HI, I'm a new LVN with a year and 4 months experience. I live in Temecula CA, (Southern California). I was told in nursing school that this field in recession proof and about all the jobs that were out there..... I have since found that, that is NOT the case. LVN have been fazed out of Hospitals and the facilities that do accept LVN's are few and far between and require 1-2 yrs outpatient care or acute care. Is anyone else other there experiencing the same problem. I love what I do but I'm beginning to believe RN is the only way to go!

Sincerely,

Frustrated In Temecula

This is a REPOST.

The job market for nurses bottomed out several years ago. I'm sorry that your school told you that there would be a lot of jobs, because it hasn't been true for years. Unfortunately, new nurses, and a lot of experienced nurses -- both LPNs and RNs -- are having a very hard time of it. There are a lot of threads on this site on the topic.

I can only recommend that you keep looking for ways to get experience, even if it's volunteer experience. With 1+ years, you should be able to find something, have you tried home health? Soon flu clinics will start putting out notices for nursing staff -- they usually start hiring in the summer for fall/winter flu clinics.

You might also look into wellness fairs, a lot of agencies offer them as well, and it's a good way to meet people and make contacts, and they're a lot of fun.

You might also explore the possibility of relocating, there are areas in this country, especially rural areas, where nurses are few and far between.

If your main motivation for getting an RN is to get a job, I suggest you do some serious research on whether that is possible, because the job market is bad for everyone. I would hate to see someone go into debt and invest in a lot of schooling when it's going to be just as hard to get an RN job as an LPN.

Getting more LPN experience under your belt will give you an advantage if you do decide to pursue your RN degree in the future.

Wishing you best of luck.

Soooo RN postions are recession proof!

Temecula isn't exactly a huge metropolis is it? Other people have posted time and again how they couldn't get work in that general area. Once it was possible to get work in the greater LA area, but pickings are now slim there too, even though it is a huge area. You may really have to start thinking about relocation. Hope you hang in there long enough to get some experience.