I am now too expensive and too experience to get a new job!

Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN · Oct 22, 2012

It is a horrible time to find any new position. Either you have too much experience, not enough experience it the field, or too much experience. Hang in there you will find something.

Lev, MSN, RN, NP · Oct 22, 2012

Try agency.

BrandonLPN, LPN · Oct 22, 2012

I guess you could always tweak your resume to downplay your past experience and salaries, make yourself seem less experienced than you actually are..... one shouldn't have to do that, but I suppose you gotta do what you gotta do.

kcmylorn · Oct 22, 2012

Maybe if nurses would start reporting these employers to their departments of labor and the EEOC, the problem would stop. Age-ism is not that hard to prove- it just takes asking yourself"are you being treated any differnent than someone else who is younger than you?" and writing down comments and situations.

Nurses in general, have rolled over and played dead for too long. So now, no one believes us when we tell them of these events.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Oct 22, 2012

Thank you for all your support I really appreciate it

kcmylorn · Oct 24, 2012

Try agency.

Agencies are giving the open contracts and choice shifts to younger nurses. I know, I am an agency nurse. The people in the offices assigning these shifts are non nurses- they are 20 yr olds who just got out of high school, maybe some community college business courses. They give the shifts to others their own age. Last week I was offered a perdeim shift- 95 miles from my home!!! I have driven 8,000 since aug 2012 to do agency shifts- some of these shifts are 87 mi from home( 87 mi times 2- up and back)- 174 mi in one day.

An older nurse cannot get a contract unless you are an OR nurse- not too many younger nurses in the OR's these days.

I was offered a per deim shift 20 miles from house via e-mail from the" little recruiter", I resonded yes to it 5 minutes after she sent it, she e-mailed me back 2 hours later to say some one else took the shift! REALLY- I'm supposed to believe that!!

Went to a training day for inservices- the agency needed 12 RN's. All the RN's there were over 45yr old. The training was 75 mi from our homes. The other nurses were out of the same office I was- I went around and asked them when I saw age was a common denominator. One of the male nurses( over 50) got up an walked out when he found we were going to be driving all over the state to kingdom come at 5 AM!!!

I had to go into the agency office and threaten to call the EEOC before they "miraculiously" produced a contract, pulled out from under a pile of papers, 68 miles from my house. I am on unemployment so I have to check in with unemployment every 2 weeks to keep the claim open. I told the dept of labor investigator about the scene and extent I had to go to to get work from this agency and the pulling of the contract from under a pile of papers, - she said this is ILLEGAL and it is called hiding job opportunities. The investigator stated she wanted it reported and gave me the number to call to report it. Which I did.

Discrimination is alive and well and gotton away with in NURSING!! This is what is happening in the beloved nursing profession. Shushing it up, or the nurse who complains about, it is not going to make it stop or go away. Neither is bullying the nurse who complains about it, going to fix it.

kcmylorn · Oct 24, 2012

We hear a lot from the new nurses who are finding it difficult to find a new position or even their first position, due to lack of experience.
I am finding I have too much experience to move jobs! I get interviews but I have too much experience and they are frightened that I cost too much for them to employ!
At first I thought I am overweight they don't want to employ me because I am a medical insurance liability.
So I lost 40 lbs, so apart from feeling wonderful and looking much better, it has made no difference to the job hunting.
I have stopped putting my ideal salary on the application form, but I cannot lie about how many years I have worked as an RN.
One place was a 24 hour part time position, where I could pick up extra shifts within the company to make up my hours, I was told in interview they feared that I would leave them as soon as I found a 40 hour job because I had so much to offer. I tried to reassure them but I do need a 40 hour job. That was 2 weeks ago and I haven't even heard back from them to say no.
I have a really good job but I just cannot get along with my manager at all, we have conflicts continually and I have to move on as I fear I am losing my professional composure.
I would be interested to know if any other RN has ever experienced this?

The reason your not getting along with your manager is probably because you know more than they do- the manager feels threatend. Why nursing continuiously gives managerial positions to those with such easily threatened ego's. I will never know. A manager with less experience than their most experienced staff member is always going to feel threatened. Maturity would tell a reasonable person with common sence, there is always going to be some one with more experience than you or who knows something more than you do.