New grad and NO JOBS!!

Luvsyoga · Jul 17, 2009

Can you give more specifics? What part of Utah are you looking in? What is your degree (RN/LPN/Advanced Practice). My personal opinion is that some experience is better than no experience, so personally I would not shun nursing homes and rehab if I needed a job. That is one of the great things about nursing is that there are so many options for finding work and if one area doesn't fit you, the next one will. I did a little research and this is what I found. The Mountain Star network postings can be found at (www.mountainstarhealth.com) Intermountain Healtcare has over 60 jobs posted for RNs. (https://ihc.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en) A search at the UofU networks show 45 jobs, but not all for RNs (https://pia.acs.utah.edu/psc/heeapps/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/HRS_HRS.HRS_APP_SCHJOB.GBL?Page=HRS_APP_SCHJOB&Action=U)

Iasis Healthcare jobs can be found at: http://www.iasishealthcare.com/hospitals/ I found over 170 nursing jobs there.

Also, don't forget doctor's offices, home cares, dialysis (www.davita.com is one that is not affiliated with any of the hospital system)

I would also post my resume on monster jobs (www.monster.com) and also search there they have 27 nursing jobs posted.

Also try www.hotjobs.com,

My brother-in-law is a sherriff and he says they always need nurses in the jails. Might be exciting.

Also try some of the IT departments for the hospitals need nurses. They usually want ones with experience, but these positions are hard to fill, so it is worth a shot.

Good luck

Newgradtoo · Jul 17, 2009

Thanks so much. I have applied at most of the places you listed! I have also applied at the jail and got rejected. I am looking at dr's offices too. I talked to a couple friends tonight I graduated with and they applied for the same jobs as me! I also posted my resume on job sites and even put in a request w/the Utah State Nurses Association!! It's a tough market!!

bananabubbletea · Jul 17, 2009

i think it matters what you want to do, obviously you want to start working so even if it is in rehab, etc take what you can get in this economy.

Freedom42 · Jul 17, 2009

Why the opposition to rehab? I'm a new grad who had to take a rehab position because the 500-bed hospital I'm at requires all new grads to start there. After six months, we're eligible to move on if we want. We start IVs, work with PICCs, g and j tubes, CADD pumps, PCAs, wound vacs, ostomies. The acuity of patients rus the gamut. We receive constant inservice training. What am I missing? I think I'm learning a lot, and the pay -- and the mentoring -- are both excellent. I routinely work side by side with nurses who come over from the cardiac telemetry unit.

tfleuter, BSN, RN · Jul 17, 2009

I think you should take a job in any position you can get. Unemployment looks worse than any area you get into. Any experience is better than no experience. Good luck in your search and I hope you find something quickly!!!

play4lock · Jul 17, 2009

Just curious what rehab facility do you work at, it sounds pretty good to me

Freedom42 · Jul 17, 2009

I'm in the Northeast, not Utah, and I'm on a skilled unit that lies within a major nursing home. It's a great gig. I just don't understand what the bias is against rehab. As one of my advisers told me when I was considering the offer, rehab is where people get sick. We see DVTs, HF, and all kinds of post-op complications. Yes, that includes Code 99s. Our patients range from their mid-thirties to their nineties and up. It's been a great learning experience, hardly the "disservice" described by one of the recruiters mentioned earlier on this thread. My pay is no different than what I'd earn on a med-surg floor. Before someone suggests that you consider a job "even if it is rehab," you should investigate the unit. I can assure you that when I'm taking care of a particular patient with schizoaffective disorder who's suffered a CVA, a bowel obstruction and an MI, and who requires dozens of meds and Jevity via g and j tubes around the clock, not to mention IV abx, requires ileostomy care, who can't move and who rarely speaks, I don't think that I have "just" a rehab job. I think that I have a patient who is more challenging to care for than any I cared for as a student nurse on a med-surg floor, and it's very satisfying to watch her recover, however incrementally. And then I go across the hall to care for a perforated esophagus. Yup, "even" in rehab.

bleu216RN · Aug 11, 2009

Why the opposition to rehab? I'm a new grad who had to take a rehab position because the 500-bed hospital I'm at requires all new grads to start there. After six months, we're eligible to move on if we want. We start IVs, work with PICCs, g and j tubes, CADD pumps, PCAs, wound vacs, ostomies. The acuity of patients rus the gamut. We receive constant inservice training. What am I missing? I think I'm learning a lot, and the pay -- and the mentoring -- are both excellent. I routinely work side by side with nurses who come over from the cardiac telemetry unit.

Sounds like you have gotten a lot of good experience as a new grad in a rehab unit. I work in rehab also but it is very different and we can't do so many things that you listed because the rehab unit I work in is based in a nursing home. I also got two days of orientation and was then left on my own to care for many patients. If something happens to one of our patients we send them to the hospital.

ilovelei · Nov 23, 2009

I too have been having problems landing a job in a hospital. A lot of people are telling me to just find something and others are telling me to wait. I'm sooo frustrated. I have a baby and I have bills to pay.

WAstateRNMichael · Jan 5, 2010

I am a newly graduated male nurse. I completed an accelerated Bachelor's of Science in Nursing (BSN) program and graduated with Honors and passed boards the first time being asked the minimum number of questions necessary for licensure. I have seven years experience working in hospitals in areas like Diagnostic Cardiology, the Emergency Department, and OR. And I have 5 glowing letters of recommendation from a combination of previous supervisors, instructors and my senior internship preceptor.

When I started my prereqs for nursing school I was told that I would have a solid offer even before I graduated. I am now entering my forth month of job searching and I have had no call backs or interviews. I have followed up on all of the 38 applications that I have submitted at the 17 hospitals/healthcare organizations within 50 miles of my home addressed. Here are some reasons that I have heard.

1. Hiring Freeze (despite 41 RN job openings at that particular hospital)

2. 130 people applied for the same "new grad nurse" position

3. No money in the budget to train/orientate new grad nurses.

4. "We are looking of for experienced nurses only at this time." (Most Common)

I am hopeful that I will find a job soon in the new year and will keep searching. But if I Don't have a job by March 1st I will apply for the Air Force Nursing Corps.

Final thoughts:

If there is a nursing shortage in the US, there is an even larger shortage of money to pay for nurses.

Good Luck to everyone in a similar position

tfleuter, BSN, RN · Jan 8, 2010

if there is a nursing shortage in the us, there is an even larger shortage of money to pay for nurses.

amen to that! hope you are able to find something soon. i can only imagine how frustrating it must be.