Tell Media They Are Wrong, No New Grad RN Jobs

While I'm sympathetic to how frustrating this must be I don't understand what you are trying to accomplish.

I'm not trying to belittle your post or situation but I'm still not clear on what you think this will change? Are you interested in discouraging others from pursuing nursing? Do you think that hospitals will start hiring new grads that they don't need?

Since you asked I think your time could be better spent. Misery loves company and I'd advise you to avoid that bottomless pit. If you don't already have a job doing whatever you did before nursing school I'd suggest trying to find one in the meantime to keep you financially afloat. That will also do wonders for your piece of mind and confidence which will show in your demeanor when you do get interviews. Since most new grad programs are filled in the winter before spring graduation it can be hard to find one after graduation. Many units have volunteers and while that wouldn't be my first choice it may be a way to get your foot in the door. I'd dress professionally and take my resume to numerous HR depts or any nurse managers that you might have made a good impression with during your school clinical rotations. Keep pounding the pavement, apply everywhere, anywhere. Many of us ended up in a speciality we never would have considered and love it. My psych unit hires many new grads and that isn't an area some would consider. Nursing is an excellent career and I bet in a few years this will all be a distant menory for you. Hang in there.

There are some areas where they are hiring in the states, and some where they aren't. The economy is in a rut, protesting/writing senators will not solve your current jobless situation. Your best bet is to move if able, and think outside the box.
When I got my first LVN job, I actually looked in the yellow pages at nursing homes, and other health and other sections. I googled my way through various facilities. Almost every job I ever got was not even posted in the paper, or on a website, it was through me calling HR departments and asking if they needed anyone or would like an LVN.
When I got my RN, that was different, I managed to get hired right before the big drop off. Have you looked at group homes? clinics? universities? there's a lot of places that hire nurses that no one is even aware of.

I think the point was just to bring awareness so that the media doesnt continually perpetuate the adage that nursing is recession proof. If I were just starting along the nursing path now, I would be very interested in reading about this. I specifically remember weighing multiple career options: journalism, teaching, medicine, and nursing and immediately eliminated the ones where I knew jobs would be very difficult to come by (journalism and teaching). Now, Im not saying that I wouldnt have chosen nursing afterall had I known, I just would have liked to know ahead of time.

Also, it's important to bring awareness about the shortage of nursing jobs for all involved because legislators who think the nursing shortage persists have been bringing up ideas of shipping over foreign nurses (who I have nothing against) that would only add to the problem.

I've always been encouraged in school to be active and stand up for what you believe in. Thats how nursing has progressed all along...not by just going with the status quo. I dont see the problem of increasing public awareness regarding the struggles of new grads and warning prospective students about what may really lie at the end of their long and arduous nursing school career.

Also, if armed with this information, legislators can think about more productive solutions such as investing in retraining programs for new grads who never found jobs instead of increasing spending on nursing school admissions. That way you give already trained nurses who never found a job a chance to rehabilitate and refresh and join the work force when needed. I've heard that California hospitals are thinking about this because they want to be able to meet the demand for nurses when it finally does return and dont want to waste all the education of new grads who never found jobs or would like to return to the hospital setting.

And it's also important to note that increasing nursing school admissions costs alot of tax payer money. It costs money to keep these Cal States open and teaching. Each graduate nurse's education incurred a huge cost to the student, the investing hospital, and the taxpayers. It makes so much more sense to spend less money refreshing nurses who already got their degree than adding more students who must still complete their degree. But how will people be able to make informed decisions if we dont try to educate them?

All you RN's with jobs are really lucky you didn't get your education in this economy and with the recession. That's all I have to say. And I for one am all for making the awareness of the numerous new grads who can't get jobs (including myself) in spite of this so called "nursing shortage."

I totally agree with the OP. My mom works with laid off workers, and she said that it's totally nuts -- the state-funded organizations drill into the laid-off workers' heads, "Get your RN -- get your RN -- get your RN". She said that they actually tell all these laid-off people that "They will definitely have a job after they become an RN". Not joking!

So, the OP is actually on to something here. State-funded, employment-focused organizations need to get their heads out of their bums and stop doing this. It's a bad use of tax revenue and unfair to the people who are being told this lie. The only way they will stop doing this is if people tell them they are wrong. It won't happen by magic or by "keeping a positive attitude". As taxpayers, we have an obligation to keep our politicans informed about reality.

I am also confused when nurses who can't find a job are told to "volunteer". Last time I checked, it costs money to eat and have a roof over your head. A job search is all-consuming and expensive, especially for people with small children, and leaves little time to volunteer. If you have kids that need to be watched, it's very hard to justify paying $900 a month for day care so you can bring some balloons to the local children's hospital.