Did new grads shoot themsves in the foot (are jobs really that scarce?)

Freedom42 · May 7, 2009

I graduated with a BSN at the end of December with a 4.0. I passed the NCLEX five weeks later. I began looking for a job prior to graduation and had applied for 57 positions by the time I was offered my current job two weeks after passing the exam. (It was the only offer I received and one of only two to acknowledge that I'd even applied.) I'm lucky to be working full-time. Most of my classmates (in a cohort of 70) are either working half-time or remain unemployed. Now they face competition from May grads.

CTMMaine · May 7, 2009

first of all, your gpa has nothing to do with getting a job. i graduated dec. 2008 from a bsn program, with a 3.8 gpa, inducted into the sigma theta tau honor society, got my license jan. and finally got a job april. i had to move abt 420 miles from were i live to get a job in a rural area.

did i mention i was a cna for 5 years?

the economy is a mess right now. the only option for new grads : move to a rural area where there is a shortage.

keithjones · May 7, 2009

just my opinion here but if there are positions in the hospitals you did clinicals in and you are at the top of your class grade wise and on top of things in clinicals. The hiring people are sure to hear from your instructors. 3.8+ GPA honors is something you put on resumes and if i'm a hiring person I'm gonna ask how you did in school especially if thats the only experience you have.

pinkiepie_RN · May 7, 2009

I *only* have a 3.2 GPA and have been on 5 interviews so far (no offers though) and have one coming up this week. Only one place has brought up my academics and that interview was a disaster to begin with. I don't think a 3.2 is too bad and I've gotten Bs and A-s throughout nursing school. Some of my classmates with 4.0s haven't gotten any responses from hospitals. In my area, I've heard that tech experience has the most bearing on getting an interview. I think GPA may be a deciding factor in job offers if 2 candidates are close in ranking but it's not the end all be all. And hey...it's a little late to change my GPA.

Just my $0.02.

Becca76 · May 7, 2009

It's all in who you know! Sad but true! I've got a 4.0 with a BSN and a pretty impressive resume (if I do say so myself) . But, the thing that helped me for sure get the job I wanted was the people I knew. Good luck to everyone! It's a tough market!!!

caliotter3 · May 7, 2009

Well, good luck to everyone anyway, no matter what your GPA is.

Freedom42 · May 7, 2009

first of all, your gpa has nothing to do with getting a job. i graduated dec. 2008 from a bsn program, with a 3.8 gpa, inducted into the sigma theta tau honor society, got my license jan. and finally got a job april. i had to move abt 420 miles from were i live to get a job in a rural area.
did i mention i was a cna for 5 years?
the economy is a mess right now. the only option for new grads : move to a rural area where there is a shortage.

while that may be true of some rural areas, i am in a rural area of the northeast. new grad programs have largely been eliminated, and hospitals are simply not hiring new grads. as for gpa having nothing to do with getting a job, i disagree. some institutions do look at it, including the one that offered me an icu job based in part on my transcript -- and then canceled the program due to the economy. when you're competing against dozens of candidates, it can and does set you apart. do all institutions consider it? no. but some do.

HeartsOpenWide, RN · May 7, 2009

Although I was able to put that I am graduating Cum Laude and am a member Sigma Theta Tau--nursing honors, no one is going to ask you what your GPA is when getting a job unless you are trying to get into a new grad program.

And I am in a rural area and the jobs are scares here too. Out of a class of 26 only 5 have gotten jobs offers so far.

GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · May 7, 2009

I was never asked about grades in an interview. I did have some awards received on my resume, I don't know if that helped things or not. All I was ever asked to produce was a copy of my nursing license. Some places didn't even ask if I was ADN or BSN or where I went to school. They seemed more interested in my experience. I was a new grad 6 years ago, though. I recently had a job interview and was offered the position, I was never asked anything about grades or school or anything. I was an "A" student, but I don't know if that ever actually helped me or not.

SouthernComfort31 · May 8, 2009

I don't know of any new grads that shot themselves in the foot. I've got a 3.8 GPA (BSN), have patient care assistant experience, and will have performed an insane amount of clinical hours (can we say 800?) by the time I graduate. I will be taking the NCLEX 4 weeks after I graduate this summer. I am a mature, enthusiastic, and experienced candidate who has been applying since December. But I still don't have a job and I graduate in 2 months.

Finding a job in THIS economy is hard and hospitals, well the big ones anyone, are weeding out candidates by: degree type (BSN), local schools (hospitals tend to take care of their "own" grads, i.e. if they partner with local nursing schools), patient care assistant/tech experience, and internal candidacy (i.e. you've done clinical hours there and have proved what you can do).

I think the only way I've shot myself in the foot is by trying to move across country; I'm basically an external candidate to hospitals (don't go to school in the area, don't have tech experience or clinical experience in their hospital). But I don't really have a choice about where to move so this I'm working with the lemons I've been handed.

Anyway, chin up new grads, we'll be hired some day! :yeah:

kargirl · May 8, 2009

I really think it depends where you are in the U.S. The job market in the New York Tri-State Area, I'm in Northern NJ is very saturated. I went to a job fair in April, there were about 5 Large Hospitals there that point blank said "We are not hiring New Grads at this time." The LTCs and Visiting Nurse places said the same. They didn't even look at your resume, rather they just threw them on a pile behind them (there were 100's), and told you maybe in the future they would call you when they have openings for new grads. The problem is the bad economy :sniff: , hospitals do not want to shell out the money from their budgets for training new RNs that may not work out, and they do not want to pull an able bodied RN from their staff to train a new RN.

So far the only people who got jobs in my graduating class, were nurse externs, knew someone or are working at a correctional facility !!! It has nothing to do with grades. I don't know if Keith(who started this thread) is a young student, but unfortunately in the non academic world, in "THE REAL WORLD :devil:", grades don't really mean anything :eek: unless you have a close relationship w/an instructor who has ties with nursing recruiters in local facilities. I remember when I graduated from College the first time Magna Cum Laude with a BA degree from A GREAT UNIVERSITY....I thought I had the world by it's %@&$^$, meanwhile, I was given the standard low paying entry level position for a college grad. Nobody asked me what my GPA was. So I'm still looking, passed my boards 2 months after I graduated (in Jan 09') on the first try with 75 questions(big whoop !), I'm articulate, experienced and also worked as an NA as well as in the business world... and have a kick #$^$% resume !!! But the only prospects I have are at 2 places where I know someone, and lets not forget the CORRECTIONAL FACILITY !!!! Good Luck Everyone ! Look for my "Memoirs of a Prison Nurse :smokin:" coming to your local bookstore in a couple of years !!! CHIN UP !!!