Atlanta hiring new grads

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So I am in Nursing school in Maryland right now and I would LOVE to move to Atlanta for a job. I'm at University of Maryland, Baltimore's BSN program and I graduate next Dec. 2011.

Why is it in Atlanta does it seem that al the hospitals are requiring a TWO year signing contract? What happens if you have to break the contract?

Do you have to do a residency program to get hired as a new nurse in Atlanta?????

Hospitals I looked at were:

Emory Midtown

Grady Hospital

Piedmont Hospital

Northside Hospital

Am I reading something wrong?

In Baltimore, they only make you sign a 2 year contract if you are getting MONEY for paying off your loans. I don't owe any money for school since I got everything in scholarships... Is Atlanta just different in how they recruit/ sign new grads?????

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I'm glad to know that this hasn't spread to Baltimore! Northside called me a few weeks ago asking me if I want to interview for their residency program, but like you said, they wanted me to sign a 2 year contract. 2 years is quite a long time to be tied down to a job, especially if you're new, so I ended up turning them down. Don't quote me on the exact figure for breaking it, but it's quite a bit....like mid-to-high four-figures! Those hospitals are doing residency programs but not all of them go that way. I actually live in the boondocks of northwest Georgia (Rome), and none of the hospitals here have a residency program. Also, ATL isn't an easy market. New grads are having hard time landing jobs here. Of the 20 or so people I'm keeping touch with who graduated with me last December (BSN), only 3 have a job locked in. I wish I can say that rural north Georgia is easier, but I'm having the same problems there too. Good luck!

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The hospitals are requiring contracts because it's expensive to train new grads and they want to get their money out of them. From what I can gather, the money you owe decreases the longer you stay at the hospital. 2 years isn't too bad because most people probably won't leave within that amount of time.

Some hospitals don't have formal residency programs but I think most of the major ones in Atlanta that you listed do. I'll probably have to do the same thing even though I don't have any loans either.

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I'm glad to know that this hasn't spread to Baltimore! Northside called me a few weeks ago asking me if I want to interview for their residency program, but like you said, they wanted me to sign a 2 year contract. 2 years is quite a long time to be tied down to a job, especially if you're new, so I ended up turning them down. Don't quote me on the exact figure for breaking it, but it's quite a bit....like mid-to-high four-figures! Those hospitals are doing residency programs but not all of them go that way. I actually live in the boondocks of northwest Georgia (Rome), and none of the hospitals here have a residency program. Also, ATL isn't an easy market. New grads are having hard time landing jobs here. Of the 20 or so people I'm keeping touch with who graduated with me last December (BSN), only 3 have a job locked in. I wish I can say that rural north Georgia is easier, but I'm having the same problems there too. Good luck!

Four figures isn't crazy... if you are desperate to move... I have heard that about Northside Hospital; I actually don't know much else about it; except that's where I was born...haha. I guess that's good to know in advance about the Atlanta hospitals.

Two years just seems like a long time, especially when they promise you nothing back (well the job is nice...but, I'm taking that for granted if you get hired)

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The hospitals are requiring contracts because it's expensive to train new grads and they want to get their money out of them. From what I can gather, the money you owe decreases the longer you stay at the hospital. 2 years isn't too bad because most people probably won't leave within that amount of time.

Some hospitals don't have formal residency programs but I think most of the major ones in Atlanta that you listed do. I'll probably have to do the same thing even though I don't have any loans either.

I can pretty much go anywhere in the US after graduation, Atlanta looked nice because of the weather, I just don't know if I want to live there for two years; there is always the possibility of hating it... but if you can break the contract...that is a good thing to know

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Two years DOES sound like a long time, but I'm sort of in the mindset that I wouldn't want to leave my first job before the first year is up anyway so I can go ahead and get my "1-2 years of experience."

From what I've heard, the residency/internship programs provide substantial and valuable training, so two years for really good training in a job market that isn't awesome doesn't sound like the worst trade off to me. Maybe I'm just being naive, though; I haven't even graduated from nursing school yet.

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lOOKING FOR A NEW GRAD OPPORTUNITY FOR A YEAR NOW. TRICKY IN ATLANTA, IT SEEMS THAT IF YOU ARE ALREADY AN LPN, SOME NEW GRAD PROGRAMS WANT TO SAY YOU ARE NOT A NEW GRAD BECAUSE YOU ARE ALREADY A NURSE IS WHAT I WAS TOLD BY ONE HR DEPT. BUT YOU can'T GET HIRED AS A STAFF NURSE EITHER BECAUSE I HAVE NO RN EXPERIENCE. STUCK IS HOW I FEEL:rolleyes: ANY ONE HAVING ANY PROBLEMS GETTING IN BECAUSE OF THIS???:confused:

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Specializes in Telemetry/Cardiac Floor.

No jobs in Maryland either??

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Hey just to update on what I wrote at the top (2 months ago...seems like forever), I got hired by Grady onto a med-surg unit, and they hired a whole bunch of other new grads too! They didn't require me to sign a 2-year contract, but that may just be the policy in my unit and could be different on other more specialized units like the ER. Also, most of my colleagues from nursing school now have jobs. Actually, I only know of one of us who doesn't, and she's doing a pair of interviews next week. :)

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Congrats!! Do or Do not...did you apply for the residency program or for a staff nurse position?

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Specializes in Surgical Trauma ICU.

It's a business decision. Why spend the time and resources to train a new grad just so they can go back to school or to another hospital, especially the ICU. You won't get any sign on bonus as a new grad in GA, those days are gone. Hospitals are tired of getting burned by new grads especially those that would scoff at the idea of putting in 24 months in exchange for necessary training. It's that type of entitlement coupled with unprepared/unskilled new graduate nurses that today's nursing schools churn out that make hospitals not even want to bother. Good luck in your job search.

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Hey just to update on what I wrote at the top (2 months ago...seems like forever), I got hired by Grady onto a med-surg unit, and they hired a whole bunch of other new grads too! They didn't require me to sign a 2-year contract, but that may just be the policy in my unit and could be different on other more specialized units like the ER. Also, most of my colleagues from nursing school now have jobs. Actually, I only know of one of us who doesn't, and she's doing a pair of interviews next week. :)

Congrats!!!

Were you hired thru their new grad program?

I'm only in my first semester of nursing school but would love to work at Grady when I'm finished next year. I'm hoping to get into their new grad program. Any advice? Also want to see if I can get a job there as a PCT after I'm done with second semester.

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