So Much For Nursing Shortage!!!!!!!!!!

I live in NJ and from all of the area hospital websites I have checked there seem to be lots of jobs for RNs. (i'm not far from where you are looking).

Thanks to many hospital closures there has been an overflow of experienced nurses job seeking, as well as a flood of new graduates entering the field. I've heard from many NJ nurses on this board that jobs have become VERY tight. I work in NYC, where thank goodness, jobs are plentiful and pay well.

Don't forget that Corzine cut funding to hospitals. Do you think that the huge influx of undocumented immigrants and uninsured that seek the same care (unreimbursed)are going to stay home?

This is an example of stop-gap measures to keep healthcare systems afloat.

Another factor is the economic situation. When the general economy is bad, nurses already on staff want to pick up extra shifts -- or at least not cut back on the shifts they are working. Those per diem employees WANT lots of hours and budgeted staff members are looking for a little overtime. That fills all the "holes in the schedule" and take the pressure off management to hire a bunch of new people who will be costly to orient.

When the economy improves, those same staff members will cut back on the hours they work ... leaving holes in the schedule that need to be filled ... and stimulating hospitals to start hiring a little more.

A lot of us have been saying for a long time that there is no nursing shortage ...

However, it is true that there is a signficant maldistribution of nurses across the US; some areas/markets are completely saturated, but there are areas of the country that do have shortages. People in nursing schools are apparently being led to believe that, as soon as they graduate, they'll have their choice of jobs, can choose their preferred shift and specialty, and can find a job right in their current location -- but people going into lots of other fields expect that they'll have to move to where the jobs are to start their careers when they finish school, and that may be becoming the case in nursing, too.

Best wishes for your job-hunting!

I make about $8-10 more an hour in NYC than in NJ, and I get great union benefits including $10,000/yr toward my grad school tuition. The tuition reimbursement was the selling point for me.

I used to spend around $500/month simply commuting, with gas, tolls, parking, etc. (plus wear/tear on the car) Now I take NJTransit. $20 bucks, (tax-free, thanks to employer-sponsored pretax transit plan) and I can sleep going in, and coming out....

Exactly! Throughout history, people have been willing to migrate in order to provide themselves with better job opportunities. That's how the United States (and many other countries) were populated. However, in recent years, it seems that fewer people are willing to do that and "go where the jobs are."

As an extreme example, I once had a colleague complain about not having an MSN program near her home -- when there were 4 highly respected programs within an hour's drive, one of which held classes at the hospital where she worked! I reminded her that I had been forced to move half-way across the country to attend one of the 2 existing programs in my field. She gave me a look as if she just "didn't get it." If the program she wanted wasn't in her back yard, she wasn't going to make any effort to go.

There are plenty of nursing jobs out there. They might just not be in your back yard ... and/or they may not be exactly the ones you would prefer.

My advice for new grads it this. If you happen to live in an area that has an over-supply of new grads, you may have to move to get the type of job you want. The good news is that you probably won't have to "stay away" forever. After you get a year or two of experience, you should be able to find something reasonable in your preferred area of the country.

For people totally averse to moving (even temporarily), then they will have to either take jobs that no one else wants ... or find a job in another field for a while until the nursing jobs open up again. That may require you to take a refresher course at some point in the future unless you can find a way to keep your nursing skills fresh.

Life isn't always fair ... and I am sorry that you are in this situation. But you have to face reality and make a tough choice. There may be no attractive option for a local nursing job that really appeals to you. You may have to start seriously considering the unattractive options. (e.g. moving to where the jobs are)