Job postings within your hospital

[rileygrl11, BSN, RN]

I like to check out the job boards periodically at our hospital and have noticed lately that the openings are slim and for the less desirable units. I made a comment about this to some co-workers and someone said that it is due to the sudden influx of new RN grads filling the positions. She also said that it is like this at all hospitals during "this time of year."

Thought I would survey this board and see if this is going on at your facility. Is this a trend that occurs every year, and, if so, how long does it last? I thought with the nursing shortage there would still be cream of the crop jobs available.

[kimmicoobug]

At the hospital I work at, people with seniority get the top spots and shifts, if they so choose.

[sjoe]

When I have worked in hospitals, ALL job openings are posted for current employees only. If they are not filled or bid on within 2 weeks or so, THEN they are available to application by the public, new grads, etc. "Outsiders" in other words, get the leftovers, not current employees.

Ethically it's a simple matter of loyalty. Legally, it's a matter of union contracts.

Your current employer seems to be telling its current employees that they are less important, and less worth promoting or giving a choice, than new grads and outsiders. In this case, they deserve exactly the amount of loyalty that they display.

[Audreyfay]

Usually the large nursing classes graduate in the Spring. By the end of summer, most hospitals hope that their jobs are pretty much full. By Fall, one is waiting for a job by natural attrition. However, with the "nursing shortage," some of the jobs were left unfilled for awhile.

Legally I believe hospitals need to post jobs within the hospital before they open them up to the public. Perhaps they had been posted earlier, posted to the public, and then filled?

[VaMedic]

Where I work, there is never a shortage of jobs. With 7 hospitals and numerous other entities, there is always a job available. The better spots get taken shortly after graduation, but they tend to open up again later in the fall. Internal transfers get first choice on all though and alot of the internal jobs are never posted for the public. No union here either.

[Gardengal]

At this time of year we typically have less jobs posted, but it's not so much because of new grads as it is reaction to end of fiscal year. Every hospital I have ever worked has a fiscal year of July-June. The end of budget year always takes a while to balance at year end. Once they do that, there is a reevaluation of open positions and they decide where to shift positions. They look at this before they allow postings to go up.

Many previous postings disappear because of change in yearly fiscal plans. Doesn't feel any better on the unit looking for staff though...