60 applications in and not one call back. Is it normal or is it me?
Jesse after the retakeThe question
I passed on my second sitting, so I already felt behind, and now I'm 60 applications past license in hand with nothing. Every morning it's another rejection or, worse, silence. I can't tell if my resume is broken or if this is just what the first few months look like. What actually changed the week the calls started for you?
The conversation
5 replies- Maya on nightsRN, 8 months in, med surg nights
Same here. I was at 74 before a single human called me. What changed was applying to the night posting instead of the day one, same unit, same system, same week. Nights called me in nine days and days never answered at all. It gets better, and the night posting is the shortest road there.
- Chris on the commuteRN, tele, 6 months off orientation
The portal is not where you get hired, it's where applications sit. I went days, not nights, and what moved it was finding the nurse recruiter for that system on LinkedIn. Two sentences: "I applied to req 48213, tele days, on June 2. I'm licensed in state and available for a July start." She pulled my application that morning.
- Harper past the first codeRN, 10 months in, PCU
My mistake was 60 different hospitals instead of 6 systems over and over. Recruiters at one system see your name a fourth time and you stop being a stranger. The other fix was the resume. One generic version went out to everything, and callbacks started once the top line named the unit type on the posting. If your goal is ICU or ED, I'd hold for the hospital cohort a while longer before taking anything outside it.
- Nursing Mastery
Large systems don't screen new grad applications as they arrive, they screen them in cohort batches. Residency windows usually open 4 to 9 months before the cohort start date, so an application sent in the wrong month sits until the next window opens. Check the cohort start date on the posting before you read the silence as a no. With your license in hand, run the year-round postings alongside the cohorts, those fill one seat at a time instead of by batch.
- Riley in the break roomRN, ED, 2 years in
Stop counting applications. Count conversations you had with an actual human. Two hospital open houses in one month gave me more traction than 90 online submissions did. I'll disagree with Harper here, at month 10 with nothing, take the LTAC or the clinic offer. Experience is experience, and your first job isn't your forever job.
What would you tell them?
Answer from what you have seen. It posts without your name.
