New Grads, A Few Words of Encouragement

I am a nursing instructor and practicing RN in San Antonio, TX. I have been hearing from recent graduates that, "there aren't any jobs available" for new grads. What they should be saying is, "the job I dreamed of having" is not currently available. There are plenty of nursing jobs (at least here in South Texas). You may not get the specialty/hospital/or shift you prefer but you can get a job. In fact, I got a job offer to go work in the Valley close to Mexico for $130,000/year last week. Yes, I have many years of experience but the fact is, they would take any nurse (new grad or not).

When I first graduated in 1984, I couldn't find a job in pediatrics in Austin, Tx. I did, however, find a pediatric position in San Antonio which for those of you outside of Tx is about 1 1/2 hours south of Austin. I had to work the night shift and rotate weekends but I had a job. After 2 years of experience, I have never had a problem finding a job since. In fact I get calls from recruiters weekly.

I say all of this to encourage you all to "hang in there" and think positively. I think the economy is just so bad right now that even though hospitals need nurses they are not hiring them right now. It will change within the next year---it always does. Take what you can find right now; get some experience under your belt and then doors will begin to open for you. Be confident that you made the right decision. You WILL be employed. Most of our seniors graduating at the end of this month have job offers already. For those who started looking too late, they will probably have to take less desirable shifts and work in an area that wasn't their first or second choice, but I am confident they will all have the option to work by the end of June.

take a look at USAJobs.gov.
its a listing of federal jobs.

Thank you for the words of encouragement. But I know once I graduated in December that I wouldn't be able to pick and choose the perfect job. Ideally, everyone wants first shift Monday - Friday but we all know we are not going to get it. Hell we are not even getting any shift. The only reason why you ( kdsrn ) are getting job offers across the board is because you have experience. And unfortually the only experience we have is from clinical. I have filled out so many applications and they are mainly 3rd shift, I have given up trying at the hospital and am looking into LTC, home care, etc.
Just love when people say there are jobs out there, and that we are being picky. I am not being picky, I haven't gotten a call from any facility..and it's not for the lack of trying. I call them a few weeks after I apply and I keep hearing the samething. "We will call you"...So thank you for your words of encouragement but no thanks to we/us as being picky....

Whoa!!! I didn't mean to "**** you off" debcam1. I was just trying to offer some encouragement and support. I don't believe I said "you were too picky" either. I'm sorry things are not going well in your job search. I guess Texas is better as far as available jobs goes. What I was trying to convey is that the job market for everyone is bad right now, but I truly believe things will turn around. I have been a nurse for 25 years. I have seen the job market go up and down for nurses. Like I said, when I got out of school, I had to move in order to find a job. A couple of years ago, hospitals were offering huge sign on bonuses to try to bring in nurses. Today, we are seeing hiring freezes at many hospitals. It's not for "a glut of nurses". Many units are still short-staffed and nurses are working longer and harder. Nurses that had gotten out of the profession have returned to nursing in order to support their families. Many hospitals are not hiring because of the poor economy. I really believe it is a knee jerk reaction and things will loosen up as the economy improves. If you truly went to nursing school because you want to be a nurse, don't give up on that dream. What I was trying to convey is that things will change so hang in there.

Nice encourangement!!! Thank you...

Originally Posted by brian

I'd like to encourage other experienced nurses to share their stories of struggles and successes. It's always nice to hear others went through the similar situations and prevailed.

Unfortunately, I am a 3-years experienced Tele RN with an employment gap (9 months) and is now not faring much better in the job market than the new grads. I've been job hunting since January.

I signed up here at allnurses.com to find some solace. This thread sort of put things in perspective for me. I was starting to feel that my not finding a job was becoming a personal attack. Almost all job postings "prefer" BSNs and require "at least 1 year current experience in the unit you are applying for." Now I know that the economic climate has a lot to do with it.

I agree what someone said about the job market only being tight in the units/facilities in high demand. I've only been applying at hospitals for ICU/PACU/Tele positions, for example. The jobs are out there, but you may have to shift your expectations a little. I never considered LTC facilities because of the scary nurse to patient ratios (15 to 30 patient loads!!), but this is an option I am considering now. In fact, I'm just waiting for an official job offer post-background check from a LTC facility only 6 miles away from my house.

The DON who interviewed me said that in the future, hospitals will shrink by 25% while LTC facilities will expand by 75%. She was saying that there is a great future in LTC nursing. I don't know how accurate the figures are or what the exact time frame is, but this certainly seems feasible to me. As it is, hospitals keep pushing for faster discharges, and where will these patients go for follow up care but to post-acute care facilities?

I never thought I would be promoting LTC nursing, but new grads, don't discount LTC facilities! Sometimes necessity makes choices for us, but who knows if we are just being steered in the direction we were supposed to go after all? And anyway, start where you have to, you can always make changes later on, when the time is right.

HTH. And I feel better, too.

thanks for the words of encouragement - but that's the main place I've been applying is LONG TERM Care facilities - and they won't even give me an opportunity ,and they say, that they can only have a certain amount of new grads at a time , they have a new bunch of grad after the others have finish their orientaion - but some places orientation are 6week - 6 month and that means more time out of work until some one decides to give me an opportunity-- and if I take a CNA job - it will help me with bills , but not with me gaining experience as a LPN and that's not helping me . I thought when I graduated it would so much diffierent - this is really disappointing ----

I really don't know what to do now - It seems as though everything , everyone is suggesting - Is already done or tried

just keep on praying I guest

Hey there, wigoLPN... I guess I was more out of touch than I imagined, if you are already exploring most options and still having a hard time. I have to remember that this thing is also affected by geography. I am from the Chicago area, which I think is saturated enough with new grads and out of work RNs. Those who do have jobs are holding on to it for dear life.

I have to confide that in January, when I started looking for a job and was going nowhere fast, I suspected that hospitals were prefering to hire new grads because they start at a lower rate. Which is counteruntuitive in a way because you'd think they would be preferring experienced RNs at this point in time (less cost to train?). Anyway, that thought was dashed when I saw one hospital's WEBSITE say that they have in fact suspended their New Grad program in the winter and now this spring!

Sadly, I've only ever had 3-4 calls in all these months. I'm guessing my employment gap is the major issue. I may as well be a new grad, the way they're ignoring me. This last call from LTC place is the one that's panned out so far. And even that is iffy. I thought the interview went very well, and like I said we are just waiting for the background check to make it official. But who knows?

The recruiter was upfront in saying that she's had to rescind job offers before, based on background check results. An innocent omission or outright lie will do it, I guess. So I'm not all that secure, not that I lied about anything! The fact that I missed her call Friday, at 4:30pm, and she did not return the two call backs I made before 5pm, makes me nervous. If I got the job I would have thought she would have made sure I know it right away. But then if I was rejected, wouldn't she have made sure I know it right away, too??

I'm thinking now that after I missed her call, she decided to postpone the inevitable rejection call to me for Monday. I'm paranoid now, and have to wait all weekend!

You know it occurred to me to ask you now--did any of your instructors warn you at all about having this much difficulty finding work? If not, maybe they had no idea either. The DON who interviewed me was certainly surprised when I told her I was having a hard time getting work. It's a very surreal job landscape out there, since we've been conditioned to think, "nursing shortage!," which some of you have pointed out is an urban legend, LOL. Yet some of us can't get hired.

Yes, let's keep praying. :wtosts:

My graduation ceremony was yesterday, May 10, 2009. Now, reality!! I cannot even move into a new graduate nurse position on the same floor that I work as a health technician. My hospital had only a few openings for new graduates and there were more than twice that that were already working at the hospital, waiting for a position. I graduated with a class of less than 30 students. I have not heard of a single case of anyone who has been hired.
Sorry for sounding so gloomy, but I just have to vent my frustration. Now, to shift to being hopeful, encouraging, and wise. Don't quit your day job. Bills must be paid, those of my classmates that work are holding on to their bank job, restaurant job, etc. This includes thinking outside of the box. We are not in the driver's seat. One of my instructors starting her first nursing job in a specialty that she was the most uncomfortable but grew to love the job. She opt to stay in the specialty for some time, then moved on. I am an older person who so happens to have 20+ years experience in another Medical Professional (4 year degree also) including quite a few travel assignments. So whatever opportunity presents itself first, nursing or my other profession I will be wise to take. If I so happen to have to work in my long time allied-health care position than so be it! I had paid my dues for this profession and expect to pay my dues in order to establish a nursing career also. I will continue my search for an entry level nurse position. So to my fellow newly graduated nurses.... be persistent in your job search, be practical, keep your day job, network with each other, and if you are a person of faith, believe that you will find yourself in the place you need to be.

enough said

The recruiter called me this morning. Disaster! An internal applicant suddenly showed up for the job at the LTC facility, so that nurse has priority. That's too bad, because the DON and ADON who interviewed me were great.

The good news is, I could either take a temporary nights position to start on 1st June (a nurse will be on maternity leave) with no guarantee a permanent position will open up eventually, or I could interview for a permanent nights position with another one of their LTC facilities. For now I opted for the second opportunity. I'm just waiting for the recruiter to schedule an interview with the DON and ADON. Another hurdle to overcome.

How much longer can I fight to stay a nurse? I don't know what message the good Lord is trying to tell me. Does he have other plans for me?