The aim of this research is to clarify the experiences of newly graduated nurses early resignation and re-employment. Interviews were conducted with 5 nurses, who graduated from a college of nursing and retired less than 1- year after employment. Interviews focused on “the change in their feelings about the continuation of work up until they decided to retire their work” and “the feelings of work after being retired”.
As a result of the interviews, 7 categories and 22 subcategories were extracted from the subjects’ experiences of early resignation and re-employment. The seven categories are “uncertain occupational consciousness”, “difficulty of being a nurse”, “fragility within themselves”, “search for a comfortable place where one can feel a sense of belonging”, “fluctuating feelings between wanting to retire and wanting to continue work”, “pulling themselves together”, “restarting work as nurse”. From these results, the experiences indicate a process of modification from an uncertain occupational consciousness toward a realistic image of nursing work. We suggest that we need continuous support from basic nursing education to postgraduate education in order to cultivate a sense of identity in nursing.