FNP Oversaturation

Specialties NP

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I am in school for FNP. I keep hearing that it will be hard to find a job because of how many people are doing FNP. This has got me thinking I should maybe switch specialites. Is this gonna be a real problem? I live in a rural area and don't mind working here.

How did you have job offers in all these states as a new grad? Did you seek a recruiter? Or just apply to all these locations?

FullGlass said:
The FNP job market varies widely by location. I started my new grad NP job search in Nov and there were boatloads of FNP jobs going begging in the Western US, especially in rural areas. I now work in a rural FQHC and we are always looking for NPs and MDs who are willing to live and work here. The cost of living is low and the pay is excellent - the same or more than in the big cities (I live in California). I had offers from all over the San Joaquin Valley, mountains of California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Montana, etc. Washington, Hawaii, Alaska, also have many opportunities and a shortage of all primary care providers. If you are willing to work in a rural area, you should have no trouble finding a good job in the Western U.S. I can't speak for the rest of the US
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NEMurse95 said:
How did you have job offers in all these states as a new grad? Did you seek a recruiter? Or just apply to all these locations?

It's not hard. I had offers in three spots before one locally jumped in. I was half ready to uproot to Redding CA or Delaware for fqhc positions. Decided to stay put in Michigan to minimize risk as a new grad.

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Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).
NEMurse95 said:
How did you have job offers in all these states as a new grad? Did you seek a recruiter? Or just apply to all these locations?

Yes, I did have interviews in multiple states. I wrote an article on my job search as a new grad primary care NP - you should be able to search on that here. I used LinkedIn, responded to job postings on job sites, sent in a lot of applications, talked to a lot of recruiters, and used the HRSA Health Workforce Connector (make sure to attend their virtual job fairs). I also got good responses from the various NP professional association job boards. Now, I still get at least a dozen emails a day from recruiters because I am on a bunch of their email lists. I work at an FQHC and got my job through a recruiter. If you are flexible on location, you should have no trouble finding a good job.

I am very happy with my job. Living in a very small town is a culture shock, but has a lot of benefits. The clinic staff are all very nice and supportive, as are the patients. Even when I get fully up to speed, my expected patient load will be 18 to 24 in an 8 hour shift, depending on their complexity. And on Fridays they literally make us leave the office at 5 pm! If you do a reasonably good job, you are left alone (which is exactly what I want) and don't have to bother with any administrivia. This site also has an excellent track record of NPs getting federal or state loan repayment, too. I won a Nurse Corps Scholarship and this site fulfills their public service requirement. At least in California, there are many such jobs and many of them are also within 30 minutes to one hour drive of a big city or town.

Honestly, I think the more unhappy people are more likely to post on these forums. As my patient load picked up and I am busier, I don't have time to post much here anymore.

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FullGlass said:

Honestly, I think the more unhappy people are more likely to post on these forums.

What an interesting theory, considering your own posting history and commentary.

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ACNP graduating soon. There are jobs for us but they pay is meh, especially in Cali and WA where I frequent. Barely more than I make as a RN and most of the jobs have you acting like an intern. H&Ps for days. Literally do a straw poll at any hospital, I would venture a guess that 50% of RNs on the unit are in NP school or strongly considering it. Most of these nurses have 1-2 years of experience at best.

All of them parrot the BS line that there is a shortage of providers. Sure, that may be so, but there is no shortage of provider sin the suburbs/cities and the wages are going to plummet when the supply keeps increasing every year. People are lemmings, especially in nursing where grad school is pushed ad nauseum. When nurses stagnant they think, "I guess I will go to grad school to be a NP or something". I have heard this line 20 times and it is not something I want a future provider of my family to be saying...

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Specializes in NICU.

yes the salaries are definitely going lower.

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This is disheartening, does anyone have experience in switching/adding a specialty? For example, you're already and an FNP but go back to school for Adult?

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hdrn90 said:
This is disheartening, does anyone have experience in switching/adding a specialty? For example, you're already and an FNP but go back to school for Adult?

There are people here who have multiple specialties. Just need to take a curriculum for whatever one you want to add. Downside is paying for and keeping up with cme for multiple specialties and ensuring you have the required hours in each for license renewal. If you can get something complimentary like primary care and psych (we all manage psych I some way), it may make some of that easier.

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Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).
hdrn90 said:
This is disheartening, does anyone have experience in switching/adding a specialty? For example, you're already and an FNP but go back to school for Adult?

I don't understand your question. An FNP is fully qualified to care for Adults.

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Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).

I am wondering if there are some unrealistic expectations regarding NP salary. I decided to become an NP in 2010. At that time I was living in Southern California, in Los Angeles. About the highest a primary care NP would expect to make then is $150K. That was a very handsome living, even for L.A.

When I graduated as an Adult and Geri Primary Care NP in 2016, the typical starting salary in Baltimore was $90K to $100K for a new grad, and in the San Diego area it was $100K to $110K. New grad primary care NPs willing to go to rural or other underserved areas in California can expect to make $120K to $130K or more. In comparison, a new grad RN in Baltimore working in a hospital could expect a base of $60 to $70K. A new grad NP is a new grad w/o NP experience, even if they have a lot of RN experience.

USA Today published an article this week listing the 25 highest paid professions in the US. NP was in the top 10, and higher than PA. Anyone making $100K or more per year is doing very well in this country, with the exception of some expensive cities. I am not sure what people are expecting, but being an NP is not the road to becoming upper class. It should provide a comfortable middle or upper middle class lifestyle, at least in the Western US.

RNs can make very good money, and they have many options for career advancement, not just becoming an NP. An RN who is looking to become an NP should do so because that is the job they really want to do, not just for the money. There are have been many posts on this forum by RNs who became NPs and regretted their decision.

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FullGlass said:
I am wondering if there are some unrealistic expectations regarding NP salary. I decided to become an NP in 2010. At that time I was living in Southern California, in Los Angeles. About the highest a primary care NP would expect to make then is $150K. That was a very handsome living, even for L.A.

When I graduated as an Adult and Geri Primary Care NP in 2016, the typical starting salary in Baltimore was $90K to $100K for a new grad, and in the San Diego area it was $100K to $110K. New grad primary care NPs willing to go to rural or other underserved areas in California can expect to make $120K to $130K or more. In comparison, a new grad RN in Baltimore working in a hospital could expect a base of $60 to $70K. A new grad NP is a new grad w/o NP experience, even if they have a lot of RN experience.

USA Today published an article this week listing the 25 highest paid professions in the US. NP was in the top 10, and higher than PA. Anyone making $100K or more per year is doing very well in this country, with the exception of some expensive cities. I am not sure what people are expecting, but being an NP is not the road to becoming upper class. It should provide a comfortable middle or upper middle class lifestyle, at least in the Western US.

RNs can make very good money, and they have many options for career advancement, not just becoming an NP. An RN who is looking to become an NP should do so because that is the job they really want to do, not just for the money. There are have been many posts on this forum by RNs who became NPs and regretted their decision.

Apples to oranges. NPs are providers and bear the same responsibility as MDs. RNs are not and shouldn't even be used as a comparison in salary. The fact that we don't make 50% of MDs but do similar work is concerning. Making major treatment decisions and diagnoses while making 10k more than I do as a RN is insulting and frankly ludicrous from a pragmatic perspective.

In Seattle I make 80-90K as an RN with 6ish years experience. NPs cap around 120k here with the cost of living increasing every day. Not worth it for the liability regardless of my love for the job. I can pick up a project manager job at any tech company (based on my previous/concurrent career) and clear rather 150k easily without people's lives in my hands...

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Dranger said:
Apples to oranges. NPs are providers and bear the same responsibility as MDs. RNs are not and shouldn't even be used as a comparison in salary. The fact that we don't make 50% of MDs but do similar work is concerning. Making major treatment decisions and diagnoses while making 10k more than I do as a RN is insulting and frankly ludicrous from a pragmatic perspective.

In Seattle I make 80-90K as an RN with 6ish years experience. NPs cap around 120k here with the cost of living increasing every day. Not worth it for the liability regardless of my love for the job. I can pick up a project manager job at any tech company (based on my previous/concurrent career) and clear rather 150k easily without people's lives in my hands...

So what should the expectation be?. My salary literally went up 30k a year when I switched from RN to np. What I make for now is exceeding what the market was making when I entered school. What exactly do you think you're worth in an industry that only has a handful of states that offer true autonomy with no collaborator requirement?

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