How does the future look for new grads?

coneartist · Oct 9, 2011

****. Overworked, underpaid and blamed for everything.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Oct 9, 2011

Some locations in the U.S. are still hiring new grads at a healthy pace while other regions have drastically slowed or stopped recruiting newer nurses.

I afraid that we're creating an entire generation of nurses who are not learning the skills and accruing the experience needed to make it in the working world. Sorry, but the graduates from 2009, 2010, and 2011 who have not yet landed their first nursing jobs are going to have a rough time competing against future graduating classes for those coveted new grad jobs.

Furthermore, expertise and skills are transmitted from one generation to the next. This new generation of unemployed new grads is not receiving the mentoring, skill level, and expertise from the currently employed nurses with many years of experience. It is inevitable that the 62-year-old nurse with 40 years of med/surg and specialized OR experience is going to retire someday, but today's unemployed nurses are not equipped to fill his/her shoes because they are not acquiring any experience.

When we throw the dwindling Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements into the mix, I foresee plenty of dreams deferred in the future. I predict an increasing trend of hiring more and more unlicensed people to take over many of the hands-on nursing skills such as wound care, oral medication administration, and 'data collection' (vital signs, EKGs, etc.). Fewer and fewer nurses will be responsible for more and more unlicensed people. Therefore, I predict that corporations and facilities will utilize less nurses and more unlicensed personnel to cut costs. This is going to result in a lot of unemployed nurses since we continue to produce new RNs and LPNs at astronomical rates each year.

newRN_NY · Oct 9, 2011

it is really tough out there for us newbies. i agree with the above post that there are not a lot of great new grad orientation programs out there, which is disheartening. i finally landed a job but am going to have to move for it because in many areas the prospects for new grad nurses are terrible, and i live in one of them :uhoh3: ! if you are not tied down to one area, start looking in other places for that job if it's not working out where you currently are. i literally went on google maps and typed in "hospital" and then zoomed in to different areas. look throughout the entire state that you are licensed in. it's unfortunate that this is what we have to do now, but once you land a job you will feel so great! i remember that horrible sinking feeling i had everyday, and how i wanted to scream whenever someone asked me, "why don't you have a job yet, there's a nursing shortage?!" :mad: . what you said is true, getting a job is harder than than taking the nclex! but from what i have experienced, everything in nursing is hard, and we are always adapting to changing situations. there are great hospitals out there that take in new grads and orient them well...i will be starting in a month at a magnet hospital. i used to think i could never get a job at a hospital as nice as that one...because where i'm from, there are 8 nursing schools nearby and everyone is wiling to take anything they can get. but since i looked around i was able to find a great place that wanted me to work there, and you will too! as far as the future of nursing for new grads...i'm not sure exactly...but i did go to a job fair a few weeks ago (of course there were a ton of new grads there and of course no one there wanted them), and a recruiter there told some of us (i think she felt bad for us) that the "real" nursing shortage is going to happen eventually----in 2014! lol this did not make us feel any better...and i do not know how true this prediction is either. keep your head up and stay focused..perfect your cover letter and resume, and when you go on interviews dress to impress (get a professional suit), give a firm handshake, and be prepared to answer those common interview type questions. best of luck to you :redpinkhe xoxo

allnurses Guide · Oct 9, 2011

The supposed nursing shortage keeps getting pushed back and pushed back as to when it is going to hit. I predict it never will.

No, I don't see it getting better. In fact, I think in 2012 it is going to get really, really bad again (it has shown a little improvement in some areas), simply because it is going to be a very very bitter, horrible election year, which is going to make the economy very very skittish. It then will be bad again as the either continuing president or new president does what they can to tweak the economy into growth, which will make the markets, again, very skittish. Hospital hiring is directly tied to the economy. Bad economy = poor hiring practices and new grads are the first to get cut out.

I hate to be pessimistic, but it just seems to be pretty much "the writing on the wall". We have at least another 5 years before this mess starts to unwind. I am lucky. I graduate in December and got an internship offer this week with two more interviews next week coming up, one at the same facility, one at a different one. But my situation is highly unusual. I am strongly debating just accepting the offer (even though the unit makes me uneasy) and thanking the powers that be for not having to worry about a job after I graduate.

MN-Nurse, ASN, RN · Oct 9, 2011

The employment situation is generally going to follow the rest of the economy - just like it always did. New grads are going to have to continue to be flexible and open to jobs in clinics, PRN work, home health, LTC, ALF.

Just about everyone in my May '11 graduating class who has looked has found a job. Not many found their 'dream job' but almost everyone is employed and making half decent money.

Dre2416, BSN, RN · Oct 11, 2011

Both my mother and aunt work in management for large hospitals and have for many years... both have said 2014 is when there will be this "nursing shortage" I hope they are right because I hope to graduate in Dec 2013!