The CA New Grad Crisis?

jesuslovesme · Feb 19, 2011

Here in IL it is really bad also, I don't know if it's because nurses are flocking to CA because of the nurse to pt. ratio. I think it's due to the poor economy.

jesuslovesme · Feb 19, 2011

What I wanted to add was there would have to be some type of scientific evidence like a poll or something that shows CA new grads are having a more difficult time finding jobs than nurses in other states. Until I see this I believe nurses esp. new grads in all states have it rough.

manyhopes · Feb 19, 2011

mikeybns, i don't really know the answer to this problem, but i am a new grad and i know how hard it is to find a job. i'm very discouraged by what it's going on at this time. they all ask for years of experience, and how can somebody get experience when no one will give you a chance to work and try you out. i've met nurse from different countries and they were telling me, that years ago they got nurses jobs and they couldn't even speak english at that time.

another thing that i've heard from people in the field is to have someone in there and if they recommend you, you might have a chance.

many facilities are using travel nurses. this means that they have the required experience and the employer pays no benefits. what is next? i wish to know.

bittybritty · Feb 19, 2011

I am a new grad here in Los Angeles. I took my boards Feb 8th and passed, I called a local hospital this Monday and went in for my 1st interview on Wednesday. I also attended a new grad cattle call on Tuesday at a different facility. I was offered the first job on the spot and received a phone call today offering me the second job as well. My advice-- be assertive. It felt pretty nice to be faced with the dilemma of which job to take and not stressing about what I was going to do. Just as a side note I don't have any previous hospital experience. Try and look at smaller less known facilities, people are less likely to look there. While I could hold off and hope to score my dream job at Ronald Regan CTICU, I am willing (and excited) to gain a year or two of experience elsewhere.

noahsmama · Feb 19, 2011

You might be seeing a large number of posts from Californians because CA is by far the most populous state in the US, with 37 million people, which is almost 12% of the US population. One out of every eight Americans is a Californian.

I agree with another poster that it's not necessarily clear that the new grad "crisis" is any worse in CA than it is in other states. From posts on this board, it sounds like new grads are having a hard time in almost all of the 50 states, with perhaps a few small pockets here and there where jobs are still available.

Before we start trying to figure out why its "worse" in CA, I agree with PP that I'd like to see objective data (not just anecdotes) supporting the idea that it's actually worse here.

rshenry · Feb 19, 2011

I am a new grad in CA. I have been licensed since last June. I have been offered jobs in LTC but I have NO interest in doing so. I have a full time job that is not in nursing making more money. So for now I will wait for the economy to turn around then I hope to get a hospital job. I am not going to leave a 6 figure a year job for LTC, or a SNF!

orangepink, NP · Feb 19, 2011

To the threadstarter: my answer is all of the above plus California has more nursing schools thereby, producing more new graduates in a year. That's why it is so competitive.

And the reason why work experience in a clinical setting is so vital is because some newbies tend to get overwhelmed and copped out in the long run. it costs around $80k to train a new graduate in any facility so imagine how damaging it would be to the unit's financial budget if that new graduate doesn't have the determination to survive much more succeed in her training.

i know a friend (a new grad RN) who received honors in our program but she resigned after 2 months of training in a post-op med-surg unit. that's why work experience matters because at least, it means that this person is aware of the demands of the nursing profession.

I am not going to leave a 6 figure a year job for LTC, or a SNF!

but the thing is hospitals don't count your non-nursing job as work experience. also, even if you had 6 months of work experience in a LTC or SNF, that matters a lot.

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Feb 19, 2011

It is not the ratios, if anything that creates more jobs because more nurses are needed for less patients. The biggest problem of those you listed is that California is broke. Nurses that were going to retire loss their retirement funds, nurses that were going to retire or were only working part time returned to work when their partners lost their jobs. With all these nurses coming back and/or not retiring added with the fact that it cost about 60,000 to train a new grad, which there are plenty of since the schools pumped them out to replace the nurses now not retiring...well need I say more? What I fear is, what is going to happen when these nurses do retiring in a few years and there is no one to replace them because very fee new grads are being hired and trained. The only ones that re getting hired are the VERY cream of the crop. You can not just graduate anymore. You have to have stellar grades, volunteer, extra hands on experience...your resume has to shine for you to get any glimpse of a chance.

cb_rn · Feb 19, 2011

mikeybns, i don't really know the answer to this problem, but i am a new grad and i know how hard it is to find a job. i'm very discouraged by what it's going on at this time. they all ask for years of experience, and how can somebody get experience when no one will give you a chance to work and try you out. i've met nurse from different countries and they were telling me, that years ago they got nurses jobs and they couldn't even speak english at that time.
another thing that i've heard from people in the field is to have someone in there and if they recommend you, you might have a chance.
many facilities are using travel nurses. this means that they have the required experience and the employer pays no benefits. what is next? i wish to know.

the hospital may not be paying for benefits per se but they are reimbursing the agency hand over foot to pay for that experienced traveler's benefits, housing, and salary.

Malefocker, BSN, RN · Feb 19, 2011

I think it is funny that all of you are posting about how bad the market it is in california and the one person who lives here said they got 2 job offers within 2 week of graduating. I also know 2 people who were offered jobs a month after they graduated. They live in southern california. I think you just have to keep a positive attitude and be willing to settle for any job you can get and gain that one to two years of experience and then you are golden. I don't think Cal is any worse off than any other state. This is simply my opinion from reading the other threads on here.

sunnycalifRN · Feb 19, 2011

What I wanted to add was there would have to be some type of scientific evidence like a poll or something that shows CA new grads are having a more difficult time finding jobs than nurses in other states. Until I see this I believe nurses esp. new grads in all states have it rough.

As a Calif RN, I'm not aware that the job situation here is any worse than other states. Some folks on this site seem to think so, but I've never seen any study or survey results to support this. And . . . we just hired a new grad last week!!! ( and supposedly, we have a hiring freeze on!! )