new grad moving to AK

Hi Adventure11,

I am also graduating this spring and plan to move to the Fairbanks area this summer. I'm hoping the job market there has openings for newly licensed RN's. I hope we can gain some insight into the Alaskan RN job market on this site!! Good luck in your job search!

Hi all, I live in Alaska and am graduating from nursing school in December in FAIRBANKS. From what I have heard, Anchorage nurses are having trouble finding jobs in the hospitals. The problem with Alaska is that we are sparsely populated with only 4 major hospitals in the state: Fairbanks Memorial Hospital-Fairbanks, Providence Hospital(largest)-Anchorage, Alaska Native Medical Center-Anchorage, Providence of the Matanuska Valley-serving Wasilla, Palmer, and surrounding areas. And, many Fairbanks patients get sent to Anchorage, while many Anchorage patients get sent to Seattle. Anchorage graduates close to 100 RN's a year, while Fairbanks only graduates maximum 16/year and another, probably, 25 students in other outreach sites (Juneau, Matanuska-Valley, Ketchikan, Kotzebue to name a few). That is quite a few new grads every year and most want an acute setting job for the experience. With so few hospitals to choose from, I can see it could be hard to find a job now. And a lot of residents go outside for college and come home to work. Being from Fairbanks and just having watched the previous class pass NCLEX and get jobs, I know Fairbanks RN's are not having trouble getting jobs. 15 of the 16 new grads secured jobs at our local hospital on many floors including medical, surgical, pediatrics, and ER. That was everyone who applied. However, in Alaska and most places, the NICU is reserved for experienced nurses and those units have a very low turnover. In Fairbanks, the last nursery/NICU nurse was hired 2 year ago and the one before that was 6 years ago. But fairbanks sends its most critacal newborns to Anchorage or Seattle. Also, the ICU is next to impossible to get in to as a new grad. So hard, I will spend one year at my local hospital for experience, and then I will be moving outside to look for an ICU position as I want to pursue anesthesia and it requires ICU experience. The highest turnover units are med-surg. Long term care and clinics are also options and there are many of those. Also, Alaska RN's make a decent wage almost anywhere they work. The average for a new grad is about $26-$28/hr and the schedules vary from working 3 12 hr shifts to 5 8 hr shifts and everything in between. Keep in mind that Alaska does have a higher cost of living than most other states. I hope at least some of this information has been helpful and good luck to all of you coming to this great state. Hope you're ready to freeze (was between 30 below and 50 below for 2 months this winter in Fairbanks!)