Where have all the jobs gone?

U.S.A. Oregon

Published

I started my exciting and adventurous nursing path four years ago. I was told it would be a hard and laborious process but if I applied myself I would become a nurse, a pillar to the community, a helper for those in need, a voice for those who have become silent, a person with insurmountable compassion. I applied myself, gave my four years of life and nurtured my body with ungodly amounts of caffeine. Happily I can report that I am a Nurse :yeah:. I can place RN after my name....but....I have no job.

About a year ago I began to get the feeling, as the economy dove, the places paying bonuses and reimbursements would dwindle. They did and are now all but extinct! I then began to feel that in order to get a job you might need more than just a diploma and license. Did I fret? NO, I have years of nurse assistant experience and quite a good attitude (if I do say so myself) and thought as long as I put my foot in the door a job will line itself up.

Enter Portland.....a land where they happen to be hiring gobs and gobs of nurses, as long as you have at least one year EXPERIENCE (as a RN). Then there are the rest of us (I tend to think "us" includes hundreds of qualified, compassionate people :redbeathe) who graduated from a hard and tear-producing nurse program, wide-eye and bushy tailed, ready to enter into the rest of our lives. And there are NO jobs, anywhere. Not LTC, SNF, Home Care, Hospital, Clinic, ect.

So now what? If you live in the area and are a new grad who has been blessed with a job, lend me a bone, what did you do? What can I do? What can the rest of us do? (In retrospect the city seems well prepared for a disaster, there are plenty of health care individuals with helping time on their hands!)

Huge thanks in advance for any and all thoughts!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Hi NurseWinn! :hug:

I feel your pain. I would advise you to go around to all the LTC facilities within driving distance in business attire with your resumes, business cards & be ready to fill out apps & interview on the spot. I finally got an interview with an assisted living facility in Vancouver because a friend gave me a heads up about an opening at her work. They asked me to fill out an app & stay for an impromptu interview. I got offered the job at the interview. There is very high turnover at many LTC facilities that my classmates work at. Its not glamorous but it is a job! I have 170 patients solo on NOC. Nursing school did not prepare me for this... It is grueling work! I am still crossing my fingers for the Legacy nurse residency program for ICU. I had my 3rd interview with a panel of charge nurses yesterday. Good luck! Shoot me a PM if you want to know where I'm working... If I get the job there will be an opening on night/swing relief! :loveya:

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Specializes in HH, Med/surg- liver & kidney transplant, ortho, ++.

I know EXACTLY how you feel. I graduated last year and have only been working on call at a LTC place about a half hour from me. I recently interviewed at my current employer for a full time position but the position was offered to someone else who had been there longer than I had. I was really upset and angry. I have been patient for a year now waiting for a full time position to open up. I guess it is my own fault for not applying elsewhere (I really wanted to stay here for at least another year).

So I began the tedious job search on Monday and have 2 interviews set up for this coming week. One is in LTC and the other is for an agency (which requires 1 year experience). I really don't want to stay in LTC but it is pretty much my only option considering I have an ADN. BUT, I am off to OHSU's RN to BSN program in September which I am hoping this will help me become more marketable and maybe even get me a job offer at OHSU when I am finished (I have heard they offer a lot of their graduates jobs).

Oregon is tough, I have heard it is just as hard in other states to find any job for a new grad, even with a BSN. Don't give up hope. You will find something. Just know you are't the only one out there having this issue landing a job. Good luck.

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Hi NurseWinn! :hug:

I feel your pain. I would advise you to go around to all the LTC facilities within driving distance in business attire with your resumes, business cards & be ready to fill out apps & interview on the spot. I finally got an interview with an assisted living facility in Vancouver because a friend gave me a heads up about an opening at her work. They asked me to fill out an app & stay for an impromptu interview. I got offered the job at the interview. There is very high turnover at many LTC facilities that my classmates work at. Its not glamorous but it is a job! I have 170 patients solo on NOC. Nursing school did not prepare me for this... It is grueling work! I am still crossing my fingers for the Legacy nurse residency program for ICU. I had my 3rd interview with a panel of charge nurses yesterday. Good luck! Shoot me a PM if you want to know where I'm working... If I get the job there will be an opening on night/swing relief! :loveya:

Expect a PM from me regarding that job!! :smokin: I plan on walking around this Monday, Thank you!

I am so happy (really!) about the progression you are having with the Legacy internship! Your 3rd interview?? Way to go! :yeah:

I am personally so scared, as I have everything ridding in my interview coming up! There are soooo many qualified, awesome nurses that also deserve the position so with this as my only option is pretty dire.:crying2:

Thanks again for the tips, I will let you know how they pan out!

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KellT1203, Thank you for the words of encouragement!! I really hope perseverance will win out!

Congrats on the job interviews! :D (it does stink that your other job did not hire you!) Are Temp agencies a good way to go if you are a new grad...I have not tried there.

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Specializes in HH, Med/surg- liver & kidney transplant, ortho, ++.

I haven't heard of agencies hiring new grads. I have heard of home health hiring new grads though. I think with agencies they want you to have a minimum of 1 year experience as an RN. I know the one I am interviewing with stated a minimum of 1 year is required.

Both places I am interviewing at want my SS card and picture ID to do background checks. Not sure if that is a good sign or if a lot of places do this banking on a good interview to get things for employment processed quicker.

Do you have your year yet? Are you have your ADN or BSN?

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and too think that there is a bill in congress asking for 20,000 visa's to allow immigrants help us with our nursing shortage

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Just the thought of allowing immigrants to help with a "nursing shortage" is so infuriating!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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How horrible!! What is the name/number of this bill? All the more reason to get involved on your state nurse association and let them know what is really going on!!!! :mad:

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there is no nursing shortage now and it would never have existed but for big government spending on healthcare. therefore: no reason and no need to import nurses from other countries to "solve" a problem that does not exist.

i have been an rn since the late 70s, and started as a nursing assistant in 1973, so i've seen how nursing has grown and grown parallel to big government spending on healthcare. all of this started in 1965 with the passage of medicare and medicaid which boosted demand by a huge amount, hence growth in demand for healthcare=demand for nurses. it's like the "housing bubble" in that demand built up because of big government incentives until the supply exceeded the demand, prices fell & people defaulted on mortgages, etc.

because of the recession, a lot of nurses who may have stayed home have now returned to the workforce because of an unemployed spouse or significant other, which has increased the suply of nurses and decreased opportunities for newbies like you. and a lot of facilities are cutting back because they just don't know how things will shake out over the affordable care act; one thing they do know, is that reimbursements will be cut, so they have to shed some of their human resource costs. they are hirng fewer people.

i don't know how old you are, but time is on your side. first, the recession won't last forever--jobs will eventually open up and the nurses who'd rather be home with the kids will do just that, which will create openings. second, as facilities figure out the impact of the affordable care act, they will feel more comfortable hiring, where government planners allow them to do so. finally, many of us rns and lpns are baby boomers and will soon retire, making openings for others.

hang in there.

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just graduated frm LPN newly licensed and definitely feel your pain... unemployed

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Well as recent as May 13 2011 there as a bill that would open 20,000 visas to foreign nurses. Ill attach a link to the bottom so you can read it.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-1...12hr1929ih.pdf

So theoretically if all those visas get taken by foreign RNs that means 20,000 less jobs for Americans nurses looking for a job in these tough economic times. Just my

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