Curious: How is the new grad job market?

[~Shrek~]

I graduated nursing school about ten years ago. When I graduated, let me tell you, it was a nightmare. I’m still kind of traumatized from the job hunting experience. No one wanted to hire new grads in the hospital. I was younger and less mature so I took some interesting jobs and made some career choices that, while I am happy with where I ended up, and didn’t do anything terrible, I wish I would have done differently. For example, I wish I had a year or two of acute care experience under my belt for the sake of having the experience to open more options. I jumped into the first job I could get and I limited myself in the long run because I was anxious that I wouldn’t find a job at all. Again, I am glad where I am now so it’s not a big deal.  Based off of my limited research and talking to a few new grads, it looks like the tables have turned. It appears that now the hospitals are actually seeking to hire new grad nurses instead of having a few hundred applicants for each opening. Is this true? I hope it is! Thank you. 

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

My unit has a vacancy rate of over 40%. And we aren’t even the worst in the facility. We have indeed returned to the era of “you have a pulse and you can get a temporary license before you even take NCLEX? When can you start?” While it wasn’t quite this bad when I graduated nursing school, the cycle is indeed repeating. 

[~Shrek~]

11 hours ago, Rose_Queen said:

My unit has a vacancy rate of over 40%. And we aren’t even the worst in the facility. We have indeed returned to the era of “you have a pulse and you can get a temporary license before you even take NCLEX? When can you start?” While it wasn’t quite this bad when I graduated nursing school, the cycle is indeed repeating. 

I wish I graduated in a time like this. When I graduated everyone had to compete tooth and nail to get a job. Every job ad said “no new graduates” and every new grad position had like 200 applicants. That said, everyone I knew persevered and got work somewhere but for some it took like a year. 

[lpag789, BSN, RN]

The market right now is incredible for new grads. Everyone I graduated with got into their desired specialties with zero issues. People are even able to swap jobs a few months in with no problems. 

[~Shrek~]

7 hours ago, lpag789 said:

The market right now is incredible for new grads. Everyone I graduated with got into their desired specialties with zero issues. People are even able to swap jobs a few months in with no problems. 

I am jealous (amicably). I am happy to hear this news and I hope this trend continues. I think it is wrong to take out loans and make sacrifices only to graduate and have to spend a year searching for a job. I remember going to a job fair with a special “new grads” section and that secretion was overflowing with people. So many employers told us just to apply online and that they only have like 2 openings for new grads. I also remember people doing interesting things. Like a guy on YouTube went to a hospital pretending to be visiting family and walked around a hospital unit until he found the nurse manager’s office and then flagged her down and told her he wants to work there and gave her his resume. On facebook, people were mailing gifts to managers after their job interviews. It was a wildly stressful and competitive time. 

[riki513]

The market is great for new grads but its also hospital dependent. Some hospitals will take new grads for only med surg which is annoying but its an easy job to come by and you can switch specialties after 1 year. I had 3 MS offers at 3 different NYC hospital systems but I took the only hospital system that accepted me for emergency department. The hospitals that took me for MS all have fellowship programs for ED, OR and a few other specialties but I wasnt selected. Not sure what kind of unicorn theyre looking for if not for my 8 years experience prior to becoming an RN. There are a few job listing that say no new grads but its basically from the 2 specialty hospitals in the area.