This is absolutely horrible!!!

Anywone wanna listen? I decided to go back to school 6 years ago and pursue and career in nursing and was hoping one day to work as a nurse practitioner. Well, now I am getting ready to graduate with my NP only to my dismay that there are no jobs out there or if there are, I guess I'm just not a candidate. I have had some interviews but still nothing. I decided to do the ANP with a cardiac focus. I have sent my resume everywhere. AND NOW, I am stuck in this dead end staff RN position in a hospital that is only part-time (I had to go part-time for school) and I will never be able to work there full time because the hospital I am employed for is doing absolutely horrible financially. We're talking major layoffs, including nurses. So, I'm stuck working PT in this dead end job. School ends in three weeks. I don't have a job lined up and the prospects are awful right now. And, to make matters worse, I have a huge mortgage to pay.

I just never thought nursing would be doing as bad as it seems. I don't know what it is, but nurse and nurse practitioner jobs are very hard to come by now, even where I live in the Chicagoland area. Now, I am second guessing myself and wishing I had done something different even though I like being a nurse. I am thinking of just taking a nurse job in a doctor's office but even that is hard to get. The economy is just so bad right now and I think nursing is feeling it too.

What's worse is this dead end RN job has been just awful, so stressful making me work many weekends and taking a huge toll on me mentally, physically and emotionally. I just can't do this anymore and I feel as though I've neared the end of my rope.

Any thoughts, suggestions?