A Guide to Professional Networking for the New Grad Nurse

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Networking as a new grad nurse can feel intimidating and almost imposter-like at first. You’re fresh out of school and barely have your feet beneath you as a nurse just yet. Even the idea of trying to connect and network with colleagues and fellow health care workers who have been in the industry for years if not decades already is intimidating. I’m here today to tell new grad nurses why professional networking is imperative right out the gate. Even nurses who are a year or two into practice can begin doing this, it’s definitely never too late.

This blog post was written provide new grad nurses with reliable methods and strategies for effectively networking within the healthcare profession. I will explain why networking is important, give tips on how to meet and connect with like-minded individuals, provide advice on networking etiquette, and talk about how to establish meaningful connections in the nursing profession.

Why is it Important to Network?

Nursing is such a versatile and flexible field of work, you may find that bedside nursing isn’t for you after a year or two grinding our hours in the hospital. At which point you may find yourself wondering “What else can I do?” Your options will feel incredibly limited when you have a small network of only fellow bedside nurses.

Expand Your Professional Circle: Connect with experienced nurses, mentors, and potential employers. It’s never a bad idea to increase the number of resources that you hold in your back pocket.

Learn and Grow: Gain insights, advice, and opportunities for professional development. By networking with nurses within your area of specialty as well as outside of it will continue to round out your education and give you tips and tricks you’d never thought you’d need. Speaking from experience, you will absolutely need those tips and tricks one day!

Stay Updated: Keep up with the latest trends and innovations in the healthcare industry. The moto of nursing is “see one, do one, teach one.” Having a large network that you are connected to will help you keep up with the latest in nursing as well as new best practices that you will soon encounter in your area of work.

Find Job Opportunities: Network to discover hidden job openings and increase your visibility in the job market. You may decide you want to switch your specialty or just need to change the hours and frequency that you work one day. Instead of combing through online job openings, having a network of fellow nurses gives you access to a number of other opportunities that might not be otherwise posted anywhere.

How to Network Effectively

Now comes the part of the blog post where I tell you exactly what you need to do to expand your network and connect with other nurses and healthcare professions. It can feel scary at first, just like waking into class on your first day of nursing school. But I promise you it gets easier with practice. Especially once you start seeing the fruits of your labor as your network expands.

Attend Industry Events: There are never a shortage of nursing events such as conferences, seminars, workshops, and conventions year round that you can attend. They are open to nurses that are in any stage of their career. They are typically open to and especially welcoming to new nurses! These events usually cost money to attend, but some work places will cover or reimburse attendance to such events sometimes. Definitely worth inquiring about.

Leverage Social Media: As toxic as social media can be at times, there are also some positive sides to social media. These days most social platforms have groups and pages that one can follow or “join”. There are thousands of groups out there in a variety of nursing areas. From different specialties to just general nursing, you can become a part of different online nurse communities and connect with others that way to grow your professional network.

Volunteer: Being open to new opportunities or being curious about potential opportunities is important as a new nurse when growing your professional network. By “volunteer” I mean being open to the idea of volunteering on different units if the need arises or you see an opportunity to offer to work somewhere different just to see what it’s like. Maybe you work on a progressive unit now but have always been curious what the cardiac ICU is like. Speak with your manager or the manager of the cardiac ICU, and see if you could pick up a shadowing shift there one day to work along side another nurse. You can see if you like working in this other area, all the while connecting and networking with all the ICU nurses you’d be working with.

Networking Tips

Now that you know why networking is so important and what avenues you can take to begin growing your network, let’s talk about how to do it. How you can show up with peers and fellow health care workers in a way that’s authentic, attentive, and professional. Despite the nerves and imposter syndrome that you might be experiencing.

Be Authentic: Be yourself and share your passions, unapologetically. Part of networking is clicking with other nurses and healthcare professionals. In nursing. You will find that there are co workers, acquaintances, and life long friends that you will make. Your network will consist of acquaintances and hopefully some life long friends. Nursing is an all in profession, and by that I mean you are spending countless hours each week with these people. You want a network full of people who have seen and accepted you as you are, share similar passions with you and are willing to wholeheartedly endorse and support you as a nurse.

Active Listening: Paying attention to others and ask thoughtful questions will not only forge connections with others but also support your reputation in the nursing profession. You will be felt as someone who is a good active listener, and seen as a nurse who is present with their patients fully in their time of need, though keen listening skills and truly caring about other people.

Be Prepared: Have an elevator pitch ready to introduce yourself. You might already have that go-to line you say when first encountering someone new. But you are also probably use to them initiating conversation or an instructor leading the conversation entirely for you. In order to begin building your professional network you need to become comfortable with the idea of starting conversations with strangers, hence the elevator pitch. You already do this with your patients when you meet them for the first time, but that is your routine nurse introduction. Now, you need to be prepared to pop up and spark an interaction with a person of interest. Don’t forget to request their contact information at the end of the interaction!

Follow Up: In professional networking, it’s good practice to send a follow-up email or message to maintain the connection. Assuming your elevator pitch went well and a conversation was sparked between you and another nurse, you hopefully found a way to connect with them digitally. Either through texting, emailing, or social media. You don’t need to harass them after just meeting them, but becoming friendly and following up when appropriate is a good way to create strong networking bonds. Something even as simple as “It was great talking with you today, thank you for taking the time to have a conversation with me today about XYZ. I hope we can continue that conversation one day soon!” or something to that effect.

Give Back: Help others in your network whenever possible to build a strong rapport and forge stronger connections within your network. Your professional network doesn’t need to be a one way street of supporting you in your nursing career only. Maybe someone in your network needs a shift covered, is looking for opinions on new, good quality scrubs, or maybe looking for good child care recommendations. If you can offer good support or recommendations to someone in need within your network don’t be shy. Be the type of support network that you would hope to have in your corner in your times of need. Within reason of course, don’t burn yourself out trying to be everything that everyone else needs just to get into the good graces of another.

By actively networking, new grad nurses can build strong professional relationships, advance their careers, and make a positive impact on the healthcare industry. Being a nurse is hard, but with the right support the job is more than doable. Having a good network also keeps various job possibilities open to you in addition to a strong network of nurses who are there to support, guide, and endorse you as you grow and learn in the field of nursing.