Trinity Alumni Connections Lead to Nursing Position

The world needs nurses. And the Trinity community not only prepares students to become nurses, but helps them find jobs after graduating! That was the situation for Rachel Kuipers ’18. Here’s her story:

Throughout nursing school, people have always told us as students that, “There are so many job openings for nursing,” and “You will have no problem finding a job.” While these statements can be true, I found that it is difficult to get in at a hospital or even get an interview if you do not have connections.

After doing my capstone/clinical Internship at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on an Intensive Care Unit, I knew that critical care was the area and environment that I wanted to work in. It was a grueling process of searching, finding job postings that interested me, applying, and then getting denied for unknown reasons. I had been searching and applying for jobs around the West Michigan area, where I am originally from, for a few months and was not having any results.

I finally thought to try and reach out to Amy Nagelkirk ’92, President of the Trinity Alumni Nursing Association (TANA). TANA had hosted a few events throughout the years that I had attended. So I figured, what harm could come from reaching out to see if there were any Trinity alumni in the critical care field who would have information regarding their floors? When I first messaged Amy on Facebook, I thought it was going to be a long shot. At that point, I was mostly looking for advice and thoughts on what I should do.

But Amy was more than happy to help out. She looked for openings and networked with Trinity alumni to see what was available! After messaging back and forth a couple of times, she mentioned that she had found an alumni who was working at Blodgett Hospital in Grand Rapids, Mich., on its Adult Critical Care unit. Amy provided me with an email address for Alissa Stuive ’99, and I was able to reach out to her. Through Alissa, I was able to get in contact with the nurse manager on her floor, and from there was given the opportunity to interview for a position. I am very excited to say that I am now employed as a nurse on the Adult Critical Care unit at Blodgett Hospital!

I am so blessed by Amy and Alissa and their willingness to help me and encourage me throughout this whole process. TANA has been a great outlet for networking and truly is a great resource and association for not only graduating nursing students and those still in the program, but also for alumni who are wanting to network with each other even after graduating.

According to Nagelkirk, “Networking among nurses is a valuable tool in helping new graduates, alumni who are looking to reenter the workforce, and those looking to make a career change. The Trinity Alumni Nursing Association is working on updating its database to increase opportunities to meet the needs of its nursing alumni. Let us know where you are working and if you would be willing to recruit and network with other Trinity nurses. Send your information to the alumni office at alumni@trnty.edu. Trinity’s nursing program is ranked as the number one BSN program in the State of Illinois. You can be sure that recruiting a Trinity nurse to your workplace will bring quality care.”