Associates degree

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Hi all, I have a quick question. I am about to start a nursing program at a community college in the fall and I am concerned because I heard that nurses with an associates degree are not getting hired, can anyone tell me if this is true?

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Hi all I have a quick question. I am about to start a nursing program at a community college in the fall and I am concerned because I heard that nurses with an associates degree are not getting hired, can anyone tell me if this is true?[/quote']

Honestly not really,unless you want to work in a nursing home..I have an associate degree and it has been very hard for me to land a job.Also nurses with bachelor stand more chances to get into new grad programs which come in handy for a new nurse after she/he is done with school.

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Hi all I have a quick question. I am about to start a nursing program at a community college in the fall and I am concerned because I heard that nurses with an associates degree are not getting hired, can anyone tell me if this is true?[/quote']

Actually, all new grad nurses are having trouble getting jobs because of the downturn.

Whether an associate degree nurse gets a job depends on many more factors than just the degree. How much experience you have in healthcare, do you have good contacts from previous jobs, internships, preceptorships, externships or clinicals, how are your grades, do you have excellent references - all that stuff.

These cycles have happened before - when hiring picks up, ADN hiring will pick up along with it.

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Specializes in ICU.

It's going to depend on your region and the type of facility you apply to. My hopsital hires new grads, ASN, BSN, LPN, all of 'em. But I work at a public city trust hospital (aka small, less-than-ideal facilities and equipment, *interesting* patients, quite a bit of turnover), in a state with a fairly good economy for new nurses (Oklahoma).

Don't get me wrong, I love my hospital and our patient demographic. It's just not the shiniest hospital in the city. :) Most of our new grads don't stay long. I don't know if it's because they get offers from the larger, nicer, for-profit and private hospitals in the city, they don't like the patient demographic, or they're tired of our beat-up, bulky equipment...

Anyway, there doesn't seem to be any preference for nurses re: ASN/BSN at my facility and in my city. You might want to research the places you're interested in working at - or move to Oklahoma. ;)

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Dallas/Ft. Worth here...and I have associates. I have not noticed a problem with ADNs being hired. I went to work immediately as did many of my classmates.

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I am a proud ADN nurse, graduated last year and was hired right away at a well known teaching hospital. Its been great and I do not feel "behind" at all. That being said I am starting my BSN next month because I do think it will help in advancing my career down the line.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

not true

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Specializes in Psychiatric Nursing.

When I was about to start my associates program I was told that with the exception of working as a school nurse or being in nursing administration I would have no trouble getting hired. Not exactly what I came across. While many of the hospitals in my area hire both ADN & RNs they are going hire the RNs first. 10 years ago I am sure this was no issue with so many jobs to go around. With the current job shortage (see all posts with new grad in it if you don't believe me) its become a lot harder for ADNs to get hired. In my current facility we hire both and they allow almost equal advancement of both degrees. Almost being that they wont allow a ADN take on the DON or ADON postions, but here both our DON and ADON have masters anyways. The good news is the economy does look as though it is slowly getting a little better so hopefully we will see more positions opening up all over.

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Hi There,

I honestly think it depends on where you live and what type of position you want after graduation. if you are hearing these rumors, then they probably are true. i see a big difference in the hiring of BSNs vs ADNs (in my state). While jobs aren't being handed to all BSN's I can say the difference is in my state teaching hospitals invest a lot in their Nurse Externs. But, in order to be an extern, you must be accepted into a BSN program. I have yet to meet an extern that did not get offered a position after they graduated (I am one of them, after only working 4 months at my hospital). Another difference is most hospitals are not willing to hire any new graduate until they pass boards, again most externs get hired in the beginning of their last semester and begin working a month/ so after graduation. If you can get your foot in the door now (do it!), but try to gravitate towards a hospital that still hires ADN nurses. I have seen ADN nurses that put in a lot of time as nurse assistance and PCAs and once they graduate they do not have a position because they are moving towards magnet. Do your research, start early and you will be fine. Best of luck :)

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Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.

This is varriable to different regions in the country. We're always hiring (here in NC). Now we're not hiring new AAS grads to the ICU, but they are being hired almost everywhere else in the facility. As you can imagine, we're not magnet... not even close but it pays the bills.

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Yes, by me it is absolutely harder to get hired as a RN with an ADN, versus a BSN. There are two local hospitals that the local community college does its clinicals and both used to hire evenly. Well, for the last year, one of them only hired BSNs for new grad slots. Ohhhh, that really upset and surprised a lot of people, especially since it was never "officially" stated. However, it was very clear since that hospital made offers to BSNs from all over the state (despite them never working or doing clinicals there previously.)

It's sad, but it is happening. However, I do think it might change once all places re-expand new grad programs. By the way, I am in NC.

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When I was about to start my associates program I was told that with the exception of working as a school nurse or being in nursing administration I would have no trouble getting hired. Not exactly what I came across. While many of the hospitals in my area hire both ADN & RNs they are going hire the RNs first.

ADN = RN

As others have said, it depends on the area, experience, contacts, etc. I live near Pittsburgh and even the big hospitals there hire Associate Degree RNs. There doesn't seem to be as much hiring going on overall, right now. That said, I have a job in telemetry when I graduate with my ADN in a couple of weeks.

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