Hiring new grads vs. experienced

[froggy93]

I am a new grad working on a med surg unit in a busy, large teaching hospital. I just finished my 12 week orientation and when talking to my preceptor about our unit she mentioned about all the time invested in training new grads and how often they do not stay past a year on our unit. There are only 2 there right now who were hired as new grads (besides the ones who started with me) that have stayed past their year and my unit has apparently hired tons of them over the years. I asked my preceptor why my manager would continue to hire new graduates since this seems to be the case and she said that my manager likes new grads. I am very grateful that she hired me of course, but I am just curious from her point of view why she likes to hire new grads, since most of them end up leaving. Anyone know from a manager's point of view why this may be the case?

[nutella, MSN, RN]

They are cheaper and stay at least for a while to get experience. There is the idea that a new graduate can be taught and will put up with more while an experienced nurse may speak up or not put up with everything.

[nynursey_]

A common reason I see for preferring new graduates > experienced nurses is that new graduates are able to be molded specifically for the unit to which they're hired. They do not come in with experience from prior facilities or "bad" habits that need to be corrected. They're a blank slate. They're going to learn things the way the specific floor/charge nurse wants them done and not question it based on a prior skill set. Believe it or not, some managers actually do see it as a plus.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I've relayed my former managers words previously. She once told me, "We prefer newer nurses because they are so much easier to work with. 'Older' nurses can be argumentative and set in their ways."

So, if your current manager's views are consciously or subconsciously along the lines of those of my former manager, perhaps this is a reason new grads continue to be hired on your unit in spite of training costs and increased attrition.

[Libby1987]

Can you ask your preceptor how many experienced and desirable candidates are turned away? Are there really that many applying to your unit?

Per many threads on this board, anyone marketable leaves, why would we assume that many who marketable are trying to get in?

[froggy93]

That probably is it; because now I do remember even my preceptor mentioning one day that she personally liked new grads bc they don't tell you that they prefer to do things a certain way and that it works better for them their own way. Also, to the poster above, my unit is getting better now but at first when I started we seemed to be very understaffed