Job market- ADN students being warned?

Students ADN/BSN

Published

You are reading page 3 of Job market- ADN students being warned?

hope3456, ASN, RN

1,263 Posts

Specializes in LTC, Psych, M/S.
HA! Nursing positions in the rural areas are hard to come by!! I think schools need to d a better job of letting their students know that this is more to nursing than hospital nursing!! Schools clinics, dialysis, home health, insurance companies, skilled nursing facilities, prisons, oral surgery offices, public clinics---SO many opportunities!![/quote']

The instructors advised the students that there WERE more jobs in the rural areas....yes there are jobs here but not as lucrative as working in the big city hospitals

I'm in my last semester of nursing school at a community college and they have been pretty darn open about the possible difficulties that may present. First semester the comment I remember was that "I'd imagine the economy will turn around by the time you get out" and now in fourth semester I've heard "New grad programs are opening... BUT.. you need a 3.0 and there are a lot of applicants. Get a good portfolio together and really make yourself seen out there... volunteer if you need" - so... pretty straight up job if you ask me.

Did your school tell you that?[

It's very well known in my area that my school get "first dibs" on the best clinical sites/times/depts for students as well as "first dibs" on all New Grad RN positions. Being at a school affiliated with the largest hospital system in the area has its perks. HR is the first to admit that any graduate applying for a New Grad position from my school goes to the top of their list.

I take it you haven't graduated yet? Keep in mind how quick things change in the world of health care hiring. Hospitals often go on hiring freezes or decide not to hire any more "new grads"

Our new grads consistently get hired within 6 months of graduation. We're affiliated with a very large hospital system. Year in, year out, they have always hired our graduates before hiring from other schools. I'm not the least bit worried about getting hired once I graduate, especially since I'm already a HCT within the system.

That is a lot of new grads. My class will be graduating with 23 people in a few short weeks. I guess it just depends on the area. I would imagine it would be hard for 100-200 people to find jobs at the same time in any area though. Are you the only nursing school in the area?

We graduate 50-60 in May and 50-60 in Dec. We are one of 5 nursing schools in the area: 2 offer BSNs (1 school is on probation), 1 community college (which is on probation), 2 private ASN programs (I'm in one of these), and 1 diploma program. We have 2 large hospital systems in my area. The 2 private ASN programs and the diploma program are affiliated with the larger of the 2 hospital systems. HR is the first to admit that when they start hiring, our graduates are chosen first.

allnurses Guide

BostonFNP, APRN

2 Articles; 5,581 Posts

Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.
It's very well known in my area that my school get "first dibs" on the best clinical sites/times/depts for students as well as "first dibs" on all New Grad RN positions. Being at a school affiliated with the largest hospital system in the area has its perks. HR is the first to admit that any graduate applying for a New Grad position from my school goes to the top of their list.

They must be an awful big local hospital system to be hiring 120 new grads a year every year. Or have real high turnover.

[quote name=

They must be an awful big local hospital system to be hiring 120 new grads a year every year. Or have real high turnover.[/quote]

They are huge and recently acquired yet another smaller hospital system in addition to building another new hospital and stand-alone ER. They have several hospitals including a children's hospital plus a massive amount of doctor's offices, urgent cares, satellite ERs, etc. There is a second hospital system in the area with several hospitals, their own children's hospital, doctor's offices, urgent cares, etc so there are plenty of opportunities to get hired.

Rhody34

128 Posts

Specializes in Acute Care.

I live in New England... I graduated in May 2012 with a class of 36 from an ADN program. Every single one of my classmates is currently working as an RN. I myself was hired on a telemetry floor in a local hospital. First and only job I applied- and I have NO medical back ground. Getting a nursing job is like any other job- they want to see how you are as a person, how well did you do in school?, how are your references, etc, etc. Try not to stress about what every body else is debating around you... work hard in school, put your best foot forward when applying for jobs, and never give up!

AZMOMO2

1,194 Posts

Specializes in Cardiac Care.

Sad to say that the increase in recruiting for nursing schools will evolve into an abundance of tuition for colleges and a ton of unpayable student loan debt for new grad nurses.

Specializes in CCM, PHN.

Pre-recession, a BIG "nursing shortage" was indeed cast, and all the numbers pointed to baby boomers: BB nurses retiring, BBs getting old and sick in vast numbers. The statisticians had a field day with the doom and gloom, and were mostly correct in their projections. But still, no one can predict the future. The stats jocks who predicted a nursing shortage were just as sucker-punched by everyone else by the recession.

Nursing schools responded at the time of this pre-recession projection, understandably, by expanding their programs, hiring more faculty, applying for more grants and accepting the scores of people running to nursing as a 2nd/3rd career/safety net.

Then look what happened: the recession hit, and hit middle class people (like nurses) HARD. All those battle axes and crusty old bats DIDN'T retire. They hung on by their one good talon, continuing to work because they had no choice. Meanwhile, the hugely expanded nursing programs continued to crank out grads like factories. People lost jobs, lost health insurance, and went to the doctor less. Demand for nurses shrunk while the supply was huge.

People are so keen to place blame on one thing. The truth is, the glut we're experiencing is to blame on MANY factors.

Think if you were the administrator of a nursing program at a college, around 2004. You green-lighted millions to expand your programs, to stay current with the job market projections that made TOTAL sense at the time. You hired faculty on tenure tracks & contracts and spent TONS on new labs & classrooms. Then BOOM: the bottom drops out & no one needs the hundreds of new grads you just pinned. What would YOU do? You: under intense pressure from your Deans, the President, and Board of Regents, which includes community members......would you choose to tell the marketers (you also hired during the expansion) HEY TAKE A HIKE! We don't need more applicants! OR: would you continue to market your program to generate tuition revenue, and justify those millions you begged the Budget Committee for? Think about this. My mother is a retired college dean, and these are the politics no one really thinks about. It's bitter and nasty - and it's almost always about the bottom line *cough* President's salary *cough*

I have ZERO sympathy for people who decide to spend thousands (even if it's their parent's money) or go into debt for years for a degree they DIDN'T RESEARCH. The nursing GLUT has existed now for 5+years. For any nursing student to NOT KNOW how crappy the market (still) is, is RIDICULOUS. Any 19 year old, heck, any 9 year old or 99 year old can go to the government labor websites, here, or talk to any recruiter and get the 411 about this. There is NO EXCUSE for not knowing the job market SUCKS for nurses (especially ADNs, LPNs and new grads) right now and might for a little while.

The schools might be guilty of overselling their programs a bit, but I don't think it's as insidious as people want to believe. They spent tons and were given quotas to meet in return. People WAY HIGH UP in the ivory tower have no sense of reality - regents and deans and presidents just want good PR, a pretty campus and good numbers. As a result, many nursing schools are now caught between a rock and a hard place. But it's still not their responsibility to "warn" anyone about degree job markets, unless they have it in writing at admission that they will assist in job placement.

Judging from the vast amount of posts I see here every day, and nurses I interview/hire/train, VERY few people take the responsibility to learn about the state of nursing today.

SuperHelper

24 Posts

I think all new grad should know what is going on in the job market, for whatever career they are going into. I'm graduating from an ADN program in about 8 weeks and I already started looking for a job. It is a little disheartening to see posting for BSN only or so many years experience, but I'm still going to apply because you never know. Nursing is my second career, so I don't harbor any illusion about the current job market. I would love to work in a hospital, but I'm not above starting out in a community center or dialysis center.

wannabecnl

341 Posts

Specializes in PACU, presurgical testing.

Around here a lot of hospitals are specifying that they will not hire new grads for particular positions, including LTC. At the big Boston hospitals like MGH and Children's, ADNs are not getting hired at all; the BSN is pretty much the entry level. Hospitals going for Magnet status may hire ADNs, but I think having a BSN or higher is an advantage.

I graduated from a direct-entry masters program, and only some of my classmates had jobs by graduation (I think we're all employed now, but it took a long time). A colleague of mine said that hospitals don't like hiring new grads because on average they only stay in their first job for a year, and then all the orientation money is wasted. I am lucky to have the job I wanted (took 9 months to get it), so I'm not going anywhere, but I know that med-surg units have a lot of turnover because of this.

There may in fact be a nursing shortage; lots of units are actually understaffed. That does NOT mean they are hiring.

+ Add a Comment