NRP Certification = Experience?

Hello.
I am a newly Registered Nurse with no affiliations to a hospital. I have zero paid experience, just my clinical semesters in nursing school. My senior II semester in nursing school was outstanding, as I was placed at a birth center. I focused 175 clinical hours on post-partum, labor & delivery, & antepartum sections on the birthing unit. It solidified my LOVE for OB/GYN nursing (and I'm actually really good at it!). I am currently applying for any nursing position, but ideally I want to land my dream job as a labor & delivery, post-partum, gynecological, and/or NICU nurse right away.

Like I mentioned, I have been applying on a variety of floors, clinics, and nursing homes with absolutely no luck. I have yet to land an interview. :-/ I am a MI RN and I am looking in the state of WI and in MI. The other day I applied to get my WI RN License, in hopes that this will help my chances to land an RN Job. Is it true that hospitals won't even look at your application if you don't have the license pertaining to that particular state (or compact state)? Hopefully this was a good thing for me to do.

My other question is that I am about to enroll in a Neonatal Resuscitation Program to obtain my NRP Certification. Before I pay the fees for the book and the course, I wanted to get some feedback from other RNs. Will this make me "qualified" for a position in NICU, L&D, and/or post-partum units? Is there anything else that will make my application stand out more?

Thank you in advance. I am excited to see what everyone has to say!
No, NRP is not considered equivalent to L&D or OB nursing experience. I imagine that if a nurse manager was looking at two applications, one is a new grad nurse with no experience and has an NRP certification, and another nurse who has a year of L&D experience but no NRP certification, the hiring manager would probably go with the second nurse. Sorry if that's disappointing, but NRP certification is relatively easy and quick to get, but experience takes years.Since NRP certification is something that every OB unit has to provide on an ongoing basis to their staff (because certifications expire every 2 years), they expect and anticipate that they will need to provide it for any new hire. So while having the certification already may show a manager that you're interested in the clinical area, I don't think it would give you a huge leg up. I would not invest the money in paying for the certification yourself.

As far as licensing goes, I don't know if MI or WI are compact states, but when I was living in AZ and anticipating a move to CO (both compact states), I had no problems receiving interviews and job offers in CO, without yet holding a CO license.

I agree completely with klone. I'd even venture to say that some managers/neos would rather have you take the class on site with their people.

Certifications can never equal experience.

We would hire the experienced RN. You can take the NRP class, but it is better to have some work experience before you take the the test. Most hospitals have this in their orientation.

Thank you for all the feedback. I suppose I'll keep applying and hope that something comes my way.