there are multiple applicants for every position and hospitals have hiring freezes. many new grads have been looking for jobs for up to 18 months and still can't find jobs. ageism is very real in nursing and hospitals are very good at not outwardly being discriminatory. many hospitals have laid off their "senior" nurses for we made more money and we have the potential to cost them in health premiums.
http://allnurses.com/gsearch.php?cx=...tion&sa=search has the nursing shortage disappeared?
it's that time of year again. graduating nursing students are preparing to take the nclex and are looking for their first jobs. this year, many are finding those first jobs in short supply.
reports are rampant of new graduates being unable to find open positions in their specialty of choice, and even more shockingly, many are finding it tough to find any openings at all.
these new rns entered school with the promise that nursing is a recession-proof career. they were told the nursing shortage would guarantee them employment whenever and wherever they wanted.
so what happened? has the nursing shortage—that we've heard about incessantly for years—suddenly gone away?
http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/co...sappeared.html the short term answer is clearly yes, although in the long term, unfortunately, the shortage will still be there. the recession has brought a temporary reprieve to the shortage. nurses who were close to retirement have seen their 401(k) portfolios plummet and their potential retirement income decline. they are postponing retirement a few more years until the economy—and their portfolios—pick up.
many nurses have seen their spouses and partners lose their jobs and have increased their hours to make ends meet for their families. some who left the profession to care for children or for other reasons have rejoined the workforce for similar reasons.
in addition, many hospitals are not hiring. the recession brought hiring freezes to healthcare facilities across the country, and many are still in effect.
help wanted ads for healthcare professionals dropped by 18,400 listings in july, even as the overall economy saw a modest increase of 139,200 in online job listings.
the big lie?
without a doubt, the main source of frustration experienced by recently graduated and licensed but still unemployed nurses is what could be called "the big lie."in other words, the television commercials that encourage young people to become nurses -- and then abandon them for months (or years) without employment; and the educators who tell them that the associate's degree is perfectly adequate to guarantee employment, that they will have their pick of jobs when they graduate, and that there is plenty of time to get a bsn later on. who knows whether it is greed, ignorance, or wishful thinking that underlies the fairy tales told to nursing students about their future job prospects? whatever the motivation, the disillusionment of our new grads is palpable. the jobs they expected after all of their hard work just haven't materialized, and some grads are getting pretty desperate.
will work for experience
the strongest motivator for the working population is money, but for some newly licensed registered nurses, getting valuable clinical experience seems to be taking precedence over the paycheck. without that experience, the financial future of these nurses will remain precarious because they will be unable to find jobs.
"i am willing to take a 50% pay cut or even work for free so i can get the darned experience," said one frustrated new graduate who has been unable to break out of the unending cycle of "no job without experience, and no experience without a job."
she was not alone....
medscape: medscape access you need to register for medscape but it is free.
be a nurse...if you can
a popular website about the nursing profession claims, "there has never been a better time to be a nurse.""be" a nurse? perhaps, but "become" a nurse? perhaps, that is less certain. in spite of continuing to rank among the best careers and best jobs in america, the nursing profession is struggling to welcome its newest members with open arms and paychecks.
not too long ago, the threat of a growing nursing shortage prompted thousands of prospective students to choose nursing as a career, and nursing schools rapidly filled to capacity. nursing was frequently referred to as a "recession-proof" career,and the outlook for finding a job after graduation was rosy.
experience and employment: the vicious cycle
now, the bloom, as they say, is off the rose. it seems that many of our new grads are stuck in that perennial dilemma:
they can't get a job without experience, and they can't get experience without a job. this situation was not anticipated by thousands of nursing students who were told, often repeatedly, that a global nursing shortage practically guaranteed employment for them.
consider, for example, the situation faced by new graduates in california. a survey of hospitals by the california institute for nursing & health care found that as many as 40% of new graduates may not be able to find jobs in california hospitals, because only 65% of the state's potential employers were hiring new graduates and generally planned to hire fewer new graduates than in previous years. overwhelming numbers of new graduates submitted applications for the few available positions for new graduates.......
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/744221 registration is free...
i wish you so all the luck in the world. if this is something she's always wanted the let her catch her dream but finding a job maybe difficult.
Jun 25, '12 by marcos9999Don't even wast your time. Hospital nursing jobs right now are nearly impossible to get. There are thousands of applicants for each opening. Newgrads are only accepted in new grad programs which are rare these days. The interviews (if you ever land one) are brutal and humiliating. Please spare yourself the pain and suffering and look for some other area of health care where there may be a chance for employment. There is absolutely zero need for newgrad nurses right now. There is definitively a preference for the young and cute even though they are the least likely to stay.
Jun 25, '12 by Esme12there are multiple applicants for every position and hospitals have hiring freezes. many new grads have been looking for jobs for up to 18 months and still can't find jobs. ageism is very real in nursing and hospitals are very good at not outwardly being discriminatory. many hospitals have laid off their "senior" nurses for we made more money and we have the potential to cost them in health premiums.
DSkelton711 and Esme12 like this.
Jun 25, '12 by dirtyhippiegirlQuote from marcos9999Even in places like CA and NYC -- I think you might be catastrophizing the poor new grad job market just a bit.Don't even wast your time. Hospital nursing jobs right now are nearly impossible to get. There are thousands of applicants for each opening. Newgrads are only accepted in new grad programs which are rare these days. The interviews (if you ever land one) are brutal and humiliating. Please spare yourself the pain and suffering and look for some other area of health care where there may be a chance for employment. There is absolutely zero need for newgrad nurses right now. There is definitively a preference for the young and cute even though they are the least likely to stay.
Jun 25, '12 by Ruby Veewhile i have seen age discrimination in nursing, what i see is mostly managers getting rid of the nurses at the top of their pay scale (meaning older nurses with decades of experience) in order to hire less experienced and less expensive nurses. at 60, your girlfriend will still be at the bottom of the pay scale. i don't think she has much to worry about in terms of "age discrimination." nursing jobs are still difficult to find, however. it seems that large, inner city teaching hospitals are always hiring (in the icus anyway), but that's not necessarily where a 60 year old wants to work, and it may require relocation.