Is their really a big demand for nurses?

ZASHAGALKA, RN · Feb 12, 2006

I attended the Houston Chronicle Job Fair for nurses and found out that hospitals had to turn away entry-level nurses. The better hospitals could pick the top ranking students to fill in the entry-level jobs. Texas Childrens Hospital picked only 18 out of 200 applicants for the year 2005. I think that you can find a job as nurse but no longer expect the big signing on bonuses and the job to fall in your lap, similiar to a few years ago. I only wanted to give people a heads up before they knew what they were getting into.
If you don't believe me, go to a few nursing job fairs. But then again, that might change in a few years when the baby boomers get older.
The demand might be in California, I recently heard that it is no longer for the East Coast. Good luck to everyone.

Houston just absorbed a ton of Katrina and Rita evacuees that are also nurses. Their market might be temporarily saturated until things adjust.

I live in not too far north of you. You know why I'm not at work tonight? Because I already have so much overtime this week that Uncle Sam would get the rest, and because I said NO!, several times.

There are still decent bonuses out there (always beware the big bonuses = big troubles). You're jaded because you're looking in a temporarily saturated market.

~faith,

Timothy.

JPine · Feb 12, 2006

I attended the Houston Chronicle Job Fair for nurses and found out that hospitals had to turn away entry-level nurses. The better hospitals could pick the top ranking students to fill in the entry-level jobs. Texas Childrens Hospital picked only 18 out of 200 applicants for the year 2005. I think that you can find a job as nurse but no longer expect the big signing on bonuses and the job to fall in your lap, similiar to a few years ago. I only wanted to give people a heads up before they knew what they were getting into.
If you don't believe me, go to a few nursing job fairs. But then again, that might change in a few years when the baby boomers get older.
The demand might be in California, I recently heard that it is no longer for the East Coast. Good luck to everyone.

Yeah, I agree. I'm up here in the Northeast (Maine) and the job market is getting a little tight. Every nursing program is at full capacity and bursting at the seams. There are jobs, but not like 4 or 5 years ago. My friend used to get all the overtime she could handle and now she's luckly if she can get an extra shift in once every two-three weeks. A lot of hospitals have cut their travel nurse positions by 80% if they haven't cut them all together. Let's face it, there are a lot of new nurses out there and there are a ton more on the way.

On the bright side, this is just the ebb and flow of things. The nursing situation is somewhat similar to what happened in the early '90's when there was a 14% increase in nurses over a four year period and then, BOOM... there was a shortage in the mid to late '90's (by the way there has been a 7.5% increase in nurses in the last 4 years). So, there may be a squeeze in the job market for a while, but I bet it'll let up big-time in a couple of years.

goliath738 · Feb 12, 2006

I agree, the market will probably pick back up again in a few years.

rose111 · Feb 12, 2006

there are lots of vacancies in australian hospitals, my cousin from florida came here for a holiday, and loved his time here. I work with a nurses from denver who sees to enjoy her time here

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Feb 15, 2006

Most RNs and LVNs today are baby-boomers who are middle-aged; therefore, many will be looking forward to retirement 10 years from now. This will create plenty of job openings for nurses in the near future.

Also, an overwhelming number of nurses from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have ended up in Texas (especially Houston). They were given priority endorsement on their nursing licenses and now flood the facilities in Texas.

Corvette Guy · Feb 15, 2006

I've only been an RN since 1998. However, through several different related research papers I did in nursing school [both ADN & RN-BSN], as well as talking to seasoned [term of endearment] nurses I can tell you the nursing profession goes in cycles. Think of a sine wave where you have the positive side that peaks with plenty of nurses in the profession, then decline to the point of negative peak where high demand for nurses peaks. I read not too long ago the majority of nurses are in the their late 40's to early 50's, which means down the road will be one of those peak negative nurse shortages. Plus, the patient population is getting older, i.e. baby boomers living longer, yet not necessarily healthier, thus will increase the patient load with the cascade effect of needing more nurses.

I see the sign-on & retention bonuses coming back. No matter, one of the best jobs in the US regards to employment satisfaction & security, IMHO.

TexasPediRN · Feb 15, 2006

Goliath738:

I moved down to Houston in September, specifically the week of the hurricaine. Bad timing. It was a planned move all summer. In fact, my furniture was supposed to arrive the day the hurricaine hit, but thats a different story...

I found that it was extremly difficult to find a job, being a new RN. I graduated in May 2005, and worked in PA for 1 1/2 years as a student nurse aide, and did a 3 month orientation on a peds/med surg floor before I moved. I feel I did excellent in school, and came with very good recommendations from teachers and coworkers.

I applied to *numerous* jobs in the houston area, and did not start work until the very end of October. that was 6 weeks for me without work, and it killed me. I should mention that I starting applying for jobs during the summer after I found out I was moving (fiance's job transfer).

I was one of those 200 applicants for TCH- and a job there was what I really wanted, and still do want. However, I found a pediatric private duty nursing job who, although stated they wanted 1 year experience, took me and gave me a job. I think the fact that I had the 1 1/2 years as a student nurse aide played to my advantage for this.

I do plan to apply @ TCH again one day, but for now, I'm happy with my job. I was recently asked to start training for a clinical coordinator position, which I happily accepted. I've been doing supervisory visits and just started doing them on my own last week. Even though I didnt get my dream job, I found a great job that is training me to my full potential, and giving me opportunities that I didnt think I would get as a new RN.

So, I guess that you can find a good job in Houston, but it can take a while, and you cant expect to get into TCH or any hospital in the med center for that matter, unless you are one of the 20 accepted to their graduate nurse/internship program.

-Meghan :nurse:

hope3456, ASN, RN · Feb 17, 2006

A similar situation is going on in Northern Colorado....there are hardly any openings for RN's - new grads, at least. I was lucky to get full time in LTC after I graduated. However, the newspaper recently published an article on the "nursing shortage"- I don't know where they get their info.

I am thinking of relocating, I don't know what the situation is in other parts of Colorado, or in surrounding states. Any 'leads' would be appreciated.

cammy429 · Feb 18, 2006

Does that hold true for all of Texas because I wanted to move to either Houston or Dallas. That post kind of made up my mind for me. Now I am going to Dallas. I've noticed that there are more openings at the hospitals in Dallas and even my recruiter told me that Dallas and San Antonio were dying for RN's right now.

I am just trying to relocate at this point and I dont want to move into an area where there are very little jobs and set myself up to fail.

Most RNs and LVNs today are baby-boomers who are middle-aged; therefore, many will be looking forward to retirement 10 years from now. This will create plenty of job openings for nurses in the near future.
Also, an overwhelming number of nurses from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have ended up in Texas (especially Houston). They were given priority endorsement on their nursing licenses and now flood the facilities in Texas.

MiaNJ · Feb 18, 2006

I think it depends where in the Northeast, but where I am - in New Jersey, right next to NYC, there are plenty of job openings for new grads.

I know some people who completed the accelerated program which I am in now, and they all got jobs within a few months of graduation.

There are also many job fairs in NJ where they offer bonuses, etc for new grads. Most are paying at least $25-30 per hour to start.

I attended the Houston Chronicle Job Fair for nurses and found out that hospitals had to turn away entry-level nurses. The better hospitals could pick the top ranking students to fill in the entry-level jobs. Texas Childrens Hospital picked only 18 out of 200 applicants for the year 2005. I think that you can find a job as nurse but no longer expect the big signing on bonuses and the job to fall in your lap, similiar to a few years ago. I only wanted to give people a heads up before they knew what they were getting into.
If you don't believe me, go to a few nursing job fairs. But then again, that might change in a few years when the baby boomers get older.
The demand might be in California, I recently heard that it is no longer for the East Coast. Good luck to everyone.

Lexingtonbred · Feb 19, 2006

If you really want to work head to the southwest. Nevada and Arizona are desperate for nurses and have large sign on bonuses. They allow new grads into specialty units with extensive training, but you have to sign a 2 year commitment usually. (although I do not always agree that every new RN can hack a high acuity/high paced unit.) They are some of the top payers (in my experience) in the country. Working registry in Phoenix, I was making $50 hr and had ample overtime. Also, there are small hospitals in Arizona, such as Bullhead City that have a new perdiem program that pays 46hr for a commitment of 7 shifts in a payperiod and yes, you get overtime for the 4th shift. They finally got smart and stopped pouring their money into travelers, and gave the money to the nurses in the area. This helped them staff their units a great deal.

Las Vegas is very hungry and has excellent new grad programs. I know they are hiring new grads in at 25/hr for regular full time work. I know because I used to hire them as a manager in the ED!! I have left all that headache behind and now am traveling on the road with my husband. We have hit many states.

North Dakota is flush at the present time and not hungry enough to hire a 16 year RN for 3 months (cost of hiring and time spent orienting does not leave much time for "getting their moneys worth." I could not find a registry here. I did not search in Grand Forks or Fargo, but Bismarck and Minot had nothing that I could find.

Colorado has registries and what that tells me is that hospitals cannot staff their units on a daily basis with full-time or perdiem staff or they would not exist. Also nurses like the flexibility of registry shifts without having to commit to the hospitals minimal weekend and rotating shift requirements.

Anyway, for new grads and us old "seasoned" nurses, Arizona and Nevada are looking for us!