and support to help them deliver the highest quality care for women and newborns. Through educational materials, legislative programs, research and coalition work with like-minded organizations and associations, AWHONN has firmly established itself as the leading association for women's health, obstetric and neonatal nurses."
2000 L Street, N.W. Suite 740 ~ Washington, D.C. 20036
202-261-2400(tel), (800) 673-8499 (toll free U.S.)
(800) 245-0231 (toll free Canada) ~ (202) 728-0575 (fax)
http://www.awhonn.org/
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Become a member and network with other members in your area. They may have tips, advice and know of openings long before they are advertised in the paper.

Wish you luck,

Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.4nursing.com

[cassioo]

I work L&D in KY we've hired new grads as well as experienced and the jobs do seem to come in waves. As long as you have good basic skills you can orient to L&D just more skills to learn.

[professional]

Networking is the key. The one that returns over and over again are usually the ones that will get on the floor. If all else fails go to the OR get experience in circulating and scrubbing in on abdominal cases these are a plus to OB since the majority of places I have worked love to see OR experience!