I know there's a job shortage BUT...

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Specializes in Psych.

There ARE new graduates getting jobs in my area, some of whom I went to school with. Why is it I can not even get an interview? Mostly the ones getting jobs are in their 20's, I am in my late 40's...do I dare think my age might be the problem? (It is pretty easy to tell from my resume that I am not straight out of high school...)

I was at or near the top of my nursing class, and I have great recommendations from several sources. I am mature, have other degrees, have had prior professional positions.

I do have a job, although it is categorized as part-time so they don't have to pay me benefits. I have applied, reapplied, called, networked, been open to pretty much anything on any shift, holidays, weekends, etc. and am continuously told there is no room for new graduates, although I am in touch with many people I graduated with who got full-time benefitted new graduate jobs complete with great training, etc.

What is really going on here...do they all just know the right people, or what...???

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
What is really going on here...do they all just know the right people, or what...???

Well, it certainly helps...

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Specializes in ER/EHR Trainer.

I'd like to believe it was just who they know, but it's obvious when I look at the new hires in my ER and they are all young with BSN's to boot!

If you have a younger person, they are still so unsure of themselves: they don't question authority, they don't fight back, they are molded the way management wants, they have no other life to compare nursing to, and the lists go on......

Despite what the nursing profession says about nursing; the truth is that it is just easier to have people shake their heads yes and either make it or not......then, have opinions based on experience, voice those opinions, formulate other options, etc, etc......

Employer's market, they will do what they want......this is the time to hone one's skills and bide your time for the "wheel to turn again"

I will give the difference between my older self interviewing someone and our NM 20's-my questions who are you, why do you want to be here, what kind of experience clinical and people---HERS do you call out sick, how much energy do you have, do you have a problem with OT?

See any differences? BTW, my hires stick....just saying.

To the OP, you will find something....you have to be persistant with recruiters....the expectation that because you are the best qualified they will call is not how nursing apparently works....in this case, the squeaky wheel gets job.

M

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Ageism roars its ugly head.

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I think too that sometimes it's just knowing the right people. The right people are not great clinicians or anyone like that. Far from it. It's gonna almost hands down be someone like... the unit secretary who is pals with the NM, or an RN who is pals with the DON. Or you are: someone in admin's family member, etc.

Nobody these days gets hired because people are trying to decide if you will be a great nurse. Actually IMHO, that actually is the least considered thing... this is what is killing nursing.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Interesting that the new nurse in her 40"s can only get a position that doesn't offer benefits........another cost saving measure from the hospitals I see......this is what I scream about when I read about hospitals not hiring people who smoke and drug testing them.....slippery slope...

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Ever thought that perhaps it's your resume? Perhaps your prior experience doesn't showcase you the way it should. You need to use your prior degrees and experience to show that you may be new to nursing but your not new to responsibilty and professionalism.

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Specializes in Hospice.

I had the opposite experience not being super young was an advantage to me. Every new grad my facility has hired has been at minimum in their 30's

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

I would wager strongly it is who they know.

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I would wager strongly it is who they know.

Yeah, that. If you know a manager and/or several charge nurses, it can help.

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