Job market reality for new nurses

[DNS on the go]

Yesterday, in clinicals the students I teach had an opportunity to speak one of the senior nursing directors of the hospital. The main question they asked her was about gettings a job after graduation.

The nursing director was polite but told then the current reality of the job market. She did make numerous suggestions (volunter, internships, look at Home health, LTC, etc) but her answers did not satisfy the group.

This class is made up of 2nd degree Accelerated BSN students who are looking to get to work as soon as they graduate.

After the nursing director left, I also tried to encourage the students to look into voluntering and internship as a way to develop contacts to get in the door.

In NYC it is very difficult to get work even if you are an experienced nurse...too many hospital closures and reduction of staffing levels. Adding to this LTC and HH are also not open to new nurses without experience with LTC looking for LPN's over the RN.

I did state to the students that if they think nursing is an easy ride, they are misinformed. I have been in nursing to have seen several booms and busts. In the early to mid 70's, it was tough to get a job as it was in the early to mid 90's. In my opinion it is even worse now.

Any ideas on how these new students can get their foot in the door and start working.

One student said "I choice nursing so I can get a check, not so I can volunter and intern...I need to work".

I really do not know how to answer her other than to tell her that this is the way of the world today but hopefully things will turn around shortly.

As an aside, several major facility in NYC are looking at re-inventing the services they render under "account care organizations". Part of the re-invention is streamlining staffing and building greater efficency into the system.

All of this obviously is reducing nursing and support care which are costly. The cost of staff is so great when you add benefits, it is better to go with agency staff as a cost saving measure. Also agency rates are down which helps as the agency do not have to bid up wages to get experienced nurses.

In my regular job as a nursing administrator, I can tell you that budget cuts and reductions are real and will only get worse. NY state has just reduced Mediciad across the board for all providers and it expected to have another reduction before the year's end.

As a nurse who is near the end of her career, I just have to survive to my retirement but for the new nurses and nurses in school, I really do feel sorry for them. Too many people went into nursing thinking it was a quick ride to a job that had a living wage. Several of my second degree students tried in their first career but could not get their foot in the door or could not make a living ( I've had writters, journalists, film makers, marketing experts, fashion designers, lighting and stage designers, gemologist etc as nursing students).

Unfortunately, nursing is now also oversubscribed.

Anyway, any ideas on how they can get a paying job in this environment.

[Mrs. SnowStormRN, RN]

So many people get into nursing because they believe its an easy check, many dont know we earn every dime. With that said, it does make the job market more difficult to get into because everyone and their moms,dads, cousins, etc... are going into nursing. Hope we are producing good ones and not just money hungry people who will regret their decision as soon as reality hits. I think that all people can do is keep applying, volunteering, interning and looking at places other than hospitals for options. GOOD LUCK TO ALL.

[himilayaneyes]

Unfortunately, this is the reality of nursing. I was blessed enough to have a job within 3 weeks of passing NCLEX at a hospital. However, I realize that's not always the case. I also think it depends what state you're in. I'm in FL. New grads can still get a job in FL. You don't really hear about hospitals closing too much down here. They may have to consider moving to another state. Tell them to apply all over the country, that will definitely improve their chances of finding a job. Tell them to make contacts with people during their clinicals and to work as a pca (it can only help, healthcare experience). Plus, it's true that they may have to work at a SNF instead of the hospital at first...a job is a job. Plus, let them know that if they're becoming nurses for the money they'll soon learn that we don't get paid nearly enough for the work that we do. It's a good profession, but they need to go into it for the right reasons or they'll burn out quick.

[Sl1011]

I'll admit that I did get into nursing for some job stability and ease of getting a job in other states (husband is military)... but that was only part of the reason. My main reason was because I like helping people, and I wanted to learn what to do in certain situations. I like being able to know what to do, symptoms of an illness, etc. I also like the options in the career as a nurse... you don't just have to be a hospital nurse. So many options. Anyway, I would just encourage them not to just apply at hospitals, but also schools, clinics, jails, psych, long term, specialty clinics, home health, etc.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

Well it is sad. I also am a second degree nurse. However I guess I was very successful in my first career since the late 80's, so.

It is hard to find work. LTC in so many areas really isn't a place to look either. Remember very few nurses are hired at an LTC (remember 1 nurse to 30-50 patients is the norm). Those that usually move on to hospital jobs are staying put, because they also have no options to move up. Around me, most hospitals are looking for acute care experience of a year prior to hire. Unless you really have a tight connection, you don't get to go from LTC to hospital easily anymore. Now I do know a few as of late who moved from LTC and a new grad or two who have been successful -- but all of them are very very tightly connected, and unfortunately several are in the worst of situations like those you read on this board.

I think that unless you have the work history of all your students, it'd be hard for me to believe they all failed. Just getting through another degree quickly means they have some intelligence and 'get up and go' attitude. But you did say the word career. That to me means career, not degree. Nursing is not a high earning potential job in my book - unless you go to be a gasmonkey's helper or something. So, I think all your students just want to be good people and work. Unfortunately not everybody is rich, or can live off a spouse, or mommy and daddy? Your students need to pay loans back, have car payments, mortgages/rent, etc.

[2011NursingStudent]

It's the same in all fields, so they all likely would have faced the same problem anyway. It's possible to get a job right now, but job applicants need to go the extra mile with extra classes, extra certs, extra volunteering, etc to be one of the ones that gets hired.

[NPinWCH]

I feel the schools need to slow down their admissions, but it comes down to the all mighty dollar and nursing students mean more tuition $$. It's really sad for those like your students, many of whom probably went into nursing because things weren't looking good in the field of their first choice degree.

I don't have an answer, but I remember when I first started school for my BSN nurses were in high demand, four years later in 1995 when I graduated, there were no jobs. I was lucky, managed to get 1 interview and got the job, but many of my classmates struggled to get work. At that time, I applied in 3 states!

I would suggest they check other states, rural areas, consider temp/travel agencies and be prepared to take a job they don't love.

[dienne]

Yes I agree, schools should definitely slow down their admission. There are too many new graduates and not enough jobs. In my area there are still lots of graduates from 2009 and 2010 who don't have jobs, and in a couple of months we will have even more competition with the 2011 graduates. For 1 openings hospitals are getting hundreds of applications!!!!11

Getting extra certifications doesn't really help, so I was told by several nursing recruiters, what they really want is working experience as an RN. In my area even LTC, SNF, and hospices want 1 yr experience, so that is not an option either.

I would suggest applying all over the country and be very flexible and willing to relocate anywhere, even if it is a small rural area. You need to get your 1yr experience at least, and after that it seems easier to get job offers.

This is what I'm doing right now. I've been looking for months here in Southern California but can't find anything, so it's time to move!!!!

I feel the schools need to slow down their admissions, but it comes down to the all mighty dollar and nursing students mean more tuition $$. It's really sad for those like your students, many of whom probably went into nursing because things weren't looking good in the field of their first choice degree.

I don't have an answer, but I remember when I first started school for my BSN nurses were in high demand, four years later in 1995 when I graduated, there were no jobs. I was lucky, managed to get 1 interview and got the job, but many of my classmates struggled to get work. At that time, I applied in 3 states!

I would suggest they check other states, rural areas, consider temp/travel agencies and be prepared to take a job they don't love.

[Rabid Response]

While it's admirable that you want to encourage and reassure your students, I don't know why they are so outraged about the state of the job market. This recession started in 2007. The last time my hospital hired a large number of new grads was in the summer of 2007. I remember my own class of accelertated BSN students grousing about not having jobs BEFORE they graduated, since the previous year's class had been recruited right out of school. Change was in the wind, and we didn't know how lucky we were--the next year's class had a terrible time finding jobs at all, and it has only gotten tougher.

When YOUR students STARTED their accelerated BSN program, the market had never been worse for new grad RNs. What were they expecting??? Had none of them done any research? Had none of them spoken to the previous years' graduates? They could have popped into allnurses.com and seen the gazillions of posts by new grads who had not been able to find work. While I can't blame them for being worried about finding work, I can fault them for being surprised and indignant about it. They should have done a little research before they shelled out for that tuition. Caveat emptor etc...

Your advice to your students was just fine. The ones who work the hardest to find work and are prepared to compromise and, perhaps, even sacrifice will be the ones to find jobs right away. Maybe they didn't go to nursing school to be volunteers or interns, but new grads willing to go that route are the ones first hired at my hospital.

[us2uk4u]

OP, I strongly suggest your students look upstate in NY. I know relocation might not be feasible for some but 1.5 hrs to 2 hrs north or NE of NYC new grads can find jobs. I have accepted a New Grad position in a local hospital, a trauma hospital, and I had to choose from 3 offers. Mind you my GPA is only like a 3.3. Most students in my class have a tentative offer.

Now the bad news. The pay might shock your students. My mother who works in a NYC hospital laughed out loud when I told her how much the pay was. The pay is about $2 less than they pay LPNs in NYC.

I took the med-surg position, 12 hour shift, Friday-Sunday 7 PM to 7 AM (and yes, I chose this shift). The hospital is 5 min from my house, I get night and weekend differential, and they will pay part of my tuition to get my master's. Oh yeah, I also networked like crazy in the community.

[emt_anderson]

I keep hearing all this talk about how new grads are having trouble finding jobs, but I have to wonder how much work are these people willing to put in to get a job. I'm currently applying for a nursing program, and I know the reality of the job market, but I unlike most people can't see myself doing ANYTHING else but nursing and will get my degree no matter the job market. I have faith that with hard work (networking, willing to move, travle etc etc) I'll get a job. You need to be in it for the love of the job. As an EMT I've seen many people burn out for the same reason, they got into the job thinking it was good easy money, and when they start getting their checks and the actual amount of work they have to put in to get them its not a rosey picture. Good luck to all and good luck to me.

[sweetnepenthe]

What in the world is a gasmonkey's helper?