Male Nurse will work for food

[Jasano]

This is an ad I ran in Kijijii. I have been an unemployed nurse here in the province of Ontario now for going on 6 months. Prior to that I was employed at two seperate part-time, temporary jobs. I left one temporary job for another that promised I could stay on past the contract, but in the end, when the nurse on pregnancy leave came back, I was let go.

I have sent out hundreds of resumes and have heard nothing. Meanwhile, we hear all about how male nurses have some sort of advantage. This is clearly a joke. The job I was laid off from was in mental health nursing (an area you might expect would be giving preference to men - wrong). I was the only candidate in my hiring group who in fact was male, and, moreover, was the only candidate hired on a 'temporary' basis. All of the female nurses in the room were hired on a 'permanent' basis. So much for this supposed preference.

Now, I have applied for hundreds of jobs, in all areas, (minus some areas of nursing like labor and delivery, where men aren't hired anyway) and nada. A couple of months ago, I stopped applying for jobs just in nursing, but, unfortunately, everyone sees nurse and thinks why would this guy want to work at a gas station?

Well, I'll tell you why: that job ad has been the only source of interviews in the 6 month period (2 total) with neither one leading to a job. For all the resumes I have sent out, I've heard nothing.

I am sure that there is discrimination against men in nursing, because I've been told up front by employers in the past that I couldn't be granted the same number of hours in homecare for example, as my female counterparts - not even half as many hours in fact. However, I think there is a bigger problem here in the province of Ontario - the new grad guarantee. The government has stepped in and basically made it more difficult for older nurses like myself to find work, by agreeing to finance 6 months of full time work for all new grad nurses. What this means is, there is an absolute dearth of employment opportunities left over.

I upgraded last year with a coronary care course to find those temporary part-time jobs, and this year, plan to upgrade with a critical care certificate in order to improve my chances, but I am really getting desperate as I burn through the last of my savings.

Don't believe the hype guys. I talked to other male nurses (who will only talk about these things to male nurses) and guess what? They talked about massive discrimination and harassment - all of which they keep quiet to hold onto their jobs. I know the media is putting on a big drive to move men from the single digits in nursing to closer to the levels that women have achieved in medical programs (60%), but I think a lot of you will just end up like me, or like a lot of other men, who had to leave the profession to become truck drivers and construction workers for example.

[SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN]

I'm not sure who you listened to, but they lied. The nursing profession as a whole is saturated. Certifications without experience are generally useless. Also, having a member will not give you an edge.

There are thousands of new grads out there who cannot find jobs--men and women alike.

[Jasano]

Well, I'm not a new grad, I have over a decade of experience working the nursing field, but I have to say, I would not recommend men getting into this field - not at all. What irks me about all this though, is that the lies continue, and the media seems to be on a campaign blitz to encourage more men into a field already, as you say, 'saturated'. They seem to be trying to tell young men that a member in nursing equals a job - the opposite is a truer statement, but neither would be correct.

[SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN]

Perhaps it's a Canadian media thing. I haven't heard the same propaganda in the US.

[Jasano]

Here are a couple of articles from US sources telling men what lucrative profession nursing is and that male nurses will make more money than their female counterparts - ya right, discrimination lawsuits galore would be filed if that were true:

Male Nurses Becoming More Commonplace â€" and Higher Paid | The Exchange - Yahoo Finance

Male Nurses Make More Money - Real Time Economics - WSJ

Here's one from CBS telling us how nurses are in high demand and how lucrative it is for men:

Number of male U.S. nurses triple since 1970 - CBS News

[SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN]

Looks like the old "nursing shortage" myth combined with a strange men are better paid & thus more hirable than women line.

Weird and easily dismissed if people did a little research, though I suppose that may be giving some folks a little too much credit.

[AngeLnyt]

I wrote a paper regarding gender pay in healthcare in nursing school. Based on my research, in general yes, male nurses get paid more than their female counterparts. Given the chance to do an overtime (which means more pay), male nurses are more able to do it because usually female nurses need to go home to take care for the family I am a living example to this).Another is, when female nurses get pregnant they are more likely to stay home to care for their newborn. Third factor, there are a lot of single parent female nurses who have sole custody of their kids and these limits them to work full time and do over time as oppose to the male counter parts. Lastly, the population of single male nurses are on the rise which makes them to be flexible when it comes to their work schedule. All these are based on articles I have read and not my own independent studies. So, yes there are basis on the articles regarding males nurses making more money than their female counterpart.

[Jasano]

But not at all for the reasons implied. Men make more only when these other factors are taken into consideration. These articles are misleading in a number of ways.

1. They point to nursing as a high growth and high employability career, and yet so many nurses (even male nurses like myself) go unemployed.

2. These articles declare that men make more in nursing than women, but do so while implying that men have some sort of unfair advantage. The only advantage men have is due to the choices that they make versus their female colleagues. Should we pay men less because they don't leave work to raise children quite so often, or because they tend towards higher paid specialties (probably the only way to secure employment)?

3. They play into the myth that 'men are more hireable' than women in the nursing profession. Well that is not the case as I noted above - I am now going on for 6 months unemployed and I am a 'much sought after male nurse'. There are many areas of nursing which are more or less still closed to men: pediatrics was a very difficult field for men to enter - it has opened up somewhat in recent years. Maternity and obstetrics are still largely closed, and male nurses in homecare will find the hours lacking versus their female counterparts to a large degree. There are no quotas whatsoever to increase the number of male nurses that I am aware of, either in Canada or the United States.

So, the bottom line is, these articles are being dishonest with men regarding the opportunities which exist in nursing. That's not to say that there aren't any - they're just not nearly as lucrative, or plentiful, as the media would have you to believe.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

The media are liars. Just like the Nursing Shortage...which by the way doesn't exist.

[bristolrover]

Jasano I really am sorry to hear of your frustration at knowing you are an experienced nurse and not getting the job you desire.As a male nurse who trained in England in the sixties I did find back then us male nurses got promotions many years ahead of our female colleagues as there was a bias to male enhancement,s at that time.I was offered a unit manager job after only 1year as a staff rn but only because I was single and probably able to relocate easier than married females with husbands and children obviously being their priority.In fact there must have been at least 6 maternity managers I had encountered whilst in training and I guess we're my role models when starting out.One year later I relocated to the US to earn the kind of money I needed to survive in a relatively low paying career after I realized that the job satisfaction I enjoyed would not pay the bills.Now as an older/ancient nurse I am seeing hospitals in the states looking for ways to get rid of us choosing lowly paid new grads and discriminating against higher paid experienced nurse forgetting that nobody but experienced nurses can mentor the fresh nurses.In your case in Ontario I guess the gov intervention to give employers financial incentives to hire new grads does not make it a fair playing field for people like yourself who has much to offer.Nursing jobs have their cycles and right now new grads are having to relocate here in the states to get their first years experience.So they relocate to the low paying south where employer rights have superseded employees rights and thus corporations fatten shareholders pockets whilst caregivers and their patients are pre-tempted by the quest for the mighty dollar.The hiring cycle will change-just when is the question.I wish you well with your search and would highly recommend networking with old buddies.Many jobs have come from this way rather than resumes.Also follow up resumes if utilized with an unannounced visit to the one hiring and try in person to sell yourself.

[OCNRN63, RN]

Well, I'm not a new grad, I have over a decade of experience working the nursing field, but I have to say, I would not recommend men getting into this field - not at all. What irks me about all this though, is that the lies continue, and the media seems to be on a campaign blitz to encourage more men into a field already, as you say, 'saturated'. They seem to be trying to tell young men that a member in nursing equals a job - the opposite is a truer statement, but neither would be correct.

Maybe I am mistaking how you come across, but it sounds to me like you expect preferential treatment because

you're male. Why should your sex make you a more desirable employee? I don't know how things work in Canada, but in the US it's illegal to discriminate based on sex. (Not that it doesn't happen.)

​The nursing market is tough for everyone right now.

[OCNRN63, RN]

​You don't deserve more money because you're an XY.