Is there a certain time of year when there are more nursing jobs available?

[adpiRN]

I'm currently employed PRN but when I'm bored I like to browse local hospital job listings.

I noticed there seemed to be a lot of positions in the spring and it has definitely slowed down now.

Do hospital tend to post a lot of positions in the spring/summer hoping to bring in new grads and then slow things down in the Fall?

Or is it totally random and just based on individual unit needs?

[llg, PhD, RN]

Yes and no. Communities have a job cycle -- based in part on a lot of factors. Hospitals may plan on hiring a lot of people in the summer because new grads are available and also because a lot of people will start or end jobs in the summer. Families plan to move from one city to the other then to not break up the school year for their kids. Some employers do most of their workforce changes in the summer because of the new fiscal year starting on July 1st. Military personnel ofter get orders to transfer over the summer, etc. All these things cause families (and nurses) to shift things over the summer -- and health care employers are no different.

The winter holidays also influencing hiring. A lot of people resign in November/December to avoid having to work some of those holidays. A lot of people looking for the jobs would prefer to wait to start until "after the holidays" and the people who do orientation might not want the burden of a lot of orientees over the holidays. So you might not see many adds for nurses in the late fall. etc.

The factors vary a little from place to place, but there's usually a rhythm to the year.