ATTN: bay area RN new grads.. Were you able to land a new grad job?

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I recently just passed my boards and am finding it is VERY hard to land a job as a new grad at a hospital. I know you dont necessarily have to enter a new grad program but a lot of hospitals i have tried applying at say you must be in a new grad. Are you all getting the same treatment? Kind of ironic.

Hi Romantic! I'm sorry to hear that you weren't able to get the Kaiser job:( I'm sure there will be something out there...It's good that you are doing volunteer work though...

I did find something in a good hospital(at least from what I've heard) and in a medsurg dept...the only catch is it's 3 hours away from the Bay Area...and does not pay as much as the hospitals in the Bay Area...but, I reexamined my intentions and why I decided to get into nursing -- to help people. I'm pretty grateful for the opportunity that I was given... I will be back in the Bay though -- my husband isn't happy about the move at all:(

If you are willing to relocate, even for a year or 2 years -- look into hospitals in the Central Valley, or even L.A. It's hard to actually move (I get sad about it sometimes) but, it would be a great learning experience! Try Coalinga State Hospital, Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield, San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield, Good Sam in L.A...

You will get that dream job! Hang on in there:)

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Specializes in Cardiac, stroke, telemetry,Med-surgical.

I did find something in a good hospital(at least from what I've heard) and in a medsurg dept...the only catch is it's 3 hours away from the Bay Area...and does not pay as much as the hospitals in the Bay Area...but, I reexamined my intentions and why I decided to get into nursing -- to help people. I'm pretty grateful for the opportunity that I was given... I will be back in the Bay though -- my husband isn't happy about the move at all:(

Hey! CONGRATULATIONS Bellybear! :yeah:*wine

Hope to see you back one day. Keep in touch and Good luck to you with relocation and New Grad Program!

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Sorry you did not get the job. The fact that you speak another language is a bonus.

Honestly-I don't think hospitals are going to be hiring new grads for 2009 either with the economy the way it is. I don't know what will happen to the class of 2008 since the most recent grads get the break. I know how you feel, but all that volunteering will be recognized at another interview. I'm thinking of going down south but it's starting to get impacted every where. But we have kids so it's hard to relocate.

I would have never thought that I wuld be jobless. Hard reality.

Sue

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Hey, I went through SMC ABSN program, I like the program but when I graduated, hospitals were starting to clamp down on hiring new grads ( great timing ) and I'm still looking. I think by 2010, hopefully it should be doing better. Hang in there!!

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Specializes in Trauma.

To all of you not finding work; persevere, persevere, persevere! It will take time and yes, you may have to move to an area that is not your greatest desire or even out of the state for a short time; but keep going forward.

I had the hardest time finding a job. I graduated May 2007 and up until October 2007, I worked at a local hospital. I had to resign b/c I failed the boards and was then jobless until luck had run right into me. And believe me, it was luck; and the best of all. I got a job in the hospital in which I wanted to work, just not the area. Big deal, I love it:)

Sadly, the bay area is on a hiring freeze, but Texas, AZ, CO, NY, Mass, CT and many more, are all hiring. NYLIJ in NYC on Long Island is hiring all the time. I know, it is 3000 miles across the country, but it is a great teaching hospital and they LOVE new graduates!! I have 4 friends I graduated with who work there currently and love it. I put my resume up on line for them and the following day, they called me for an interview. CRAZY!

Think of it this way....moving and change is always good. You can always come back or stay if you fall in love with the new area. Moving children is a bit more difficult, but if this is your dream, you can do it.

Anyway, listen to me ramble on and on about positivity. It was very hard for me to remain positive when I couldn't find a job, but I did and I'm glad I did:)

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Sadly, the bay area is on a hiring freeze, but Texas, AZ, CO, NY, Mass, CT and many more, are all hiring.

I don't know about other states, but Mass is NOT hiring, and nurses have a hard time getting jobs there. Also, states like AZ and CO may be hiring, but wages are much lower there. As far as I know, NY has a hiring freeze as well. Plus you should take into consideration that CA is the only state that has mandated ratios. 6-8 patients per nurse is a standard in above mentioned states, comparing to max of 5 patients per nurse in CA.

I thing moving to other areas in CA ( like Fresno) is a much better option than going out of state.

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Also, you have to look at all of the imported nurses that is flooding the market. US trained nurses are being squeezed out of potential jobs because hospitals are going out of the country to hire nurses that are trained in other parts of the world. This makes jobs harder to come by because these nurses are usually hired for much less thus the hospital,not the patient, benefits from this.

Although the post I quoted was written over 2 month ago, I should say that 90 percent of it is not true. At this time hospitals are not able to bring any new hires from the abroad, because the average wait time is about 3-4 years. But even if they could, by the law they should prove that they will pay foreigners the same salary they pay to Americans. So, author, don't write about the things you don't know, or otherwise you make yourself look stupid.

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At the clinical rotations I have been to, there have been many new grads that found jobs. It sounds like it takes about 3-6 months to find a job, from what the new grads have told me. Not all hospitals have a hiring freeze. It seems like its about who you know in what hospital and what department, just like any other profession. Impressive resumes probably do the trick too.

One employee told me that for 12 spots they had open in their ER, they had only 42 applications. It helps to know people in the hospitals who can find out which departments are hiring.

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Specializes in Cardiac, stroke, telemetry,Med-surgical.
Although the post I quoted was written over 2 month ago, I should say that 90 percent of it is not true. At this time hospitals are not able to bring any new hires from the abroad, because the average wait time is about 3-4 years. But even if they could, by the law they should prove that they will pay foreigners the same salary they pay to Americans. So, author, don't write about the things you don't know, or otherwise you make yourself look stupid.

Privet. The use of "Stupid" as an argument is too harsh. Don't you think? Daze esli tu prav...

inna

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Specializes in Cardiac, stroke, telemetry,Med-surgical.
At the clinical rotations I have been to, there have been many new grads that found jobs. It sounds like it takes about 3-6 months to find a job, from what the new grads have told me. Not all hospitals have a hiring freeze. It seems like its about who you know in what hospital and what department, just like any other profession. Impressive resumes probably do the trick too.

One employee told me that for 12 spots they had open in their ER, they had only 42 applications. It helps to know people in the hospitals who can find out which departments are hiring.

Thank you, Rianna. I was told the same info too. Unfortunately, not all of us have that somebody who can help... That's why I am volunteering at the hospital I want to work for. I want to meet people and let them to get to know me. My mistake was that I didn't do that when I was a nursing student:eek:

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Thank you, Rianna. I was told the same info too. Unfortunately, not all of us have that somebody who can help... That's why I am volunteering at the hospital I want to work for. I want to meet people and let them to get to know me. My mistake was that I didn't do that when I was a nursing student:eek:

Yeah, I try to make some connections in my rotations. At least just to have references to put down when it comes time to do my resume. I read how hard it is to find a job, so I am expecting that when I graduate. It will take time, I realize.

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Specializes in Trauma.
I don't know about other states, but Mass is NOT hiring, and nurses have a hard time getting jobs there. Also, states like AZ and CO may be hiring, but wages are much lower there. As far as I know, NY has a hiring freeze as well. Plus you should take into consideration that CA is the only state that has mandated ratios. 6-8 patients per nurse is a standard in above mentioned states, comparing to max of 5 patients per nurse in CA.

I thing moving to other areas in CA ( like Fresno) is a much better option than going out of state.

NY is NOT on a hiring freeze, that is wrong information. All of the hospitals on the island and in the city are still having their new grad training programs. As I stated before, NYLIJ IS HIRING and they have ER and critical care training programs beginning in March of 2009; they are looking into new graduates right now. HSS is hiring too, NYU, Maimonedes in Brooklyn is hiring, Kingsbrook and MMSK is hiring too; all in NYC. AZ and CO DO pay much less, but the cost of living is far less too.

The hospitals that I checked out in MA when I was thinking of moving there, are still having their new grad programs and are taking resumes for their spring 2009 programs. Maybe it is just in the area you live, but in Boston and up in the Berkshires, they are still having their new graduate programs; at least the hospitals I checked out are and there were four of them; one being level 1 trauma.

Here in SF, we are basically on a hiring freeze throughout. Most of the hospitals are now pushing back their new grad training programs 6 months and some are cancelling them all together. I can understand why people want to move here and work here b/c of the ratios. However, here in the bay area, we have 6 nursing schools within 15 minutes of driving to one another; all graduating DOUBLE the graduates now and the same number of spots are available in the hospital. It's saturated here and it will be trickling down to the rest of the state very soon, if not already. Central Valley included. This to me makes moving look very oportunistic if you want to get a start in your profession.

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