Tomato Tomatoe.
While having experience helps, yes. Don't let this one detail bring you down due to difficulty finding a job, as from my experience a lot of it has to do with not just networking but also how you sell yourself.
Don't overdue to but don't under-do it at the same time. For instance, I went a good 4-5 months after graduating before I landed a job, WITHOUT ANY NURSING EXPERIENCE / NONE. First interview I landed was based on networking, my interview skills SUCKED while I thought they were decent. After a couple more interviews of no calls back I started to look at myself, my resume, & my COVER LETTER. I wasn't the problem, it was how I presented myself & tried selling myself.
Basically long story short, I spruced up my resume & tidied it up / gave it a nice flow & especially the cover letter to make it specific to the employer, brushed up on my interview skills, in addition expanded my horizons & got a second license in another state....After all this, I was landing interviews left & right with at one point 3 employers offering me jobs ALL WITHIN THE SAME WEEK.
Now the best things I can recommend are this at least for the interview:
1.) Be prepared - Bring a hard copy of your resume / cover letter. Personally I always brought mine on the nice resume paper. Has wow'ed every one of my interviewers. 2.) Do YOUR HOMEWORK - Know the facilities values, vision, etc. Research common interview questions. i.e. Why do you want to work here? What does professionalism mean to you? Describe to me how you handle a difficult situation? 3.) Don't just know it (values), TIE IT INTO THE INTERVIEW. 4.) PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE - Talk in front of a mirror. I did the dog lol. 5.) ASK QUESTIONS - I tend to avoid cliche ones, like "Oh what color shoes" and obviously pay. (talk about that after a position change lol) - I used some of these: ---"Hypothetically speaking, if you were to hire me now, how can I exceed this floors expectations in my next annual or 90 day review?" ---"How exactly does your orientation process work or what's it entail?" ---Other common ones: Charting system? Pt-RN ratio? 6.) If applicable avoid the question or turn it back on them. NOT LITERALLY but use with caution as it won't work on every question. ---For example: In one interview a nursing manager asked me, "Describe to me a situation in which you went above & beyond somebodies expectations" - Long story short, I answered it by not answering it by simply telling her, "I'm sorry that's kind of a difficult question to answer because while I have stories I just can't really tell you right now which situation is better than the other because whenever I care for ANYONE I try to EXCEED EVERYONES EXPECTATIONS whether it's getting patients involved in care or other simpler things by just sitting there & talking with them for 5-10 mins."
Another example, "Describe to me a difficult situation & how you handled it"....I used the same exact same style & basically reformatted it by stating...."This one is also tough because generally, nursing is difficult & I have lots of stories but I'm rarely in difficult situations because I try to the best of my abilities to prevent it from even getting to that point by acting professional around the clock simply by thinking ahead of time but unfortunately when it's out of my hands or if I become overwhelmed, it's time to ask for help"