could the covid-19 have made it harder for new grad nurses with no previous medical experience to find a job?

Nurses COVID

Published

I graduated close to four months ago and have had a lot of difficulty finding a job (literally applying to everything with only a few interviews, all of which were rejected). Meanwhile I know that the Covid-19 has made hospitals even more desperate for health care workers than ever before. I'm wondering though if perhaps their desperation is more for experienced nurses only because they are so overwhelmed with the virus at the moment that they don't want to bother with new grads?

Any input?

1 Votes

I think a lot of this depends on what state you are in. Come to Wyoming lots of jobs for new grads.

1 Votes

OMG Im in nyc and im having the same problem!

1 Votes
Specializes in ER.

Hospitals are not desperate for new grads right now in New York City. They have shut down a lot of services. You are in the same boat as a lot of people who are being affected by lockdowns and stay-at-home orders.

2 Votes

Yeah, I'd imagine it will be hard in most parts of the US. Hospitals have lost a ton of revenue in the last few months by stopping non-emergent surgeries and procedures. New grads are notoriously expensive to train compared to experienced nurses, and I'm sure that a bunch of hospitals are cutting down the size of their residency programs.

I'm also anticipating an economic downturn in the next couple of months, which means that older nurses may put off retiring (if their 401Ks take a hit), and consequently there will be fewer total job openings. That's exactly what happened in the 2008 recession, and it was extremely difficult for new grads to get jobs.

Best advice: Take what you can get, cast a very wide net, be willing to move if you have to, and consider applying outside the hospital (corrections, SNFs, LTACHs). After a few years this phenomenon will have died down, and it will be easier to get the job you want in the location you want once you have some experience under your belt.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Float, PICU, NICU.

I'd like to disagree with your statement that hospitals are desperate for nurses right now; unless it is one of the most heavy-hit covid areas, most hospitals are having the complete opposite problem; with the loss of revenue that hospitals are facing, many hospitals are cutting back on their staff, cutting the hours of their current staff, etc.

2 Votes
Specializes in ER, Pre-Op, PACU.

Yes, it’s difficult for new grads to get jobs right now. As I mentioned in another post, it’s actually hard even for us with experience to transfer to other jobs. I am trying to transfer to another job due to circumstances in my life and have been turned down by multiple jobs because of job freezes with the hospitals losing money....never had trouble getting jobs before this.

2 Votes

Well... It is only true IF you are not willing to relocate. There are hundreds of RN residencies all over US that are currently hiring. Yes, the hospitals are limiting the number of new grads they are admitting, but they are still hiring.

Every state and every hospital is different. For example, HCA residency program in CA is closed indefinitely. HCA residency program in Texas is open in every HCA hospital. UCLA program specifically say that they are closed indefinitely. Providence program, on the other hand, is open. I applied to both of their cohorts.

Here is a good website for you, if you are willing to go ANYWHERE: http://newgradnursehelp.com/category/application-window-open-now

I am in CA right now, and things are not going so well here, so I am planning to relocate anywhere I get a residency in the speciality of my choice.

I think it all depends WHEN you are ready to make that decision. If you are fresh out of school, then I would wait and just work on your BSN. If it has already been a year and a half, and you still don't have any nursing experience, then it is probably time to make some radical changes. Your value goes down with every day that passes. Who do you think they will hire if they have limited budget, a person with BSN degree who is fresh out of school and who has valuable transferable skills, or a person with the same qualifications, but who has been out of school for a year?

Look into smaller hospitals in small towns on the border of states where temperature gets as high as 120 deg in the Summer time, and there is nothing around but the desert. You will be amazed how many openings they have RIGHT NOW with retention bonuses. And these positions are SPECIFICALLY for new grad RNs.

+ Add a Comment