I feel truly sorry for new grads

[Concerto_in_C]

Just wanted to say that. I've been a nurse since 2008 and did ok, first in sub-acute rehab and now in med-surg, did not experience any unemployment and had very stable finances that whole time. I guess I got lucky because I graduated just as the industry was going down the toilet.

I just want to share my observation that this is no longer the industry of opportunities it once was, it has really changed for the worse, the attitude of employers has changed for the worse, and opportunities for young people have disappeared.

This industry has never been about making x or y amount of money, but it's been about opportunities for young people. Now the opportunities are in jeopardy.

Young talented BSNs can't even find work in med-surg nowadays because new grads are not welcome.

If you can't at least do med-surg because new grads are not welcome, you are setting yourself up for failure in later career because something like med-surg is the foundation, and they're denying you even the foundation you need to get started.

My advice for young people interested in a career in health care is to stay clear of nursing but do something like physical therapy. A PT degree may require 3 years more in school (because it's a PhD or a Masters) but the extra 3 years will be worth it because everywhere you go employers will accept you, nobody will give you a hard time because you're a new grad, and companies will be glad to take you under their wings and train you.

I got back from the website for the Norther Illinois University PT program and their employment rate for new PT grads is 100% (this means 100% of new grads are welcome in physical therapy).

Just my 2 cents.

[Discourged RN]

What hospital is that? Are they still hiring?

[chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

We are disheartened too. I promise you will be in demand when you have 2 years of medical-surgical experience, telemetry experience, epidural certification, art line certification, medical-surgical certification, ACLS, etc., except I don't have the faintest idea how you will get there in the present job climate.

Discuss this with your school counselors.

With apologies to Yossarian and Joesph Heller:

There is only one catch and that is Catch-22.

New nursing grads can get hired immediately by nearly any facility just as soon as they have two years of nursing experience. The catch - Catch-22 - is that no one will hire newly graduated nurses because they don't have two years of nursing experience. Working nurses are moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a collective respectful whistle every time they hear of new grads not getting hired.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

Blah, blah, blah. Too many nursing schools. Profit, non-profit, whatever. Just too many. However, nobody who makes their living as part of that system will admit it because it might cost their job.

And as to the baby boomers retiring I say HA! If you read what most people have saved for retirement there is no way they will be able to afford to retire until they are physically forced to.

[Dreaming4acute87]

Sigh, it is not as bad as my new grad law husband.

[Concerto_in_C, BSN, RN]

With apologies to Yossarian and Joesph Heller:

Tell the recruiters they are retarded and they can take their openings and shove them. When I have 2 years of med-surg experience (that will be April next year) I will not be looking for another job, but thinking about grad school. Switching jobs so you can get a 50 cent raise is not career growth, it's idiotic. A Master's degree-now we're talking, it's something I could show friends and family and my patients and say "hey, I've grown as a professional".

Also, I'm in favor of withdrawing any federal or state funding (Medicare, Medicaid, etc.) to hospitals that refuse to give new grads a chance.

[applesxoranges, BSN, RN]

I am scared. I know people say it is cyclic and that it comes and goes, but it is like the LPNs. I wish people would go back to team nursing and include the LPNs. I have seen one or two postings for LPNs at a hospital which is more than previously but still it scares me.

[Lmonchin]

To the previous posters who mentioned they are working as school nurses...may I ask in which city/state you are currently in? I too looked that up in my city...Boston. And all boston public schools require school nurses to have 2-3 yrs of community health experience. So I'm back at square one in a sense with that route.

[Lmonchin]

I think it depends on what area of nursing you want to be in. Heck I'm a new grad from this past December, passed my NCLEX in late January. I did my preceptorship in a large Boston hospital and while I learned soooo much, it taught me that I didn't want to work in the hospital! Through my husband (NOT in the medical field) and his piano student, I started subbing in a public school district and loved it. Moved my job search to school nursing and got hired as a full time school nurse in April. Sure, after a year the hospitals will not consider my job "experience" (though some of them would probably flounder trying to do my job for a day and vice versa), but hospital nursing isn't my forte. Community is. Connections you make are key. The ones in nursing school through your clinicals, but also consider other connections. My husband works for a church and they love him and in turn me when we got married this past January :). Several of them work in health care or have connections in health care and were singing my graces and hadn't even seen me work, lol. It was humbling and so helpful! My husband's piano student was a teacher in the school district I subbed in; the day I started there she was taking me around and taking me up. It can be disheartening and it is important to be realistic - I had come to terms with both of these things in my job search. I'm also in the Boston area and it is saturated with new nurses! But I will also say that most of my friends who passed the NCLEX in Jan/Feb had jobs by April/May. Some were even in a couple of big Boston hospitals! Those friends made good friends with preceptors and were persistent. Others are working in acute rehab; a couple in home health, and a few like myself in community health. (I also have some friends in OT; they did find jobs easily after graduation, but they were usually through their full-time, non-paid, six-month externship, which is a extremely valuable resource and again - connections...)[/quote']

Hello:) that's awesome. Being a school nurse sounds like a great position to have. I have been on the Boston public school website and have looked into school nurse positions but most are looking for 2-3 yrs of previous community health experience and also there seems to be a separate certificate of some sort that we must obtain first before qualifying...could you tell me a little more about where you are and what you know about getting into school nursing? Thanks!!!

[Nonetheless]

I'm a new grad school nurse (with about 7 months acute care exp too) and i love my school nurse job. VERY stable, it's at my old high school, 5 mins from my house, low stress, fun, wonderful hours (7:20-2:45 and out on time), amazing scedule (I work 185 days a year!), I'm in the teacher union, low cost health insurance, I am a state employee and can retire in 30 years on a full pension. My hourly rate is actually higher than at the hospital, although I am salaried, and since I worked less hour the yearly income is less. But the pay cut was worth it. There are worse jobs.

I would LOVE being a school nurse!!!

[Dalla]

Like the OP, I graduated from nursing school in 2008. But not until December. I passed NCLEX in February 2009. I could not find a job in the hospitals. At that time, they were not even hiring experienced nurses. I had to do time in subacute rehab and long-term care. Not at all the type of nursing that I wanted to do. I eventually finished my BSN and am now working on my MSN. I hope to find a job after I graduate from that program, or I will be more than $100,000 in debt and working at Starbucks.

[chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Like the OP, I graduated from nursing school in 2008. But not until December. I passed NCLEX in February 2009. I could not find a job in the hospitals. At that time, they were not even hiring experienced nurses. I had to do time in subacute rehab and long-term care. Not at all the type of nursing that I wanted to do. I eventually finished my BSN and am now working on my MSN. I hope to find a job after I graduate from that program, or I will be more than $100,000 in debt and working at Starbucks.

Dalla - I feel for you but don't think you have dispassionately and objectively considered the impact of taking on $100k of student loans. There are many lower-cost alternatives that you could have pursued and may still be able to. There are any number of MSN programs out there that will total in the $25 - $30k range, which may reduce the overall level of debt you will take on.

Odds are that you will find a decent job after getting your MSN (and I assume becoming an NP) but paying back $100k will be difficult - it's really the equivalent of a mortgage - even if you are earning $80 or $90k. My candid advice is to do what you can now to minimize borrowing and don't go $100k in the hole.

[Misskala]

Hello:) that's awesome. Being a school nurse sounds like a great position to have. I have been on the Boston public school website and have looked into school nurse positions but most are looking for 2-3 yrs of previous community health experience and also there seems to be a separate certificate of some sort that we must obtain first before qualifying...could you tell me a little more about where you are and what you know about getting into school nursing? Thanks!!!

I'm hearing this same for state of Illinois. Required number of hours of "clinical practicum" in school nursing, a BSN degree and a certificate in School Nursing.