You’ll spend over 30% of your adult life at work. For CRNAs, the right job can mean freedom in your practice, respect from your team, and a life outside the hospital. The wrong one? It can leave you overworked, undervalued, and questioning why you chose this path in the first place.
If you’re serious about finding a job that matches your goals, you need a better strategy and platform. Unlike most other job boards, the APEX CRNA Job Board was created by CRNAs for CRNAs. It’s built with a deep understanding of what matters most to you.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to use job boards intentionally and why the APEX Job Board was built to do what others don’t—help CRNAs and SRNAs land the best job for them.
Table of Contents
- CRNA Job Search
- Using a Job Board
- Apply with Intention
- Setting Job Alerts
- Reaching Out to Employers
- Send Us Feedback
1. CRNA Job Search Strategy: Get Clear About Your Goals
Most job searches start in the wrong place, mindlessly scrolling through countless job listings. But if you don’t know what you want, every job starts to look the same.
Before you open a job board, take 10 minutes to define what a great job looks like for you. This will save you hours of searching and help you spot the right opportunity when it shows up.
Understand that there’s no such thing as a universally “perfect” job. Some of you will prioritize salary to repay student loans or build a nest egg, while others might focus on quality of life or being able to practice at the top of your license. You can have any of these things, but few jobs will give you everything. Figure out what matters most to you (not what you’re told you should care about on social media).
Questions to ask yourself:
- What’s the minimum salary I’ll entertain (remember, you’re better off looking at the value of your total compensation package and not just the salary)?
- Am I willing to work with recruiters, or do I only want to engage with employers directly?
- Do I want a W-2 or 1099 role?
- How do I want to work (full time, part time, per diem, or locum tenens)?
- What’s my ideal location, and am I open to relocating (consider cost of living, commute time, etc.)?
- What benefits are most important to me (lots of PTO, great health insurance)?
- Do I want autonomy or a team-based environment?
- What type of cases do I want (bread and butter, cardiac, OB, trauma, etc.)?
- What shift options do I want (shift work, nights, weekends, call frequency, etc.)?
- What type of practice model do I want (medical direction, medical supervision, CRNA independent)?
- What type of workplace culture do I value?
Based on your answers, you’ve essentially written your ideal job description. Now, it’ll be easy to match the jobs you find to your ideal situation.
If you want to go a step further, you can create a priority matrix that gives you a more objective comparison for each job you’re considering. Here’s how to do it, followed by an example of what it should look like:
- For each decision factor, assign a score that indicates how important this factor is for you (importance weight).
- For each job, assign a score for how that job ranks for each decision factor (decision factor score).
- Multiply the importance weight score and the decision factor score for a given job. This will give you the combined score for that decision factor.
- Add all the combined scores to arrive at the total score for each job. Now you’ll have a quantitative assessment of each job so you can make more of an apples with apples comparison.
When you’re clear on your must-haves and dealbreakers, you stop wasting time chasing jobs that don’t serve you.
2. Use a Job Board That Prioritizes Search and Transparency
Most job boards aren’t built with the CRNA search experience in mind. This leaves you stuck sorting through irrelevant listings and wasting valuable time.
That’s why we use smart tags so that you can find the most relevant jobs fast.
The APEX Job Board lets you filter by:
- Location
- Salary range
- Who’s posting the job (direct employer, recruiter, or staffing agency)
- Tags that matter to you (everything from special job benefits to quality of life)
- Tax status (W-2 or 1099)
- Employment type (full time, part time, per diem, and locum tenens)
- Accepts new grads (yes or no)
- Specialties and skills (regional, cardiac, peds, OB, and all the rest)
- Shift options
- Role type (clinical, chief CRNA, educator)
- Practice model
But smart tags are only half the story. The quality of the listing still depends on the employer who’s posting the job (garbage in = garbage out). That’s why we work with job posters to help them write better, more transparent job posts so you can make faster, more informed decisions.
3. Apply With Intention
Now that you’ve used smart filters to find roles that align with your goals, it’s time to shift from searching to applying.
Before you apply, take some time to learn more about each employer. How you engage with them during your first interaction will shape how they view you as a potential candidate.
- Research each facility or group.
- Tailor your resume and cover letter by highlighting clinical experiences, case types, or certifications that match each specific job, especially if the listing mentions OB, regional, or independent practice.
- Prepare a few thoughtful questions that show you’ve done your homework.
The APEX Job Board makes it easy to apply with intention:
- Every listing is CRNA-specific.
- You can save your favorite jobs to your account for easy comparison.
- Already have an APEX account? You can use it to sign in (no extra login needed).
- Each job post links to a company profile page so you can learn more about each organization you apply to.
4. Let the Right Jobs Come to You With Job Alerts
Even the most strategic search can miss a great opportunity if you’re not checking in daily. And let’s be honest, between your OR schedule, board prep, and everything else life throws at you, who has time for that?
That’s where job alerts come in.
On the APEX Job Board, you can create custom alerts based on the exact filters you care about. When a new job matches your criteria, we’ll email you.
5. Stand Out by Reaching Out
Most job boards put a wall between you and the employer. You upload your resume, click “apply,” and hope for the best. Weeks pass. No response. No feedback. Just silence.
That’s not how it works on the APEX Job Board.
We encourage employers to share their best point of contact so you can start a conversation before or after you apply—whether you want to ask a clarifying question, build rapport ahead of the interview, or get answers to things job listings rarely include, like:
- What kind of support do new hires get?
- What’s the OR culture like?
- How are schedules and PTO handled in real life?
If you want a comprehensive list of questions to ask during an interview, check out our article: Smart Questions to Ask In a CRNA Job Interview.
Your job search isn’t just about applying; it’s about building relationships. We’ll help you do that on the APEX Job Board.
6. Help Shape the Future of the APEX Job Board
Because the APEX Job Board was built by CRNAs, for CRNAs, your voice matters.
We’re constantly evolving the platform based on feedback from the CRNA and SRNA community. If there’s a feature you’d love to see or something that would make your job search easier, we want to hear it.
Have a suggestion? Send us your ideas. Together, we’ll build the job board our amazing profession deserves.
Final Thoughts
The job search doesn’t have to be overwhelming. When you approach it with clarity, intention, and the right tools, you don’t just find a job—you find your job.
That’s why we created the APEX Job Board: to take the guesswork out of the search and give CRNAs and SRNAs a smarter, more focused way to find meaningful work.
Ready to take the next step? Start your search on the APEX Job Board.
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