Male nurses hired faster?

Nurses General Nursing

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I've heard there is a "glass elevaltor" for male nurses. My question is, do you think its easier for a new grad MALE NURSE to find a job that a female one? Also, I know that nurses can be very agressive with new nurses on a unit, does a MALE NURSE have a target on his back as a n00b in the unit especially as a new grad? I'm trying to decide between RT and ADN school right now (i've been accepted to both) and this is one of my concerns as a potential future nurse.

Specializes in I can take BP!! lol.
It also just occurred to me that you didn't ask if the same advantage exists for RT. Why is that?

I am not in the field, and have not shadowed a nurse on the floor. I was required to job shadow an RT for the application process for RT school. It appeared to be male dominated (if ever so barely). My only concern with RT school is being able to find a job after graduation. I live in MS, which has one of the highest concentrations of RT's in the country. The chair of the RT department says that they have 100% job placement and everyone leaves school with a job. I just hope that's true. I could be wrong about the male RT thing. Only my limited exposure to the field.

my answer is YES - men have an advantage when it comes to being hired. like most professions - there are quotas to meet whether it be for black employees, hispanic employees, or in a female dominated profession - male employees.

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Your explination is exactly what I was thinking to be true but was not sure about. I realize that a question like this has many answers based around several variables.

It appears as if you are new this forum. Some of the issues raised here have already been discussed many times in other threads. If you care to read any of them, you may see why I respond as I do to those issues.

I am new also....I accept responsability for opening up this can of worms. I ask this question because, at 33, when I am done with the ADN program I will be 35. I have two kids and my wife has been bearing the financial burden for long enough. I don't want to struggle to find a job after school. I feel RT may be more saturated than nursing where I live, and to be honest, if I have a better shot of getting a job as a male nurse than an RT, I will choose nursing. I don't agree that a male should receive anything over a female based strictly on sex, but I'm not going to turn down a job opportuinty either.

My question stems from the perception of a potential male nursing student. Many in my pre-req classes feel this is true. I'm just trying to get a more balanced answer to this question. Thanks for "some" of your patients in assisting me with this.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Cardiac.

I can't comment on how easily men get hired. I've only been hired once and it was at the very end of the nursing shortage so everybody, male and female, got hired pretty easily.

Although there were a few nasty nurses in my units, I never felt particularly singled out because of my gender.

The only thing that annoys me is that when people ask me to help lift because I'm a guy. I'm almost 60, short, fat, and have musculoskeletal issues and I'm sure any of the 20 something year old girls can lift as well as or better than I but people just assume I can lift like I did when I was 20.

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Specializes in ICU.

I think it is def. easier for men to get a job in nursing. Managers like their physical strength. Now this is just from what I have seen, although I know this is not true. I know a couple managers who specify to the recruiter that they prefer men, I think this may be illegal.

As for RT vs ADN. Why not go for your BSN? Not sure what part of the country you're in, but I think they are trying to phase out the ADNs. RTs are awesome but I think nursing is so much broader in practice. Never gets boring!!!

Good luck with your future endeavors!!!

Happy Easter!!!

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I am not in the field, and have not shadowed a nurse on the floor. I was required to job shadow an RT for the application process for RT school. It appeared to be male dominated (if ever so barely). My only concern with RT school is being able to find a job after graduation. I live in MS, which has one of the highest concentrations of RT's in the country. The chair of the RT department says that they have 100% job placement and everyone leaves school with a job. I just hope that's true. I could be wrong about the male RT thing. Only my limited exposure to the field.

I graduated with a degree in IT from a private college that boasted of 99% job placement after graduation. After struggling for a long time to find a job in my field, I learned that the college counted everyone who had jobs, whether it was in their chosen field or not. They even counted those who took minimum wage jobs when they couldn't find work related to their degree.

I am new also....I accept responsability for opening up this can of worms. I ask this question because, at 33, when I am done with the ADN program I will be 35. I have two kids and my wife has been bearing the financial burden for long enough. I don't want to struggle to find a job after school. I feel RT may be more saturated than nursing where I live, and to be honest, if I have a better shot of getting a job as a male nurse than an RT, I will choose nursing. I don't agree that a male should receive anything over a female based strictly on sex, but I'm not going to turn down a job opportuinty either.

My question stems from the perception of a potential male nursing student. Many in my pre-req classes feel this is true. I'm just trying to get a more balanced answer to this question. Thanks for "some" of your patients in assisting me with this.

My feelings about your replies are torn. I can appreciate that you want to provide for your family. I graduated at 49 with a family to support and went back to school when I had rent and other bills to pay all by myself, with no spouse to help. Everyone in today's job market is struggling, so part of me wants to respond with "why should you be any different just because you are a man?" On the other hand, I would wave a magic wand if I could, and everyone who wanted a job would have one.

To give you a direct answer to your original question, I have to agree with some of the others. I do think that men sometimes have an advantage, but I don't think it exists as often as some like to believe. I certainly don't think that a man will have an advantage over a woman for every open position, nor even at every institution.

If nursing is the path that you choose, you would be better served to focus on becoming competent in class and clinicals and the hiring process will take care of itself, because you cannot be guaranteed that you will have that gender advantage when it comes time for you to apply for a position.

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I can't comment on how easily men get hired. I've only been hired once and it was at the very end of the nursing shortage so everybody, male and female, got hired pretty easily.

Although there were a few nasty nurses in my units, I never felt particularly singled out because of my gender.

The only thing that annoys me is that when people ask me to help lift because I'm a guy. I'm almost 60, short, fat, and have musculoskeletal issues and I'm sure any of the 20 something year old girls can lift as well as or better than I but people just assume I can lift like I did when I was 20.

men typically do have more upper body strength. i don't see why it would annoy you anyway. if a 20 something female could do it then you wouldn't be exempt when it comes time to rally the troops. that would be like a 20 something female being annoyed that you asked for help, no? some men act like women and that is what i find funny when rallying the upper body strength.

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Specializes in I can take BP!! lol.

As for RT vs ADN. Why not go for your BSN?

Good luck with your future endeavors!!!

Happy Easter!!!

I will. The local BSN program is VERY competitive. If I do the ADN I will immediately (or as soon as possible) bridge to BSN.

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Based on my limited experience, the guys in my class seemed to get jobs at the same rate as the gals. There were a couple of guys who got jobs right away, and there were some guys who were still looking 6+ months after graduation.

The big difference I noticed was that our clinical instructors (well, the ones I had) ADORED the guys in clinical. One of my instructors had a reputation for being horrible to all of her classes, but one of the guys in my clinical with her charmed her with his goofy, dorky humor so much that she told her other sections that we were her favorite clinical group. The rest of us in the group benefited from this (she was still pretty nasty TBH, so I shudder to think how much worse it could have been). And aside from this one instructor, everyone else was really encouraging with the guys in the program. Not that they were particularly discouraging with the gals, just that it seemed like they all wanted to make sure that the guys in the class felt welcome and not feel out of place.

Working as a nurse now, I don't really see that the guys are targeted. I really like the group of people I work with and feel very fortunate to be where I am. I've asked the guys I work with for muscle help, but they've also asked me too.

Being a guy may or may not help you out, but something that is very likely to be helpful is, in addition to working hard in school, to network network network. Get a job as a CNA/tech, join a professional organization, keep in touch with your professors and clinical instructors and classmates. Gain a reputation for being a team player and a hard worker and a positive influence on those around you.

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Specializes in Trauma/Tele/Surgery/SICU.

OP take my limited experience for what it is worth. I had several male colleagues in nursing school and did not see them get any type of advantage whatsoever. If anything many of them struggled with the curriculum, however, they came from an engineering backgroung where 2+2 always equals 4. It was hard for some of them to switch to more subjective nursing material where 2+2 can equal 4 or 6 or 8 depending on the circumstances. We did have a clinical instructor admit to us that in our area men are almost always shut out of OB nursing based solely on gender and I have to admit I have never seen a male OB nurse.

On the job: I have not seen a hiring preference for men. In fact my manager seems to have a preferred type of new nurse for our unit that includes very young female and a BSN. However, we have had two new male RN's hired recently. I have noticed that some of our residents and docs seem to take male coworkers concerns more seriously. In fact, I have had to ask a couple of my male coworkers to speak with certain docs for me in order to get results however I think this may be more of a cultural thing.

Patients do tend to treat the male RN's with MUCH more respect. Especially the difficult, abusive, pia patients. I am not sure why this is but it is definitely something I have noticed. I have had a few female patients ask to not have the male nurse or the male tech. Usually these are older women. On my unit we are so short on midnights that we cannot always honor these preferences. However, some will consent to a male nurse but will not allow them to toilet them etc. In that case what we do is the female RN or tech takes care of those issues and usually the male RN will help out with one of the female RN's patients.

Lastly, at the facility I work for I have seen quite a few men in the SICU and ER, not sure if there is a preference to hire men in these areas or if men seek out these areas more often.

As for more of a target on your back? On my unit the difficult nurses seem to be equal opportunity offenders in this regard.

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Specializes in I can take BP!! lol.

Thank yall so much for the responses. It may seem trivial and superficial to some, but your responses are very helpful in my decision.

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Specializes in Medical unit and ICU.

I also feel that males are favored a bit more. I don't deny that I am competent and nurses are in high demand, but I have always been given an offer for every job for which I have applied. I also think doctors are a bit less hard on male nurses. I don't believe my female colleagues have a target on my back. We work as a team and it's all about competency and attitude.

That said, I would not be looking for an inside edge based on your gender. Be all that you can be, and in today's world I would set my ultimate goal to at least a BSN even if you need to pause for an ADN initially.

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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.
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Specializes in CVICU, Obs/Gyn, Derm, NICU.
When I was in nursing school 15 yrs ago I remember when we were close to finishing (we had 3 male nurses in our class of 45) they were offered 3 positions to our 1. Also they were offered slightly more per hour than us females. I have worked with male nurses throughout my career and have not seen them treated any differently.

I would be outraged ... why were they offered more?

This is so wrong :mad:

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