Why are there no nursing jobs available for new grads? What is going on??

Nurses Job Hunt

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I just graduated from an ASN program in May and I am about to take the NCLEX next week. I do currently have a temporary new grad license...

But I just want to know why are there no jobs available? I live in Rhode Island and the employment here is horrible. Almost every single hospital that does have positions available wants at least 1-2 years of med-surg experience. How are we ever supposed to get experience if we can't get a job?? Even the few and far between positions for nurses at clinics and doctor's offices want 3-5 years experience, plus specialty experience. It is downright depressing.

One of the reasons I chose the health care field was because "there would always be jobs available." That is such a lie. Whenever I tell people that I just graduated and will be an RN they always say, at least you will never be without a job! That is so false.

When I spoke with the nurses at the hospitals where I did my clinical rotations, they said they felt so bad for us and how back in the 80's hospitals were begging them to take positions and even offering sign on bonuses.

I just feel like it will be so long before I ever find a job that I won't remember half of the stuff I learned :no:

must be regional.

OP thank your lovely school for taking your money for false hopes.a lot of jobs are like this now I have a friend who cant find a job in social work.probably owes 60,000 + in school bills.

PLEASE I don't even want to think of the fact that in the next couple of months I will be in repayment for all of my student loans. Ha its going to be like getting blood from a stone.

Specializes in PCCN.

What is it going to get to the point that you have a nurse coming into a patients room in a damn wheelchair with a magnifying glass to read the labels on the meds they are about to dispense?

Yup . LOL. no, sorry , just kidding. But Since jobs no longer offer ANY security, and there wont be any social security left, what is someone who has an established job supposed to do - quit? And have zero income? Not like the gubernment is gonna help us any. hmm, deathsquad anyone? time to put down the useless oldies.

Specializes in Hospice.

Well, here's another way to look at it. When these older nurses do start retiring because they just can't work anymore due to age, what if it's a mass exodus and there are not enough nurses to fill these positions because either they were licensed, new grads who couldn't find a job then went to work in another field entirely, or because there are not enough new grads exiting nursing school because the new incoming students are wise to the economy and major in something else? Then there will be a scramble to hire nurses, new grads with no experience or not. I am praying this economy takes an upturn before I graduate in 2015 because it would really suck to not be able to find work. It's cyclic........the economy, jobs...... Or I should say, it has always been cyclic in the past. At one point, maybe we will be too far gone for the economy to make an upturn. My personal choice is to take any nursing job I can find when I graduate, regardless of pay and hours, so that I can gain experience while getting my BSN to make me more competitive. We can't just stop educating people as future nurses because all the positions are filled "At the moment".

Specializes in PCCN.

dont worry- you can keep deferring it like i did until i did have a job. or pay 5 bucks a week or something.

Another friend of mine couldnt find a job in teaching( see, its not just nursing) . well, she did find a job- for 8 bucks an hour teaching for a catholic school. Nice thanks for paying 80,000 for a masters degree. 10 years later i dont think shes paid anything on it except interest :(

Ok you guys don't have to jump on me. But I know for a fact that a local hospital has nurses that are so old working there that they can barely walk up and down the hallways.

What is it going to get to the point that you have a nurse coming into a patients room in a damn wheelchair with a magnifying glass to read the labels on the meds they are about to dispense?

Let me paraphrase what you wrote here: "Don't jump on me, just let me say something totally flameworthy and jump-on-able without consequences." Dude.

It's rough being a new grad. I sent out hundreds of applications and got 3 interviews and 1 job offer. It's hard dealing with friends and family who don't get why you can't find a job. It's stressful seeing bills pile up while trying to find work.

But the old bats who are hobbling down the halls don't owe you the courtesy of retiring so it's easier for you. They are not the problem, they are caught up in the same economic forces that are making it challenging for you to find work.

Specializes in SICU/CVICU.
Ok you guys don't have to jump on me. But I know for a fact that a local hospital has nurses that are so old working there that they can barely walk up and down the hallways.

What is it going to get to the point that you have a nurse coming into a patients room in a damn wheelchair with a magnifying glass to read the labels on the meds they are about to dispense?

It is also terrible to promote nursing as career path that will have a steady need for employees and a promising job outlook. Don't you think it sucks that there are lets say 700 new grads and none of them can get a job anywhere? So what does that mean? That I am going to be stuck living at home with my mom supporting me (my mom who is an older nurse) and so then she won't ever be able to retire because I will be the monkey on her back for the next 5 years while I sit around waiting for a job? It seems like a viscous and kind of downright stupid circle.

So basically this generation is screwed because nobody can/will retire. Then everyone wonders why there are so many people on the take.

If I had to do it over again I wouldn't have even bothered. The whole scenario seems absolutely asinine.

Just remember. . .where you are now I once was. . .where I am now you will one day be

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

I don't think they are going to start firing experienced nurses just so new grads can have jobs.You're not alone. Thousands of new grads are struggling to find work.No one is obligated to give them all work.

dont worry- you can keep deferring it like i did until i did have a job. or pay 5 bucks a week or something.

Another friend of mine couldnt find a job in teaching( see, its not just nursing) . well, she did find a job- for 8 bucks an hour teaching for a catholic school. Nice thanks for paying 80,000 for a masters degree. 10 years later i dont think shes paid anything on it except interest :(

That's terrible. Then they wonder why people are so downright depressed in this country. Maybe I could go get a job at McDonalds...oh wait, I only have an ASN so they wouldn't even want me there either. haha

Specializes in MDS/ UR.
That is a good point you made about the older RNs who can't retire. But wouldn't it be smarter for the hospitals to lay off or offer early retirement to the older RNs and hire new RNs who I am sure will get paid a lot less than what RNs who have been working for 30+ years make, plus all their sick/vacation time they have accrued? Whoever is running the hospitals doesn't seem to be too intelligent. The hospital my mom used to work at is in shambles and half of the units are closed down. It is such a mess

My initial response would likely get this post deleted and me a bad poster note from the administrators.

Entitled have arrived. Everyone over 40 gets the boot!

What goes around, comes around.

Specializes in PCCN.

lol offer early retirement???:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:

Specializes in Med-Surg.

A couple things.

1) on top of the 'old biddies' passing out meds in W/C (still shaking my head at the ignorance of that comment), there are also experienced nurses looking for work. Including some on AN. So why in the world, in a terrible economy and crazy penny-pinching would a hospital hire a new grad who needs tons of training, and lets face it, for a little while at least, is kind of a liability? Dont get me wrong, we were all new once and got a chance, but dont personalize it. Just see the cost of hiring a new grad.

2) ever think that bad attitude might not help things? If you do get lucky and find work, I hope that disrespectful way of speaking of your elders, your frickin nursing TRAILBLAZERS, well, I hope you lose it real quick.

3) there ARE new grads finding work. You know who? Those who networked non stop during school. Went and met with nurse managers during clinicals. Volunteered to make their resume look good. Got extern jobs to network some more.

Ugh, see, its this kind of behavior that is responsible for so much going to crud. Expecting people to just drop everything, stand aside, and give you everything they worked hard for, just because you showed up. I dont want to live on this planet anymore....

Why are there no nursing jobs available for new grads?

But I just want to know why are there no jobs available?

This is such a silly statement... there are jobs available... all over the place and on a regular basis... the problem is, there are 100 new grads pumped out for every new-grad position that's available.

I don't intend this to hurt your feelings but the reality is, if you're not being considered for new grad positions then you are not a competitive candidate.

As I'm sure you can read on hundreds of threads, you need to market yourself aggressively by taking as many ongoing education classes as possible, trying to learn a foreign language, get a BSN/MSN, networking, volunteering, having a very good resume and cover letter and, to emphasize again, networking.

To be clear, networking doesn't mean that you have to know somebody in management. It simply means that you need to find someone who knows someone who knows of job openings. This is how I got my start... unposted job way in a very remote area hundreds of miles from my home, spouse, and kid. My mom happened to be having a casual conversation with a neighbor. When they started talking about their kids, my name came up along with a "he's a new nurse and is freaked because he can't find a job." The neighbor responded, "oh, I think we're looking for a new nurse. He should call abc and check."

But wouldn't it be smarter for the hospitals to lay off... the older RNs and hire new RNs
Um, no, not really... it would be a violation of federal labor laws not to mention immoral... and a sure way to destroy staff morale (in addition to that nasty class-action lawsuit).

With cut-throat thinking like that, though, I'm sure you'll have a fast-track to management... and will probably be scratching your head about why nurses join those nasty, evil labor unions.

But wouldn't it be smarter for the hospitals to... offer early retirement to the older RNs and hire new RNs
You don't understand how early-outs work. They are essentially a form of voluntary layoff that's part of an overall reduction-in-force strategy. They're not for staff turnover. The only people who take early-outs are those who are (a) very near retirement anyway, and (b) concerned about being laid off, anyway.
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