chapter 14 | Your Nursing Careerr 235process, but you should also try to get a broader view
of the overall philosophy of supervision. You may
not be working for the same supervisor in a year, but
the overall management philosophy is likely to
remain consistent.
Work Climate
The daily work climate must make you feel com-
fortable. Your preference may be formal or casual,
structured or unstructured, complex or simple. It is
easy to observe the way people dress, the layout of
the unit, and lines of communication. It is more
difficult to observe company values, factors that
will affect your work comfort and satisfaction over
the long term. Try to look beyond the work envi-
ronment to get an idea of values. What is the
unwritten message? Is there an open-door policy
sending a message that “everyone is equal and
important,” or does the nurse manager appear too
busy to be concerned with the needs of the employ-
ees? Is your supervisor the kind of person for whom
you could work easily?
Compensation
In evaluating the compensation package, starting
salary should be less important than the organiza-
tion’s philosophy on future compensation. What is
the potential for salary growth? How are individual
increases? Can you live on the wages being offered?
I Can Not Find a Job (or I Moved)
It is often said that finding the first job is the hard-
est. Many employers prefer to hire seasoned nurses
who do not require a long orientation and mentor-
ing. Some require new graduates to do postgradu-
ate internships. Changes in skill mix with the
implementation of various types of care delivery
influence the market for the professional nurse.
The new graduate may need to be armed with a
variety of skills, such as intravenous certification,
home assessment, advanced rehabilitation skills,
and various respiratory modalities, to even warrant
an initial interview. Keep informed about the
demands of the market in your area, and be pre-
pared to be flexible in seeking your first position.
Even with the continuing nursing shortage, hiring
you as a new graduate will depend on you selling
yourself.
Even after all this searching and hard work, you
still may not have found the position you want. You
may be focusing on work arrangements or benefits
rather than on the job description. Your lack of
direction may come through in your résumé, cover
letter, and personal presentation. As a new gradu-
ate, you may also have unrealistic expectations or be
trying to cut corners, ignoring the basic rules of
marketing yourself discussed in this chapter. Go
back to your SWOT analysis. Take another look at
your résumé and cover letter. Become more
assertive as you start again (Culp, 1999).The Critical First Year
Why a section on the “first year”? Don’t you just get
a nursing license and go to work? Aren’t nurses
always in demand? You have worked hard to suc-
ceed in college—won’t those lessons help you to
succeed in your new position? Some of the behav-
iors that were rewarded in school are not rewarded
on the job. There are no syllabi, study questions, or
extra-credit points. Only “A’s” are acceptable, and
there do not appear to be many completely correct
answers. Discovering this has been called “reality
shock” (Kramer, 1974), which is discussed else-
where in this book. Voluminous care plans and
meticulous medication cards are out; multiple
responsibilities and thinking on your feet are in.
What is the new graduate to do?
Your first year will be a transition year. You are
no longer a college student, but you are not yet a
full-fledged professional. You are “the new kid on
the block,” and people will respond to you differ-
ently and judge you differently than when you were
a student. To be successful, you have to respond dif-
ferently. You may be thinking, “Oh, they always
need nurses—it doesn’t matter.” Yes, it does matter.
Many of your career opportunities will be influ-
enced by the early impressions you make. The fol-
lowing section addresses what you can do to help
ensure first-year success.Attitude and Expectations
Adopt the right attitudes, and adjust your expecta-
tions.Now is the time to learn the art of being
new. You felt like the most important, special per-
son during the recruitment process. Now, in the
real world, neither you nor the position may be as
glamorous as you once thought. In addition,
although you thought you learned much in
school, your decisions and daily performance do
not always warrant an “A.” Above all, people shed