Hello everybody! My name is Rubi and Im a natural born citizen of the US. Now that I realize how much I want to practice nursing abroad, I was wondering if you could fill me in on some details...

I want to work while waiting for the NCLEX papers to process on their own. That's like 2-3 months of doing nothing in the US right? And if you're like me, you dont have any relatives willing to take you in, what job would you apply for? Come on! Help me out here! Is finding a job there that easy? Or would it be better to sit this one out and settle for waiting in the Phils?

Nowadays, no matter what profession you are in you will be faced with many challenges. I agree many companies are downsizing or restructuring but as a nurse we are still ahead of the game, or least an edge over the many professions that are impacted by this economic downturn. I am curretnly working in Los Angeles, CA, in a major tertiary level facility in nursing administrative capacity; i suggest to new graduate nurse to contact  hospital's nurse recruiter- get directly to them as they know exactly how and they can give you specific deatils while you are waiting for the NCLEX papers. Another is to avail yourself to attend nursing job fairs and meet the hospitals' HR and nursing representatives,there are number of hospitals in Los Angeles area that are conducting entry level program training (Versant program) speciffically designed for new gradutae nurse.You just have to look in to the right places and network. One more option you can do is to look into the hospital's job postings - look into "other" jobs that you can fit in yourself while waiting, at least you can get yourself in hired and has more chances to explore potential job openings internally.If there is an opening for clerical job, and if you are computer literate you can get yourself "expose" to the clinical setting and being able to acquaint yourself to the actual clinical practice setting. With your training background , the medical terminology and clinical processes are not that hard to get used to, I encourage every new grad nurse who are waiting for their NCLEX to "get out" and network; there are many opportunities out there.Working in a nursing home, skilled nursing or convalescent homes is okay... nothing to be ashamed, it is actually a good starting point for med-surg nursing, which I encouraged every single new grad nurse to have solid experience with (Med-surg) before getting in to "Specialization!" Fundamentals of nursing is so important as this will become your foundation when you decide to veer your career to a higher level of specialization.