Experienced RN With No Luck Finding Position

[olivia28]

Hello All,

I am just wondering if experienced RNs are having difficulty in finding work. I know it depends on the area you live in ( I am in NYC, UGGGHH), and with all of the layoffs out here the competition is stiff! I have been getting down to the last two or three candidates on every job interview I have been on, but no luck yet. I am not feeling any desperation, but how about those who are out of work? If new grads are not finding jobs easily, how are the experienced RNs doing? Thoughts, comments?

[Aviationurse]

I've been an RN for over eight years. I have experience in Med/Surge, Psych and LTC. I was fired from my LTC job last August and haven't been able to find a full time job either. I'm currently working agency and have no health insurance. I have a lot going against me I'm afraid, in this competitive market; I'm a job hopper who just got fired from her last job, just to name one factor against me.

I'm in Kentucky.

Praying that the new year will open doors for us...As for insurance...I have none and go to the public hospital and wait all day to see a doctor....

[laughterishelpful]

Keep applying. Do a follow up call to your application. If you get the interview, talk yourself up. Send a follow up thank you card to the unit director. Basically, keep your name fresh in their heads. If they interview 10 people in 1 day, make sure you are the person who stands out. It is rough out there. Don't give up--keep on trying.

[passionflower, BSN, MSN, RN]

It is harder to find a job in this "recession proof" career and some of our skills are being taken away all the time. It is scary, I know more than one RN out of work and looking. A couple have started to travel.

[Britrn04, BSN, MSN, RN]

I just moved from DC to SC (military spouse)! It took me 3 months get a job in a perinatal pool. I have a BSN and 7 yrs experience. It is tough. I get cancelled all the time and am seriously getting frustrated! This area is inundated with new grads as there is 2 universities and a CC. New grads are having a hard time too. No-one is making moves and are sticking to their current situation it seems!

[hso5004]

I'm in Boston, 4 years experience, took me about 3 months to get a job and that was only a 16 hr/wk nursing home position. But since then I have been offered another per diem in a hosptial setting and finally a full time hospital setting...unfortunately most places are only hiring per diem or part time because that gets them out of paying benefits...but take what you can get even if its not ideal and then keep searching. You are not alone

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

The narket is pretty tight everywhere.....

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

What they want is starry eyed smiling faces, cheerleaders, the customer is always right nurses. They do recognize that experienced nurses are an asset to the point that they have the technical skills, but they are much more interested in a shiny bright personality than just skills. They don't really want to hear much about your skills because that is a given and expected since you are experienced.

We have had a lot of new hospital startups in the region and news articles where the CEO pretty much stated the above. They recognize they need experienced nurses, especially with a new start-up hospital, but they are most concerned that you have the right feel good personality. The CEO basically made it out that they were relunctantly hiring experienced nurses, and the main concern was personality. I guess experienced nurses become cynical and they want happy, shiny people!

So somehow you have to overcome all the abuse and mistreatment and get over any cynicism and bitterness toward the healthcare industry and how it mistreats its workers. Shake that off and play sunshine! Smile, be happy, remember back in the honeymoon when you were a newbie all full of hope and dreams!

The sad thing is if you are focusing on showing them how experienced you are and how much skills you have, you are not giving them what they really want to hear. That's why you are not chosen in the final cut! They really want to hear that you are still a happy, malleable stepford nurse looking for a home to call your own.

I'm very serious here, this is what they want more or less from the mouth of a CEO in a recruitment article which actually admitted yes they need experience, but that's not special to them. It means nothing. All they really care about is personality.

So change you job seeking tactics to emphasis your positive personality over your skills and you will soon be receiving plenty of job offers. I personally find this disrespectul of our skills, but to get hired you have to give them what they want!

For those of us who lack this sun shiny personality, smile and fake it till you make it! You better be convincing if you want to be chosen in the final cut!

Next time you interview remember personality counts, not experience. The experience might get you in the door, but your personality seals the deal. Play up that sun shiny personality, and then let us know how many job offers you get!

[DixieRedHead, ASN, RN]

The problem for experienced nurses might be "the grid". You know the one they use to determine salary by years of experience. If they can fill a slot with a new RN for relatively half the salary of an experienced one, your experience means nothing. We're just numbered these days.

[dantzlerc]

This is definitely sad to hear. I am a new nurse that gave up looking after having only 1 interview in 7 months time following graduation. Because some hospitals in my area have changed policy and only want BSN nurses, I returned to school immediately and will finish in 1 more semester. I am also taking an EMT course as a backup plan. I find it so hard to believe that with a nursing shortage going on we are unable to find positions. I can somewhat understand the inexperienced new nurses having this problem but experienced nurses too? This really makes me wonder about whether I should have pursued this life-long dream. I should have just stayed behind my desk working 9-5, M-F with weekends and holidays off. I also cannot believe that nursing continues to be listed as an occupation that guarantees employment. When I tell people the problems I had (and many classmates had) finding a job, they can't believe it. I even shared my story with my personal physician and she told me I was lying. My biggest concern is for the patients that are being put at risk because hospitals are more focused on profits than ensuring patients are not placed in harms way because the workforce is overwhelmed and exhausted.

Good luck to you on your search. Have you considered nursing education? That is an area that is always in need. Also, many medical assistant programs hire RNs as instructors.

[diva rn, BSN, RN]

Why would you still say that there is a nursing shortage???? OBVIOUSLY THERE IS NONE.....

[mindlor]

Go to the ANA and NLN websites. Go talk to the deans of the TOP nursing schools. These are the folks that are perpetuating the nursing shortage myth. These are the ones testifying to congress about the shortage and the reason why the foreign nurse flood gate is open....

Our own leaders are seling us down the river.

Also, in the background the hospitals are also complicit. Why? The more new grads in the market, the more dilute the work force and the lower the wages that can be paid...

Its nefarious folks and like everything else in this world it all comes down to money.

[dantzlerc]

I was asked to speak to students that are attending the school I graduated from about study skills and I mentioned that I was seeking my BSN. When they asked why, I told them jobs were scare, especially for ADNs. I don't think the faculty appreciated it but it is the truth and they should be made aware that their only option may be LTC. Just as the previous poster said, it is about the money.