Time off from nursing

I graduated from nursing school in 2003. I was hired by a local clinic to work in their urgent care center. It was my dream job! After 2 years, I transfered to another one of their clinics (they discontinued the UCC) and worked in internal medicine and family practice. I did that until last year. I had a baby in '06, and in '09 I quit my job. It has been a year and 1/2 now, and I have been considering going back into the work force. There are no openings at my last, and only place of employment as an RN, so I am feeling very hesitant and unsure of my skills/knowledge. I've been studying to become a Medical Transciptionist from home, but it doesn't interest me as much. I loved nursing. Anyone like to give me some pointers for even getting an interview??? I do know in WA state, if you don't work 36 months you have to take the Nurse Refresher course. That is a bit spendy. But, I wish I had spent the money on that instead of the MT course now!
I've yet to get a job with an online application. Never. What I do is this: I go up the unit in my scrubs, resume in hand, and say "here I am, I'm ready to work today". Yes, it's cheesy, and it doesn't always work. One manager looked up, said "you need to take that to the nurse recruiter" and dropped her head back down. Her loss, because after that I wouldn't have worked for her after that for a million dollars. Also, you might want to volunteer, because those contacts often lead to jobs.

In my system, the only way to get in an interview is via on-line applications. You can cruise the unit for a looksie but if we ever tried what dropping by in scrubs "ready to work", the Unit Manager would toss the resume right into the round filing cabinet.Apply any and everywhere. Picking up a casual slot is better than nothing.

Quote from fungezI've yet to get a job with an online application. Never. What I do is this: I go up the unit in my scrubs, resume in hand, and say "here I am, I'm ready to work today". Yes, it's cheesy, and it doesn't always work. One manager looked up, said "you need to take that to the nurse recruiter" and dropped her head back down. Her loss, because after that I wouldn't have worked for her after that for a million dollars. Also, you might want to volunteer, because those contacts often lead to jobs.