jobs & no jobs

U.S.A. California

Published

Specializes in med-surg, urgent care, emergency med.

I keep reading posts about how some got jobs right away, others had to wait and then others simply over looked. I'm in the overlooked category. Is there a secret? or something i'm not doing right or missing? Im more than qualified for most positions/units but i get nothing except a few phone interviews & that's it. I'm bummed. And contemplating giving up on the LVN thing since it just doesn't seem to be working in my favor. Help help help please!!!

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, Emergency, SAFE.

It really just depends: On location, your experience, whos willing to train new grads. Just stick with school and keep your eyes open. Do well in clinicals and make nice with the managers so theyll remember you.

Hang in there. I know how hopeless you can feel. Especially when some of your peers are handed sweet gigs and you've got nothing in sight. I myself sent out hundred of applications, had 4 interviews and finally after one year of trying found a job after moving out of my area to a rural community. You might have to go to where the jobs are - but one thing I've learned in this time is that there IS a nursing shortage!

Specializes in med-surg, urgent care, emergency med.
Hang in there. I know how hopeless you can feel. Especially when some of your peers are handed sweet gigs and you've got nothing in sight. I myself sent out hundred of applications, had 4 interviews and finally after one year of trying found a job after moving out of my area to a rural community. You might have to go to where the jobs are - but one thing I've learned in this time is that there IS a nursing shortage!

there is a nursing shortage here where i live as well (LVNs & RNs). I live in Riverside, Ca. Many of the students i went to school with already have jobs..and im the odd one out. Every SNF, LTC, Hospitals even county and state corrections have hundreds of openings..ive applied to all, must be hundreds (ive been keeping a log!!) and still get overlooked. i am very discouraged. I have great skills as an LVN, trained by the navy..then school...and i know i can be an invaluable asset. just seems, no one is willing to open the door for me and give me a chance. I really do want to say **** it and throw in the towel and get a job that is beneath me just so i can attempt to put food on the table. moving isn't a option. I am beyond broke & have a hard enough time trying to feed my kid.

there is a nursing shortage here where i live as well (LVNs & RNs). I live in Riverside, Ca. Many of the students i went to school with already have jobs..and im the odd one out. Every SNF, LTC, Hospitals even county and state corrections have hundreds of openings..ive applied to all, must be hundreds (ive been keeping a log!!) and still get overlooked. i am very discouraged. I have great skills as an LVN, trained by the navy..then school...and i know i can be an invaluable asset. just seems, no one is willing to open the door for me and give me a chance. I really do want to say **** it and throw in the towel and get a job that is beneath me just so i can attempt to put food on the table. moving isn't a option. I am beyond broke & have a hard enough time trying to feed my kid.

Well, if you want it straight, it sounds like you aren't coming across well for some reason. If you have applied to that many positions, have gotten interviews, and still have no job offer, you should be looking at getting some professional advice with interviewing skills and revamping your resume. Good luck!

"I really do want to say **** it and throw in the towel and get a job that is beneath me just so i can attempt to put food on the table. "

I am only recently employed as an RN, but I had some of the same challenges as you. Finally I just decided to apply as a monitor tech. At my interview, I was completely honest in saying that I am trying to get my foot in the door so that I could eventually get an RN position. The next day they called and offered me the nurse job.

That is what worked for me. I was perfectly willing to work in any capacity, just to be there.

It is one option to consider.

I truly wish you good luck :)

Hoot

As discouraging as it sounds in this economy its WHO you know not what you know. I had no luck for 5 months then my aunt and my friends mom started pushing for me at their hospitals and now I have 3 job offers. This is the sad truth of this economy. Hang in their something is bound to open up:)

Specializes in Med-Surg/DOU/Ortho/Onc/Rehab/ER/.

Location, location, location

Rural=better chances for jobs (but your in the middle of nowhere!) no offense to people in the the rural areas

Urban=less chance for jobs (more people in the area, means probably more nurses.

Its pretty bad where I live, I am in southern CA, LA county area.

I know lots of students who graduated good schools with ADN/BSN and still have no jobs. I even went to an group interview about volunteering and there was a new grad RN, that has been graduated for at least a year now and can't find a job. I spoke to her asking her if its hard, and she said extremely.

She is going to get her foot in the door by volunteering, which is NO PAY

So extreme measures need to be taken for extreme situations

ya know?

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
there is a nursing shortage here where i live as well (LVNs & RNs). I live in Riverside, Ca.

Are you sure about that? There hasn't been a critical nursing shortage in southern CA in a long time, at least a couple of years. A bunch of advertisements for nursing jobs in local newspapers does not mean that the healthcare facilities ever intend to fill these positions.

It is hard to get hired as an LVN in southern California due to multiple reasons...

1. Southern California has more than one hundred LVN programs. The vast majority of these are for-profit trade schools that accept new students all the time and churn out masses of new nurses into the local employment market when there are few, if any, jobs for new grads. Also, new LVN programs are opening up for business all the time, which is worsening the situation.

2. Since southern CA has several higher cost-of-living metro areas, displaced workers enroll in these for-profit nursing programs because they assume that an LVN license is an automatic ticket to a guaranteed job, good income, and enough cash to maintain their standards of living. Everyone in southern California (and their mama) has been enrolling in these programs because they actually think there's a nursing shortage.

3. The economy is still crappy. We see less patients during rough economies because there's more unemployed people than ever. Unemployed people are unlikely to have health insurance. People without health insurance are unlikely to visit the doctor, go to a hospital, or schedule an elective surgery unless it is an absolute emergency. If less patients are seeking healthcare, then healthcare facilities can operate with less nurses.

4. Healthcare facilities are running a tight budget with what they already have. The people who oversee hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, clinics, etc., would rather work their current employees to the bone (and sometimes overwork them) than hire new grads who cost valuable time and a plenitude of money to train.

5. Many facilities would rather hire experienced nurses. The truth is that an experienced nurse can be up and running with minimal orientation, whereas the new grad needs time to get trained, costs money to train, and often quits before the facility can recoup any return on their human investment. This is why you see requests for nurses with at least 1 year of experience.

Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

I lived near riverside for a while, and I can tell you there is NO shortage in the area. Just because facilities are posting jobs doesnt mean they are hiring. I worked at St. Bernardines and they had plenty of positions open but were not hiring for them. Additionally, the same thing with Loma Linda, etc. It's a union thing. And no hospitals really hire LVNs in the area, which counts against you. Your best bet would be the VA based on your military background and they do hire LVNs, but I think right now they have a hiring freeze. Most everyone is.

I've seen postings for jobs in the Riverside area but I just take them to be "inaccurate" as are many job postings. There really is not that much available in SoCal. You would probably find out that most of the people who got jobs had outside help or just happened to be in the right place at the right time. You should expand your job search to include everything, just as you said, to get rent paid and food on the table.

Some have to post postions because according to the union contract they must post them. I would say that most of the times the positions are already filled within or they post them because they have to. I can tell you that at hospitals I've worked in the past have posted positions after they have already been filled. They go through the whole interview process because they have to and the unsuspecting victims have hopes for these jobs that were filled before they were posted. I've seen it time and time again. I've seen people come in for interview and have no idea that they are wasting their time because they don't have a shot at the job. It's cruel but that's just the way it is. Bottom line is don't have high hopes for a job in this economy because most of the postings out there have already been filled. They just have to go through the motions. Good Luck to all

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