Hi all!

I hope that this topic hasn't been beaten to death... I did a search and couldn't find anything, so I'm throwing my questions out there.

What area of nursing do you do now, and what did you start out doing?

Was it difficult for you to find work?

I'm a bit more than half-way through school, and have been watching the papers for LPN jobs and I'm getting pretty discouraged that there aren't many jobs out there at all. Perhaps my area is different than most? I'm in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Also, I'm wondering kind of on a side note, if any of you are in charge of hiring, what you look for in a new nurse, and what is your facilities policy on hiring newly graduated nurses?

Okay, this got long. Sorry! Thanks for your responses!

Michelle

(who's nervous about finding a job to pay back her hefty student loans!)

most facilities ltc/rehab will hire lpn's. i know in my area, the local hospitals will hire new grad lpn's for the med surg floors, as well as the psych floors....my 1st licensed position was in a 151 bed facility that had units ranging from sub-acute/rehab, ltc and dementia..... i was on the sub acute unit and moved up to a supervisors position within a year....there are always oppertunities for lpn's ! check your local nursing association. alot of states have an lpn association too

I was a new grad in so cal and it was very hard to find a position that was not ltc...i knew that wasn't my cup of tea. It took me about 5 months to find a job and it was a little more than an hour away each way. It was on a telemetry unit and spawned my love of cardiac nursing. Now I work ER, thankfully georgia has more liberal laws as to what lpns can do so they employ lpns in ers sometimes.

remember that many hosp don't advertise pos in papers, call their job hotlines or talk to the nurse recruiter, esp if you want to work in a certain field-your zeal may have them look at you more closely than a new grad who just wants any old job. start looking now! good luck!

I am a new grad as of this past Friday night!! I'm in Tennessee, so things may be different from where you are. I started applying for jobs about one month before graduation. I had offers from 2 hospitals and 3 LTC and I'm not even licensed yet. All of these places were willing to work me as a "nursing assistant" until I become licensed. I accepted a job in the pre/post-op wing of my little local, rural hospital. The pay/benefits were actually better than the hospital in the larger metro area and it's only 6 min away from home! I'm waiting to complete my 2-step TB test and I'll start work. And, by the way, the job I'm accepting wasn't advertised in the paper or on the hospital's "job line". I just put in an application and resume and they called me. Good luck!!

I work in LTC - I cannot imagine being any where else. I LOVE it! :) I graduated on Aug. 8th and started work on Aug.10th. Several of my classmates started to work at the hospital on the med/surg. One classmate went to work in OB for postpartum. We had people coming to our school trying to hire us before we graduated. I think everyone had a job by graduation. I am in Texas though...things may be alot different here.

Good luck!

I was interested to know how that would work finding work after graduation. We had a recruiter come in for orientation and she told us we could start working as nursing assistants or shadow nurses around and get paid $12/hour. I wanted to know if you could work as an lpn prior to actually being licensed or in the last semester. I am anxious to start working as I get near the end of the program, but I can't pay my mortgage with $12/hour. I wanted to know if you had to actually pass the test before you could start working as an LPN? Or just be in the process of taking it.

In my state (TN) and I'm guessing it is the same in all others, you cannot legally work as a "licensed practical nurse" until you are licensed. Some hospitals will work you as a GPN (graduate practical nurse), but the duties resemble those of a CNA as does the pay: no med passes, no invasive procedures, mostly vitals, and beds & baths. Most other facilities will work you as a non-certified nursing assistant or aid until you get your license. $12/hour is good money in my part of this state for nursing assistant work. The starting pay for new LPN's around here ranges from $10.40 - $12.80/hr. What do LPN's in your state start at? I might be tempted to move!!

I was interested to know how that would work finding work after graduation. We had a recruiter come in for orientation and she told us we could start working as nursing assistants or shadow nurses around and get paid $12/hour. I wanted to know if you could work as an lpn prior to actually being licensed or in the last semester. I am anxious to start working as I get near the end of the program, but I can't pay my mortgage with $12/hour. I wanted to know if you had to actually pass the test before you could start working as an LPN? Or just be in the process of taking it.

in mass (at least the area i'm at) the pay for a new grad lpn is around $15-16/hr.depends on the facility...don't forget that is you work 3-11 or 11-7 you get a shift differential..my facility offers $2/hr (m-f) & $3./hr (sat&sun) for shift differntial.now thats on top of your base hrly wage.. i make just under $24/hr not inclusing the differential ! ive been a nurse for only 8 yrs !

if you work for an agency (ie; nursefinders) lpn's make $38/hr plus.................you can also make more $ if you live in or near a big city that has better medical facilities.... and no i donot live near boston. i actually live clear on the other side of the state.

good luck to all you graduate lpn's !!!

I was a new grad in so cal and it was very hard to find a position that was not ltc...i knew that wasn't my cup of tea. It took me about 5 months to find a job and it was a little more than an hour away each way. It was on a telemetry unit and spawned my love of cardiac nursing. Now I work ER, thankfully georgia has more liberal laws as to what lpns can do so they employ lpns in ers sometimes.

The situation in Metro Atlanta for LPN's from what I've researched is that a large number of hospitals don't hire LPN's (only patient care techs & RN's) Some hospitals do though. A number of medical clinics, and of course, LTC's hire LPN's. I've seen many LPN's working at Kaiser facilities and county medical facilities. I don't think I'll have any trouble getting a job after graduation, but I want one that will give me the most experience.

As far as pay, I'm changing careers and have already set my mind that I won't be making much money for the next few years. Although some LPN's do very well. It seems to me that the areas in outside of Metro Atlanta tend to pay more for LPN's, perhaps because of smaller number of nurses???.

One friend has been an LPN for 7 years, worked a supv in LTC for about 4 years, was promoted to Admin position last year and will soon be training CNA's. She just started online RN training with Indiana State University. I feel her career as an LPN has progressed well.

I work down in the southeast part of georgia and know of many area hosp that hire lpns in the ER. We are never a majority, but there are some of us. The pay rate really sucks eggs...it was way better in new hampshire when i lived there! i think starting pay at the little hosp i work at is around 12 with no experience, with 8 years i only make 15.5...but i'm working where i want and that makes the difference! Yes, there always seems to be more opportunities in ltc, but as i already said-i couldn't work there.

The recruiter informed us when we graduated we would make about $16-17/hr. If you work weekends night shift with differential you can make up to $23-24/hr, which is what I am considering. The agencies tend to pay about $22/hr.

I've read other people's posts on here saying that some facilities in their area will let new grad LPN's work before they get thier liscence. Does anybody that lives in the Birmingham area know any facilities that does this? I don't graduate until next August and I would like to have a job lined up for me after graduation. Any input would be of help.

In my state (TN) and I'm guessing it is the same in all others, you cannot legally work as a "licensed practical nurse" until you are licensed. Some hospitals will work you as a GPN (graduate practical nurse), but the duties resemble those of a CNA as does the pay: no med passes, no invasive procedures, mostly vitals, and beds & baths. Most other facilities will work you as a non-certified nursing assistant or aid until you get your license. $12/hour is good money in my part of this state for nursing assistant work. The starting pay for new LPN's around here ranges from $10.40 - $12.80/hr. What do LPN's in your state start at? I might be tempted to move!!

I was offered a job on the med/surg floor at the hospital in my area about a month before I graduated. I took 1 month off after graduation before I started to work there. I started out at $12.70/hr and after about 9 or 10 months went up to $13.17/hr. Last Friday I was offered a job at a county jail starting out at $20.10/hr! I plan on giving my notice first thing Monday morning and should start this new job in about two weeks!!

Pretty much everyone that was in my graduating class had jobs lined up before we graduated. There were a few that were still looking after graduation but for the most part no one had any problems finding a job.

Jenn