RNs tell your hospitals to hire new grads

hnt1987 · Mar 5, 2011

I totally agree with you! We did not go to school for a degree to work at McDonald or Burger King.

noyesno, MSN, APRN, NP · Mar 5, 2011

I think it would be great for experienced nursing to encourage their hospitals to hire new grads. However, I don't think they are going to be motivated to do this if this would, "translate to loss of jobs and decreased wages for those experienced nurses already employed."

linearthinker, DNP, RN · Mar 5, 2011

I saw a statistic that it costs an average of 40K to train a new grad and retention is poor. Not a cost effective way to do business. Much better to keep that staff you already have. I feel for you, but the argument doesn't hold water. I tell new grads i know to a) get a BSN if they don't have one already and b) volunteer/ do mission trips to gain experience. Doing so tells potential employers something about character, work ethic and drive.

good luck to you!

RN1980 · Mar 5, 2011

understand that hospital management is in the buisness to make money while only having to employ the smallest amount of staff. they care little about how many nurses are in the unemployment line. i know of 4 board certified new grads from 5/2010 that are working in walmart. work for min wage? yea right..that will be the day.

OCNRN63, RN · Mar 5, 2011

You honestly think management listens to anything we have to say?

FlyingScot, RN · Mar 5, 2011

Maybe be a little more enthusiastic about helping to train them. Anyways, its worth thinking about.

How about being a little less judgemental. Not every seasoned nurse is a pill, infact, most of them aren't. It's worth thinking about.

DedHedRN · Mar 5, 2011

If I could work for minimum wage at wal-mart, or doing what I spent many years training to do, what do you think I will choose?

As for it costing X amount of dollars to train a new grad nurse, if they were working for minimum wage, that figure would shrink considerably.

Was I not clear in my original post? The point was, if new grads are increasing every year exponentially, and they are not being employed, they will be induced to work for less, perhaps even minimum wage. That in itself will cause more experienced nurses to lose employment, because as we all know the mighty dollar is king. Hospitals will see the benefit of hiring people for less and will let nurses go who demand more.

So, to avoid all this unpleasantness, it would behoove experienced nurses to look out for their jobs and wages now by encouraging hospitals to hire new grad nurses, before it gets to that state of things.

purple_nomad · Mar 5, 2011

Aren't we supposed to be having a nursing shortage? Or is that not happening anymore?

Schools are pumping out new grads, and nursing schools have waiting lists, and...er...no jobs!

backatit2 · Mar 5, 2011

i'm not a nurse and i couldn't get a job with my degree either. guess what i'm doing after spending years in college? working for minimum wage!

that wasn't the plan, but minimum wage is better than NOTHING and going back to school to get a degree in a field i CAN get a job in (which for me, ironically, happens to be nursing) is better than sitting around (as a year, or two) passes by and still making NOTHING.

take your pick - get over it and do something about it or keep waiting for a miracle.

Mulan · Mar 5, 2011

i'm not a nurse and i couldn't get a job with my degree either. guess what i'm doing after spending years in college? working for minimum wage!
that wasn't the plan, but minimum wage is better than NOTHING and going back to school to get a degree in a field i CAN get a job in (which for me, ironically, happens to be nursing) is better than sitting around (as a year, or two) passes by and still making NOTHING.
take your pick - get over it and do something about it or keep waiting for a miracle.

What did you get your degree in?

Why do you think you will be able to get a nursing job while others can't?

backatit2 · Mar 5, 2011

education - and i COULD get a job if i would sell my house and move my family. i don't want to. i could say that "i can't get a job" but others that i graduated with have jobs - the ones who moved at least. everyone else went back to school.

what makes me think that i can get a nursing job while others "can't" is because i got a job at a hospital, got a scholarship, and have to work for them when i finish. you don't have to work there to get a scholarship, btw. they pay for people to go to nursing school because they NEED nurses. i've seen people in the forums who have moved to my area (even the hospital) for work.

so, just because a nurse doesn't want to relocate to get a job (like i didn't want to do) doesn't mean there aren't jobs out there. they (like me) had to decide to either move or move ON.