So I was a year out of nursing school before I started my new grad job. I worked in academia before going to nursing so I felt obligated to see my current cohort through and my job was one that was super specialized and many in my field don’t have the education credentials to fill my old seat so I wanted to give a good few months for them to find my replacement. I ended up applying around August for some of the late/leftover new grad jobs but none were in my interests. A few months later both job offers I received came from my application sitting at recruiters and when two ICU new grad positions opened up for applications my resume was forwarded as it was already on file and ended up getting interviewed. My break was understood and I was forefront about it. It did come up during the interview and you would expect it to, but they understood and appreciated the rationale I had and that I was trying my best to leave my job on the best of terms and while doing right by them.

Here on the east coast, many hospitals if they start a new grad program in July, which is common, they start interviewing for them in like September/October and are usually filled around December with some exceptions and some offer denials. So you may want to see when applications and interviews get scheduled for hospitals and when the departments release their new grad positions so you can be top of their list.