Useless degree! At what point do you quit trying?

[SuburbanGypsy]

I have my BSN, passed my NCLEX and haven't found a job in 2 years.

Not through lack of effort mind you, but i live in Philadelphia, where the job market is basically nil for new grads. I applied to absolutely everywhere including Nurse Residency programs, and i get rejected all the time.

There is absolutely no way i can move my family to another part of the country.

I would like to have a career in nursing, but at this point, that dream seems all but impossible.

I have to do my education credits and renew my license, but there is a part of me that is legitimately wondering, why bother.

Someone said to me the other day, "a masters degree is the new BSN."

I told them that to spend another dime on a useless degree was completely out of the question.

Is a masters degree really an option is one still has no real experience other then clinicals?

So at what point do you give up and move on to other things?

I would think that the more time i spend out of school without a nursing job, the more i become unemployable, the longer i will go without a nursing job, till there is no chance for any opportunities.

I really hate being negative, but after 2 years, i am tired.

Tired of all the lies i heard in school, tired of never being given an opportunity, tired of spending money, and tired of wasting my time.

Has anyone else ever gotten a job after a few years of being shot down?

Has anyone else abandoned nursing altogether because of the job market?

Is Grad school the only option?

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

why is it assumed that because a person hasn't found any kind of job that they haven't tried everything or that they are being picky?

i can only go on my experience with my classmates. we graduated in may 2011, and many, many of us have found jobs. i ran into a classmate who has not found a job, offered to take her resume to the managers in my hospital, and i searched the "no experience" jobs in my system and forwarded them to her.

i haven't heard from her since. why? does she want a job or not?

eta: one other thing. if networking is key (and i think it is), don't forget your classmates and treat them like a networking contact. if she ever contacts me and bemoans her lack of job, do you think i'm going to jump to it to find her one, considering her lack of ambition when i offered and did some of the online work for her? um, no.

[Clovery]

Have you tried over in South Jersey? I'm still in nursing school but I sometimes browse job listings and there are openings in the Virtua system & Kennedy every time I check, and many of them do not list an experience requirement. If you haven't already, it might be worth checking out and getting your license here. The new hospital in Voorhees is only about 30 minutes from the bridges.

[Guttercat, ASN, RN]

Yes, yes, but what I am getting at is that, nursing has permanently changed. No longer is it a profession with countless options.

You cannot just plan on getting what you want if you just keep banging away at it. The majority of nurses will not get the chances they went into nursing for, ever. Simply put those great opportunities are very few, and will remain so. I am a big proponent of expanding your education if you have the itch to something but to do it outside of nursing so that you will have options since a nursing degree in the big world offers little. I am someone with 20+ years other experience/degree and really, nursing somehow has limited itself severely just when it had a chance. Now all of these changes are out of our control to change, as we've let others decide things for us for too long.

I'm at 19 years in this profession.

Over the last ten, I've been astounded at the number of "nurse mills" churning out grads. One hospital I applied in a few years back, in a small but ritzy ski-town in the Rockies with limited employment options, developed a nursing-specific satellite "college" right there in town.

They turn out cheap and fresh meat every year.

They gave their open positions to new grads to the tune of $24/hr. That's fine if you're an Appliance RN - an RN that has a primary wage-earning partner with bennies/health insurance, and need only to work for play money or to buy a new cuisinart.

But, they offered me a paltry sum for someone with fifteen years experience including ICU/ER, Med Surg and Hemodialysis.

I asked how I was supposed to find a roof to live under at that salary given the ridiculous cost of living there.

I was promptly informed that the hospital considered where I would be living (the area of the country and the town itself) as part of my salary and perks.

I replied that I did not consider living in my car much of a perk.

And that was that.

Times have changed.

[SuburbanGypsy]

first off, i would like to thank everyone for their replies. both positive and negative.

to the positive people who understand what i am going through, i thank you for your support.

basically, everyone i know who got a job, had a connection. some were the last of those to be picked up from their nurse externship (while others from my class have never been picked up), some joined the military because they couldn't find a job in the real world, and some had an aunt or uncle, or friend of a friend, who was a nurse manager at some hospital or a human resources recruiter.

the way it seems, is that if you want a job in philadelphia, you life will be delegated to you by those with some form of power.

they told me in nursing school, that i would have some type of bargaining power in my Job Search because of my highly coveted bsn from an "esteemed" institution.

there is no bargaining power. at all. you can't bargain if you don't ever get a callback, and the standardized rejection email...

we have carefully reviewed and considered your experience, qualifications and achievements in relation to this position. however, at this time, you have not been selected because we have decided to pursue other candidates.

again, we appreciate your interest and wish you the best of luck in your career search.

thank you.

is the only email you open up, all day every day.

forget the bargaining power. just give me an interview.

not to mention that some places are starting new grads at $22 an hour (if you get hired). did the greater philadelphia area somehow become florida with it's 2/3rds the cost of living of philadelphia?

what happened to $25-30 an hour that was commonplace when i was in school? are pay-scales going backwards?

so tired of this already.

so tired.

[workingharder]

You have both empathy and sympathy from me. As a new grad I also understand the dilemma. Hundreds of emails coming back saying, "After careful consideration...".

The world has changed since we entered nursing school. Even where I'm from, which until about a year ago was still considered a hot spot for nursing, the available job pool has dried up. I'm fortunate in a way. I was able to find a job, even though I had to move hundreds of miles to get it.

I also understand that a lot of people are not capable of picking up and moving to chase a $21.00 hour job. Moving is expensive and you have to factor in the pay back time for the move.

I'm not offering cheap or cheeky platitudes or advice. I'm not going to tell you how to proceed. You must choose the direction best for you. I can tell you (for what little support it may provide) that you are not alone and those of us who are or were in similar circumstances are understanding.

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

I asked how I was supposed to find a roof to live under at that salary given the ridiculous cost of living there.

I was promptly informed that the hospital considered where I would be living (the area of the country and the town itself) as part of my salary and perks.

Sounds like Vermont.

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

Never heard of dialysis, private duty, or public health for that matter hiring new grads.

I have. And I live in Philadelphia.

In my area, dialysis requires 2+ years medsurg or preferably ICU experience. Public health would like ER experience, and private duty means you are gonna handle and are solely responsible for a medically fragile individual - your experience will be questioned at length if not the agency, by the family. The red cross often wants people who are ER or disaster trained ( I used to have an interest and occasionally looked at their website and found absolutely nothing that wasn't of a field experienced type position).

I applied through the state for public health and state-run health facility jobs. I was offered a FT position prior to hearing back from the state, but so far I've gotten job listings for 5 positions that do not require experience. I've opted not to answer any of the postings I've received because I like my current job and none of the postings have been per diem.

I also started volunteering with the Red Cross as a new grad and they absolutely do accept new grads (and students as well). It's not a paying gig but it's a great experience, good networking, and looks great on the resume. Look in to the Disaster Action Team and Disaster Health Services. We had a major apartment fire that required a shelter set up for 100+ people and I worked at that with another nurse. Our primary role there was to arrange for emergency medication supplies but we also handled a shelter resident presenting with chest pain and a few headaches and some low blood sugar.

You might not be asked to deploy in national responses as a new grad, but there's a lot to be done locally (shelters were set up for the hurricane and the Red Cross responds to house fires and other local disasters).

Several of my classmates started in home health as well. I think they were all pretty miserable but have been able to take that experience and move on to better jobs.

I'd also suggest reaching out to your nursing school instructors to see if they have any leads or tips. Consider joining a professional organization and attend meetings to network. Chat up your classmates and see if they know of any openings where they are working. If they refer you and you get hired, they'll likely get a bonus and you'll have a job so it's win-win. And get some feedback on your resume and application strategy. Even in Philadelphia, most of my classmates who stayed were employed in the area or within commuting distance within the year mark so there ARE jobs out there.

[StarryEyed, RN]

I did a volunteer RN program and shadowed the dialysis RN one day. He told me he actually prefers new grads (he has his own dialysis center which the hospital contracted) but yeah he said he prefers them cuz he can teach them exactly the way he wants things done and that they turn out great.

Btw... that volunteer, unpaid position where we were just shadowing, let to the charge RN liking me --> telling RN Manager to interview me --> interview --> job offer! I ultimately turned them down because I got another interview less than a week later (that RN volunteer position helped show i was doing SOMETHING) and i was hired where I currently am now. Do ANYTHING that will use your RN license. You could have been seeking out flu clinics and just give vaccines... that was another job with use of my license I have on my resume.

As far as the Red Cross, I don't work for them but I do work for a blood bank doing blood drives. They also hired me as a new grad.

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

wow that area was paying new grads $27 an hour back in 2008.

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

wow that area was paying new grads $27 an hour back in 2008.

In early 2011 that was still the metro area's going new grad rate. The further you go in the burbs the lower it drops but city hospitals are still around 27.

[SuburbanGypsy]

Some of the hospitals that are a 45 minute to hour commute from Philly are starting new grads at $21-23.

A guy i know got a job with no experience for environmental services (cleaning the room out) for $20 an hour. Why did i bother? LOL.

As for the people who think it is the resume, i already had the resume looked over by the career services offered at school, and other people i know who used to be recruiters before they were laid off. So i don't think it's that.

I think it's a matter of the city not having enough jobs for new grads, along with the hiring freeze that happened a while ago, combined with all the major schools in the greater Philadelphia area that pump out ridiculous amounts of nurses.

I guess i must accept the fact that i might never get a job in the field i want, and eventually progressing to a NP in the future.

Seems like a total pipe dream now.

As for the person who mentioned the presidential election cycle...i don't believe that things will change once the election is over.

When i was in school, it was drilled into our heads that healthcare reform and the new president would dump a ton of money into healthcare, i.e. nursing...YIPEEEEEEE!!!

Nothing like that has happened, and the country is in the toilet, and quite frankly, if i have to wait another year for things to turn around after the election, nursing will be officially the largest waste of time i have ever had in my life.

Sorry if that comes across as bitter, but i am tired of wasting time.

[Dumplins, MSN, RN, APN]

Some of the hospitals that are a 45 minute to hour commute from Philly are starting new grads at $21-23.

A guy i know got a job with no experience for environmental services (cleaning the room out) for $20 an hour. Why did i bother? LOL.

As for the people who think it is the resume, i already had the resume looked over by the career services offered at school, and other people i know who used to be recruiters before they were laid off. So i don't think it's that.

I think it's a matter of the city not having enough jobs for new grads, along with the hiring freeze that happened a while ago, combined with all the major schools in the greater Philadelphia area that pump out ridiculous amounts of nurses.

I guess i must accept the fact that i might never get a job in the field i want, and eventually progressing to a NP in the future.

Seems like a total pipe dream now.

As for the person who mentioned the presidential election cycle...i don't believe that things will change once the election is over.

When i was in school, it was drilled into our heads that healthcare reform and the new president would dump a ton of money into healthcare, i.e. nursing...YIPEEEEEEE!!!

Nothing like that has happened, and the country is in the toilet, and quite frankly, if i have to wait another year for things to turn around after the election, nursing will be officially the largest waste of time i have ever had in my life.

Sorry if that comes across as bitter, but i am tired of wasting time.

does that mean you're not willing to take a job 45 minutes away for 21 bucks an hour?

if you have the opportunity, even though it might not seem worth it, i would just say to do it. beats being at home doing nothing. and at least you're getting some kind of experience.

i recently picked up a job 30 minutes away at a private surgery center. 19 bucks an hour...

i dont plan on staying there long, as i'm still searching for a job at a hospital. but if nothing turns up, at least i'm still getting some experience.