Job market- ADN students being warned?

Students ADN/BSN

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sueall

151 Posts

My local community college ADN program not only warns applicants at the "meet 'n greet" info sessions, but posts the advisory right on the website: "ADN graduates may find employment difficult in a competitive market due to the goal of 80% BSN nurses." The advisory is immediately followed by a list of RN-to-BSN programs in the area.

I'm applying to this program because they seem to know what's going on and are not afraid to warn applicants. They are also actively recruiting contract arrangements with the local BSN programs to provide seamless transition from ADN to BSN. Talk about taking lemons and making lemonade!

PMFB-RN, RN

5,351 Posts

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
Call me crazy, but I honestly don't think it's the school's job to warn students about potential job markets years down the road. Nobody knows what the job market will be like 2 or 4 years from now. When selecting an academic pursuit it is up to the individual to do their own research and make a decision based on their own desires, academic goals, financial limits, and research about potential job markets once they graduate. The schools have no control over the job market, nor are they able to predict the future. The same principle applies to education as it does for any large purchase - buyer beware!

*** I agree with you in principal. However the other side of the coin is that many nursing schools are pushing the false and self serving "nursing shortage" propaganda. I hear their ads on the radio and TV often. While it may not be their job to educate potential students as to the future job market, their misleading students is just evil.

PMFB-RN, RN

5,351 Posts

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
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.

*** Um, no. There never was a nursing shortage. The "nursing shortage" was deliberate, false, self serving propaganda put out by those who stand to benifit financialy from a glut of nurses. A large over supply of nurses was the goal from the start. All the recession did was move the over supply day ahead a few years.

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.

*** No. Some nurisng schools were duped like most everybody else but many were not. Many were activly seeking to push the false "nursing shortage" propaganda to get more money and prestige for themsleves. Our tax dollars flowed into nursing school all over the country and the schools benifited from this.

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

*** There is only one factor to blame for the glut of nurses. The timing of the glut may have several factors to blame.

There has never been a nursing shortage in the 18 years I have been in nursing. Certainly there were times when there were many more jobs available but that in no way indicates a shortage of nurses. There have alwasy been plenty of nurses. What there hasn't alwasy been is enough nurses willing to work for the pay and working conditions being offered at the time. Also with the better economy many nurses found employment in non nursing areas but alwasy plenty of RNs out there.

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.

*** If you did you were a dupe and a sucker for obviously false propaganda. I can only imagine how out of toutch one must be to have fallen for such obviously false propaganda.

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.

*** Please. Those schools saw an oppertunity to vastly expand their empires and their presitige and took it.

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.

*** Yet daily one can see, hear and reads advertizements from nursing schools STILL pushing their old "nursing shortage" propaganda. It's false advertizing and evil.

RNitis

60 Posts

Which State?

Nurse_

251 Posts

Specializes in Trauma | Surgical ICU.

The job market is tough... in both ADNs and BSNs.

Is is ok to warn students? Yes. Should you take it at heart? Maybe. It's like having a "dead end sign" at the beginning of the street. It's up to you to continue on, make a U-turn or make your own road.

The goal is to be competitive. If you are an ADN then be the most marketable ADN there is. Get all the certifications you can, have a flexible attitude and be a nurse other nurses would want to work with. Because at the end of the day, you can only prepare... it's still up to the hiring managers and you have to be the best prepared so that they'll have no other choice but to hire you.

MurseMike33322

44 Posts

Specializes in Trauma Wannabe.

My 2 cents: Many nurses WANT to retire, absolutely! They saved all thier lives and were expecting to live off the interest on thier savings. Then the Housing crisis (among other variables) in 2008 forced the Federal Reserve to lower the interest rates even lower than they were in 2001 after 9/11. So, interest rates tumbled from 7%, to 5, to 4, to 3, to 2%, to, well, look at the websites of your banks and tell me what they are now. My bank is BofA, and right now they offer anywhere from .01% to .2%. Can someone live off that? Well, with the current rate of inflation, absolutely NOT! So they keep working, and working, and working....

I think that is the most pertinent factor driving the current nursing employment situation. I predict when interest rates rise, to about 5%'ish, there will be a CRITICAL shortage as many nurses will finally be able to retire. So there is hope. This is good news for students that will graduate in 14' or 15', but very frustrating news for recent grads. However, I have 3 friends, 2 in NY and 1 in FL, that graduated last year, and ALL are working. And making a very decent salary. So keep positive, then all things will become positive :)

I would have to say when I graduated in 2006. Our class was a bit mislead to believe there was this huge nursing shortage and we'd have no problem landing jobs of our choosing because they prepared us so well. Yes, it is a good school with an excellent reputation for turning out good, solid nurses upon graduation. The reality is, in this economy (at leat in my rural area) there has not been any nursing shortage that I have encountered. If there is any kind of shortage, it's because nurses are expected to do the work of 2 people. They are getting burnt out and leaving the profession. Again, it goes back to the economy and the almighty dollar. That's what it's about anymore. Not good, ethical nursing care. I went into nursing with my whole heart and it is slowly breaking.

NO, I do not think they are being warned. At least they were not a few years ago when I was in school, not sure about today. I live in an area where finding a job is VERY hard (northeast) due to the high population, and the high number of schools in the area flooding the market with new nurses. It has gotten to the point where it isn't just the new grads having trouble - even experienced nurses are out of work. I feel VERY lucky to have a job.

While I don't think the schools are responsible for telling new students about the reality of the job market right now, I do think they have a moral obligation to be honest about it if asked. We are all adults, anyone considering a career right now should be going online, asking around, finding out what the job market is before they decide.

newbieRN1

2 Posts

I am a ADN holding nurse who graduated august 2010. At the time I needed to work as soon as possible so I chose the associates route. In my area there are a ton of nursing schools all pumping out bright eager nurses. I heard all the horror stories, but decided to remain positive. Two weeks after passing the nclex I accepted an position at a nursing home. Not my ideal work setting, but it got my foot in the door. One month after that I accepted an position 3hours from family and friends to work on the med surg unit in a small rural hospital. I took it, used some saved money to sleep in a hotel room until I found an apartment. One year later I finally was offered a position in Labor and Delivery. Every choice I made helped take me to the next step. If one is willing to be flexible, I believe you will end up where you want to be. Oh, and despite not having a bachelor's degree once I had experience It was not a huge issue. Although I do plan on going back for it in the fall:)

Quote: Don't let life push you into being the adult you don't want to be. Keep pushing ahead!

DSkelton711

312 Posts

Specializes in OB/GYN/Neonatal/Office/Geriatric.
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?

Not at the same time--100-120 per YEAR. So that is about average. I read it thinking at the same time as well, but reread it because it sounded like a factory. My nursing school was the same when I graduated--100% pass NCLEX and 100% jobs. That was many years ago, though!

We have 15 nursing schools in a 3 hour radius of where I live...Not sure about the size of the classes in many of them but we have 43 graduating on 5/3....10 of us have already gotten hired in the same hospital - a large system with 5 hospitals in NE PA...there is also another hospital system - for profit but still decent...they are ALL hiring...its not really "rural" per se...they're having job fairs and offering signing bonuses to nurses with 6 months of experience...

some areas are hiring...I've got a job waiting for me - start on 6/10

Specializes in Pediatrics.
ProfRN- how do you accurately know how many students got jobs? That is interesting - I didn't know that about accreditation.

Unfortunately the numbers are not accurate, because we have to depend on graduate and follow up surveys (which historically do not get a high return rate).

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