Is it me (with no experience) or the NYC job market still sucks?

U.S.A. New York

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It's going to be a year and a half since I haven't had a nursing job. I have two months experience from a clinic but that's it. I have been applying EVERYWHERE, mailed out my resumes, dropped in certain hospitals to give my resume in person but was told to apply online (like I was doing already). I truly don't know what to do at this point yet I want to spare everyone the details of my nursing job search. I work for the City of NY and have been applying to all the HHC hosiptals (or the ones that post on the website). Is there any other way I can get "noticed?" I am a city employee already so I thought I had an advantage but apparently I don't. All tips and suggestions are welcome. Thanks. I am still trying to keep a smile on my face, :). It has been really frustrating.

For the people who haven't gotten jobs after getting their RN License for over a year, do you mine telling us if you have a BSN or ADN? Also, what Nursing Program did you graduate from. Do you think the "caliber" of the Nursing Program that you graduated from have some bearing on hiring managers?

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Have said it before and will continue doing so; the situation for new grads will be tight for years unless and or until the numbers of nursing programs deals with the reality of NYC healthcare; fewer hospitals, less inpatient beds, increased emphasis on community/home care and ambulatory services.

Everyone wants to work in hospital it seems, which is understandable but look around NYC, there are far fewer of them than fifteen years ago. Of those that remain open only the large institutions that form vast networks (NYP, Mount Sinai, NS-LIJ, etc... ) have any sort of financial stability (if only just as many do have large debt loads). Small community hospitals in NYC are fast going the way of Saint Vincent's and Long Island College Hospital. That is they will either close, forced to merge or be sold to a healthcare system and so forth. Even with all the hospital closings of recent memory there are many who still feel much of NYC still has too many inpatient beds. In fact NYS just received billions from the federal government but it came with a huge caveat; the state *must* reduce inpatient beds and or move hospitals towards community care models.

On the other side of the fence hospitals are becoming very efficient in how they utilize and schedule their professional nursing staff. Am not going to stir those old pools regarding safe staffing levels, but the fact remains hospitals are much like any other business in the USA at the moment; obtaining high productivity from a defined level of nursing staff.

It also does not help that NYC attracts nurses from NJ, Westchester, Long Island, Rockland & Orange counties locally and both travelers and relocating RNs nationwide. Long story short the top NYC hospitals can often have their choice of experienced nurses from anywhere in the United States.

The current trend for much of the US economy is that businesses are reluctant to hire inexperienced workers and or those that will require extensive training. For a variety of reasons the ideal candidate for almost any sort of job opening these days is someone whom has done the exact same thing before or close enough to it that with a little seasoning they are good to go. New graduate/inexperienced RNs are not unproven, but require extensive and expensive training. So long as NYC hospitals have access to numbers of experienced RNs the demand for new grads will be not very strong.

Being as all this may NYC hospitals are hiring new grads, you see posts here now and then as proof. However the numbers are no where near what is required to absorb the hundreds of local NYC nursing program graduates.

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P.S.

It also isn't helping that everyone and their mother it seems wants to become a nurse.

Hard to believe that just as recently as the 1980's and a good part of the early 1990's NYC nursing programs were wanting for students. The CUNY community college programs rarely filled all their slots and resorted to wait lists. If you completed the pre-nursing sequence with a GPA of 2.5 and met the other requirements you got in; no SATs, NLN, TEAS.. nada. About three years later you graduated and stood a good chance of finding a job as a GN and worked until you took the boards.

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Specializes in Behavioral health.

It's also causing elitism in nursing. We already see ADN vs BSN. I had one recruiter say she distinguishes a RN-BSN vs. Someone who did a straight 4 year BSN program. I can see Magnet vs Non-Magnet next if isn't here already.

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Am hoping this recruiter give preference to the RN-BSN (likely an experienced ADN or diploma grad who is getting her BSN) over a newly minted but no clinical experience BSN grad. But that would take too much common sense..... *LOL*

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Specializes in Behavioral health.
Am hoping this recruiter give preference to the RN-BSN (likely an experienced ADN or diploma grad who is getting her BSN) over a newly minted but no clinical experience BSN grad. But that would take too much common sense..... *LOL*

It was a recruiter from NYU Hospital. NYU has a RN-BSN program. I want to hope it's due only to screen out people. The cynic in me believes it's for a more sinister reason.

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Specializes in Behavioral health.

Also it wasn't a someone with a nursing background.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
The cynic in me believes it's for a more sinister reason.
Could the reason be related to classism, elitism, or another one of those pesky 'isms'?

Sonce recruiters view traditional four-year BSN grads more favorably due to classism.

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Not sure where you live but have you tried Montefiore? Go to the Human Resources in person.

This is a very old post but I was finally able to land a job for the NYC Department of Health as a school nurse. However, I still yearn to work in the hospital in peds. Recently, I've started to apply again to hospital positions with my limited experience in school nursing (which I'm told doesn't count for much unfortunately). And yes, Montefiore is actually 5 min. from my house, as well as Jacobi. I've yet to be called for an interview even though I have applied online A LOT. Something's gotta give soon.

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Hi NurseKNYC,

I highly recommend you to look into this 6-month nurse residency/externship called "Registered Nurse Transition to Practice" Program. It is held under CUNY Lehman College and it is affiliated with WorkForce1 and many others who sponsors the program. It's wonderful because it serves to help nurses like us who have trouble landing a job in the NYC area, gives you real hospital experience, and pays you stipend every month. I was previously enrolled in the program and you have a preceptor with you for 6 months. You get to participate in big name hospitals in NYC! I know they are launching a third one soon, so keep an eye out for it! I'd post the link, but for some reason it's not working (maybe they are fixing it). But keep checking! When you search on google, just type "Lehman College TTP" and the results should show. I hope this helps!

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Hi Pochacco. I appreciate the recommendation. Not too long ago, I looked into that program and noticed that it states you cannot have work experience as an RN. Since I've been working as an RN for NYC DOHMH, I'm disqualified. I really wish I would've known about it prior to accepting my current job because I truly want to work in a hospital. I'm just going to keep applying to hospitals and hope for the best. I'm getting ready to start a 2nd job in pediatric home care next week, and I'm hoping that will also make me look more appealing to hospitals. I want to work in peds.

Hi NurseKNYC,

I highly recommend you to look into this 6-month nurse residency/externship called "Registered Nurse Transition to Practice" Program. It is held under CUNY Lehman College and it is affiliated with WorkForce1 and many others who sponsors the program. It's wonderful because it serves to help nurses like us who have trouble landing a job in the NYC area, gives you real hospital experience, and pays you stipend every month. I was previously enrolled in the program and you have a preceptor with you for 6 months. You get to participate in big name hospitals in NYC! I know they are launching a third one soon, so keep an eye out for it! I'd post the link, but for some reason it's not working (maybe they are fixing it). But keep checking! When you search on google, just type "Lehman College TTP" and the results should show. I hope this helps!

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Even with all the hospital closings in the NYC area, many still feel the City and other parts of downstate have too many inpatient beds. .

Is this really true though? I've worked at three hospitals in Brooklyn and all three are packed to the gills, admitting a huge chunk of people coming into the ER and very long wait times for beds. The ERs are certainly beyond capacity, putting people in the hallways on folding chairs. I'm an ED nurse and half of my patients on any given day are holds that are waiting for a bed, and have been waiting for 24 hours or longer...

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