New reality for nurses: Not easy to find a job

Good to see an increasing number of articles that reflect the reality of nursing employment rather than recycling old canards.

By the way, great screen name Sisyphus and appropos of this topic. Is it reflective of your own struggles in the nursing job market?

About time someone recognizes that it is hard to find a job now days. I'm a new grad RN and I'm blessed to be working. Yes, it is long term care, but it beats a blank.

Just ask any random member of the American public and they'll tell you that there is a big nursing shortage. The propaganda is so deeply ingrained into most peoples' minds. It seems that only those of us on the inside know intimately about the challenging employment market for nurses.

I love it when I get into an argument with someone who either isn't even a nurse and never has been or has been a nurse for years in the same job and they tell me the reason I had so much trouble finding my LTC job must have been me doing something wrong. After all they have heard (or when they graduated) that there is a nursing shortage, you can do whatever specialty you want right out of school, and you can get hired before you even graduate.

I'm not dogging on the more experienced nurses of course, just has been my experience.

I am a new grad RN, from December, 2011. I was already looking for a job, because I was just certain they would "fall right in my lap." A few weeks later I took my NCLEX and started posting to at least 25 different places a day... with not ONE call back. Finally, I got off the computer (most all hospitals in today's world only take applications online) and went out to all the doctor's offices, nursing homes, and hospice centers I could find around my area. Luckily a nursing home was looking for an RN and I am thankfully starting my job this week. It has been a great struggle and I am NOT alone.

My advice to ANY nursing student out there is to go ahead and get either a tech job at the hospital, or in your senior year to get a nurse extern job. These are the only people who did not struggle to find a job come graduation day. Further more, I have talked at various open house's, with human resource people (at hospitals) and they tell me you need either one years experience or you need to apply to nurse internships ... which are usually only offered during the spring (think may/june/july). One of the places explained that this was to allow the spring semester students a chance for consideration and allow them to pass their NCLEX exam too. My whole thought is, why did I graduate in december again?!

The hunt is definetly frustrating, but if you are willing to work anywhere, work any type of schedule, and keep going at it day after day something will eventually pop up. Some other things I also believe help are already having a job, great references, and also having some of your teachers/coworkers/preceptors write letters of recommendations to attach to your resume.

I have to say this article definitely hits home for me. I am in LPN going to school for my RN. Since I've been in school for 1 year and in that year I spent 6 months looking for a job. I finally gave up and decided to focus on going to school full time and working the perdiem hours I get called for at the job I am lucky enough to have.

"'At some point we will go back into a shortage.'...That could happen by 2017"

Umm....we are in 2012. What am I suppose to do between now and 2017? I hope I will get a job before that.

Finally an article that reflects reality! I just got hired after looking for the last 11 mo at a clinic. I applied to numerous RN residencies and only got one interview.

There are RN residencies out there that start accepting applications in april, and some in oct/nov for you Dec grads. I think the nursing schools need to do a better job of helping their students find and apply for these. You're deep in the middle of your senior practicum and taking 20 hrs a week to find and work on applications just isn't workable.

There is a nurse shortage. Unfortunately, it is the shortage of experienced nurses. It is indeed sad that there are a lot of people that is misled by the shortage.