Are there still jobs for nurses in Canada?

Depends on where you are and what type of work you are looking for. You'll be able to get casual on med-surg pretty much anywhere. If you want full time right away or want to go straight into a specialty area as a new grad, it's more limited. I know Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton all have good opportunities for new grads and experienced nurses. There are things you can do to make yourself more marketable than your peers. Seek a practicum in the specialty you want to work in, take extra courses in that specialty, etc.

Here in small town Ontario, right now there are 6 job postings for RN's. 4 part-time and 2 full-time, and believe me the part-time RN's will get full time hours if they want them!

I think the list of nursing discussion topics for this bb covers practically every specialty there is! The threads there are also an interesting place to get perspectives on what working in those areas is like.

I certainly don't think you need to decide any time soon. A lot of people (myself included) went into nursing school with one specialty in mind and then found out that was completely wrong for us and we fit in a specialty we had never considered. You'll be exposed to different specialty areas in school. I don't know about Manitoba, but BC (www.bcit.ca) and Alberta (www.mtroyal.ab.ca I think) both offer specialty courses by distance in certain specialties (forensics, which you may like if you were a psych major, OB, peds, emerg, critical care, etc). You can take these courses when you are a 3rd or 4th year student I believe (my niece took some through BCIT).

Having a BA certainly doesn't hurt. Whether it helps or not will depend on how much it relates to the job you are applying for and there are a lot of nurses with other degrees. In the end, the employer will put the most emphasis on your nursing degree.

I live in toronto and cannot find a full time position unless I want to work in LTC! It is quite a hard search for it but as part time on L&D I do get full hours most of the time.

Monie, I know of at least three hospitals in Toronto/GTA hiring full time. Pm me if you want the details.

Hello alll,

Having been out for a year now I would have to agree with Fergus that med/surg is always a good choice for a new grad since there seems to be casual and pt positions available. It is a nice place to "park" and get a chance to see what is available and what extra courses would be required. I am happy working in cardiology and general medicine but I can certainly see how this would not be the ideal situation for everyone.

Mito

I have to agree with you Monie2004. I just passed my exam in June and I have had a number of offers from LTC but no acute care hospitals. I do see lots of postings at most GTA hospitals but they are not looking for new grads, unless you did your pre-grad rotation at that hospital. Unfortunately they were not hiring where I did my pregrad because they had just hired a batch of the last group that did their pre-grad there. My bad luck. So my next option is to leave the country. I am simply waiting on my ATT for the Nclex and my visascreen papers are being processed. I am really disappointed becasue all through the nursing program all the teachers kept saying you will be able to pick and refuse jobs. I have friends who wrote the Jan/04 exam who still cannot find jobs most work for agencies.
Wish I had better news but that is my experience.

bashy.

I'm starting a full-time permanent ICU position in September, so the jobs are out there! Good luck!