Reality Check for Nursing Hopefuls

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Specializes in Medical Surgical.

Jobs are very hard to get, with 300 or more applicants for each position at some places. It can take years to get your first nursing job. So, if the school is selling you the idea that your going into a "guaranteed" job, your not.

There are thousands and thousands of unemployed new grad licensed nurses who are scrambling to get a job, and the hospitals are upping their standards every day, almost all flat out tell you not to apply if your a new grad, some say if your a new grad only apply if you have a BSN and a 3.5 GPA or better. Almost all positions all the way down the the lowly LTC centers are requiring BSN degrees, and even home health care wont touch you if you don't have 1 year of acute experience, which you cant get unless you have a BSN with a 3.5 average.

If you do not believe what I am saying, then Google "No nursing jobs" and take a look at what people are saying.

That being said, if you still willing to go into nursing, spend years in the most stressful program and then not be able to obtain work when your finished, then god bless you.

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Sad but true, only way I can see a person getting in, is if they work work at the hospital for quite some time.

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Well, that's encouraging. :D

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Specializes in ER/ICU/STICU.

WE GET IT!!! The job market sucks and you keep writing posts about how hard it is because there are no jobs. Keep your negativity to yourself and don't discourage others from wanting to be a nurse. For all you know in a couple years there could be hundreds of openings. It's cyclical and it will get better, but it takes time. Don't spread your toxic attitude to others.

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Perception is reality: and here's mine. I do not know one RN that wants a nursing position and doesn't have one. The nurses that I am acquainted with have graduated from associate's and bachelor's degree programs, as well as BSN programs from other countries. Some do work in LTC, while others are at major Chicago hospitals (Children's, Northwestern, U of C hospitals).

Perhaps there is not a nursing shortage where you live and of course there are other variables that come into play (can we say networking?!), but to state that new graduates will not get nursing jobs is just plain silly.

But anyway. Good luck to all who are out there pounding the pavement for these jobs!

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My 58 yr old aunt just graduated with an ADN and got a job within 3 weeks.

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I agree with others that this post is anything but positive. I know of a girl who graduated in December with an associates and is now working at one of the local hospitals. I think it's part who you know and part what degree you have and part experience (whether you started out as housekeeping in a hospital or a CNA at an LTC). I'm just saying this post doesn't apply to everyone. Just because you are upset about having a hard time finding a job doesn't mean that you should bring everyone else. I know misery loves company but judging from the previous comments no one loves misery. Go sulk elsewhere. This isn't the place for it.

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I would guess that you live in a highly saturated area... where I LIVE...every single person that i have known to make it through nursing school has a job..and they had one with in a month of passing the boards.

people should really research what the job opportunities are like in THEIR areas..doesnt sound like you did that.

Here BSN's are not required..heck experience isnt really required...there are tons of job postings that dont require experience.

LTC doesnt require a BSN either...not where I live. Im not just making this stuff up either...i have a lot of RN friends and family and some that work in hospitals and some that work in LTC..and some that teach... so ive got a pretty good idea of what its going to be like for ME.

while it sucks for some people to find jobs...it doesnt for others..its all regional.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

Reality check-

Any college graduate in any field may or may not have trouble finding a job!

The nurses coming here to ask, "where are all the jobs" are not necessarily a representative sample of new grads as a whole.

Just like any new grad in any field, you may have to take a position you do not want or like to get your foot in the door and build experience.

Only applying for jobs through monster or email will likely not get you many interviews. You'll likely need to apply for jobs the old fashioned way of pounding pavement, snail mailing resumes and following up with visits and phone calls. Jobs generally don't fall in your lap these days.

Don't let the naysayers discourage you from following this path if it is what you wish to do.

Another reality check-

Nothing worth doing is easy.

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Jobs are very hard to get, with 300 or more applicants for each position at some places. It can take years to get your first nursing job. So, if the school is selling you the idea that your going into a "guaranteed" job, your not.

There are thousands and thousands of unemployed new grad licensed nurses who are scrambling to get a job, and the hospitals are upping their standards every day, almost all flat out tell you not to apply if your a new grad, some say if your a new grad only apply if you have a BSN and a 3.5 GPA or better. Almost all positions all the way down the the lowly LTC centers are requiring BSN degrees, and even home health care wont touch you if you don't have 1 year of acute experience, which you cant get unless you have a BSN with a 3.5 average.

If you do not believe what I am saying, then Google "No nursing jobs" and take a look at what people are saying.

That being said, if you still willing to go into nursing, spend years in the most stressful program and then not be able to obtain work when your finished, then god bless you.

This is right now, today in 2011, which has long been predicted to be the worst year of the recession for the last two years because of housing, the cause of the whole mess. You have no idea what the labor market will be like in 2013-2014 and neither do we, but I personally am willing to take my chances as economic indicators do appear to be favorable after this year as the housing market improves. (Housing up -> markets up -> corporate profit up -> hiring up -> insured people up -> hospital hiring up.)

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When I was attending a three-hour orientation for hospital volunteers (I'm a teacher but love volunteering) there was a physician there wanting to volunteer. Yes, a real doctor from the Philippines waiting for her US license. She was teaching at the university but was going to volunteer at the hospital until she could practice as a doctor here in the states.

Where there is a will, there is always a way.

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Specializes in Medical Surgical.

Sorry for wanting to open some peoples eyes to the reality of the situation. I wish someone would have told me the truth before I went into nursing school, and I would have done something else.

I am just the messenger, so don't bite my head off if you don't like the message. If you spent any time at all researching it you would see that what I am saying is true, it has nothing to do with who you know, what you did, or who your momma is.

I'm not being toxic, I'm not being negative, I am just presenting the truth as it stands.

http://www.nursingworld.org/careercenter/resources/NSNAResearchArticle.pdf

With only about 6 people from my graduating class of 60 employed, I think things are worse now then they were last year when they did this survey. Take it however you want it, but at least you have been warned about the state of things, and when you graduate and your eyes are opened, don't say no one ever told you.

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