Looking for a job in the Atlanta area?

[SharonH, RN]

I periodically get PMs from people asking me about the job market in Atlanta. So I've decided to get off my lazy butt and post what I hope to be is a comprehensive topic about it. If anyone has different knowledge than myself or has something to add, please DO!

New grads: I don't know of all the hospitals that have programs for new grad RNs but I know for sure that Grady, Northside, Southern Regional, and Gwinnett Medical Center do.

LPNs: As far as I know, all of the hospitals in the area use LPNs although the scope of practice does vary from facility to facility.

Baylor program: Gwinnett Medical and Atlanta Medical Center have a Baylor program. I think most of the facilities flirt with it from time to time so the best thing to do is check each facility's website for specific openings.

Job listings: I always check Careerbuilder.com, Monster.com and AJCjobs.com. Craigslist.org also has job listings, most of them legit and I've found some on there that I've not found anywhere else. But I would use them with caution all the same. One more thing, be advised that the Sunday paper version of the AJC has many jobs that are NOT listed on AJCjobs.com so best practice is to check both places.

Major hospitals in the area:

North: Northside(facilities in Sandy Springs-main hospital, Forsyth co, and Cherokee co.) Great place to work if you are interested in L&D, mother-baby, etc. They have over 18,000 deliveries a year. St. Joseph's is across the street from Northside and is a great for cardiac care.

Gwinnett Medical Center: (facility in Lawrenceville and new hospital in Duluth(Joan Glancy) just opened up

East: Dekalb Medical Center( main hospital in Decatur, LTC also in Decatur, and smaller community facility in Lithonia, GA). The VA is located in Decatur as well. Eastside Medical Center is a small hospital that is located in Snellville, GA and so is Northlake Regional Hospital located in Tucker.

West: Wellstar Health System(a 5-hospital system with facilities in Cobb(Austell, Marietta) and Paulding, and Douglas counties.

South: Southern Regional Health System in Riverdale and Henry General Hospital is in Stockbridge GA. South Fulton Medical Center is a small Tenet-owned facility in the city of East Point just south of the city.

In-town: Piedmont is in Buckhead; it is a prestigious hospital and this is the place where local dignitaries and celebrities are treated. Atlanta Medical Center is a Tenet hospital. Grady Memorial Hospital is a county hospital that has the only burn unit in the region and it is also the only level 1 trauma center in the city. Crawford Long Hospital is part of the Emory University health system which also includes Emory Hospital in Decatur and Wesley Woods Geriatric Hospital also in Decatur in addition to the Emory clinics.

Children's hospitals: Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) has facilities at Northside, across from Emory University Hospital in Decatur, Hughes Spalding at Grady and they have clinics all over the city.

Other options for employment include: The Emory Clinics which are located all over the city. Kaiser permanente has a lot of different opportunities for employment which include corporate level employment in addition to the clinics which are also all over the city. Don't forget home health, Amedysis and Visiting Nurse are two of the biggest. For corrections, you can look to Dekalb County jail and Gwinnett county as well as the state but you generally have wait until they advertise for jobs to work there, they do contract out their work.

I didn't cover everything because there is a lot. I know nothing about psych or LTC. I hope that others add on to this topic so we can help out new grads and newcomers to the city. Be advised that if you apply to Grady they WILL call you but they take a very long time. The other hospitals have a turnaround of 4-6 weeks to call. I have first hand knowledge of almost every place I listed either through employment or through clinicals but I make NO recommendations. Keep an open mind and your options will be unlimited.

Good luck, job-seekers!

[VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN]

Thanks, Sharon, so much, for this valuable information:) Making this into a "sticky"...

[steph2039]

Thanks Sharon for all the information you've provided. I just posted a few nights ago about this very topic so this information is very valuable to me. I will definately be checking out your suggestions.

Thanks again,

Stephanie

[brown eyed girl]

Thank you Sharon! You definitely know what you are talkin' about!

[rollie]

I work at Emory and they have a great new grad program. Piedmont also has a good one. Grady will hire you AT your interview and say they have a new grad program but I don't know how good it is.

[nurse2b40]

Does anyone in the Atlanta area know of good schools? Community schools as well to attend for nursing?

Thank you!!

[igbide]

Thanks Sharon for all the information you've provided. Do u know the salary range for a new grad and also someone with a year experience in Med Surg?

[HippyRN]

This is great info. I'm graduating in May and hope to move to Atlanta this summer (from the DC area). Great to see so many nurses from Atlanta - it's hard when you don't know much about the area you're moving to!

[igbide]

Me and u both HippyRN. I hope someone gives us the right info

[rollie]

For whoever asked about nursing schools in atl - don't go to Ga Perimeter. Very high failure rate and near impossible program. I would splurge and got to Emory. More prestigious anyway.

[ks33]

Really? is GA perimeter that bad?? I was trying to sign up because its the only School that offers the ASN program. do you know of any other schools that offer the 2-year nursing degree???? PLEASE HELP!

[CB1004]

GPC unfortunately does have a bad rep. If ADN is the way you want to go try Athens Technical college. They have a satellite branch that is located in Gwinnett (an avg of 10 students in the Gwinnett class {*BONUS*}.) On a personal note, the externships I applied for stated that the reason they thought I was the nurse for them was partly because I attended ATC. ATC produces quality nurses.