New Male Nurse = No Problem Landing A Job ???

[RetSGT]

"Don't worry, you're a guy. You'll have no problem finding a job!"

How many of you guys have heard this? The reason that I ask is this. Every time I spoke to anyone in nursing school about the job crisis, that was always (and I mean always) the response I would get. Well, It's been over a month since I passed the NCLEX and after sending out about 25 resumes, I only heard from 1 hospital.

Everybody wants 1 to 3 or 3 to 5 years experience

So anyway

Question for you guys out there.

Have any of you found that you are more likely to be hired as a male nurse regardless of experience? Let me know and also, let me know where you're from. I'm wondering if this is just a regional problem.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I'm a female, but I'll chime in anyway. :)

I'm in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas and the nursing job market started to become sluggish here about four years ago. New male nurses with no experience and no inside connections have just as tough of a time in the local employment market as their female counterparts.

I've seen a few males look for jobs for months before finally landing something, and the position is often in a specialty they did not desire.

[RetSGT]

Dallas/Fort Worth area, Wow! I'm surprised with the influx of new residents that you guys have had in the last few years, I was sure that your area would be one of the growing markets in nursing. Thanks for the info.

P.S. Re: the "specialty they did not desire". At this point, I don't care. While I do have a preference, I will do whatever they hire me to do and worry about the rest down the road.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Dallas/Fort Worth area, Wow! I'm surprised with the influx of new residents that you guys have had in the last few years, I was sure that your area would be one of the growing markets in nursing. Thanks for the info.

Then again, nurses from around the country heard rumors that Texas was still supposedly booming with jobs during the economic downturn, so we have nurses from all over the US who have flocked here over the past few years without securing employment before moving.

These nurses tend to migrate to the major metro areas when the nursing jobs are really in the rural areas, border towns, and midsized cities located 100+ miles from any big city. So we have a glut of new nurses in the major metropolitan areas and a shortage of nurses in the small towns where they're really needed.

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

When you apply, you application is digitized without regards to your gender.

An HR person then screens the best apps & forwards them for review by the manager, and barely looks at the names.

The hiring manager may, or may not, care if you are a man. If they do care, that may work for you...or against you.

While males are usually welcomed to the floor, your chromosomes mean little in the hiring process

[RetSGT]

"Then again, nurses from around the country heard rumors that Texas was still supposedly booming with jobs during the economic downturn, so we have nurses from all over the US who have flocked here over the past few years without securing employment before moving."

Good Point!

[hope3456, ASN, RN]

Commuter is right about the rural areas. They are not as lucrative jobs as the big city hospitals but your chances are better at getting your foot in the door to gain that "1-2 year acute care experience." Post your résumé online and state you are seeking a rural nursing job. You might end up in a obscure location for a while but IMO that is better than having to compete against hundreds of other new grads in the city and being unemployed long term.

[Caribbean Character]

I live on the edge of the Maine North Woods and our local hospitals always hire at least a few nurses from each graduating class because their turnover is high due to nurses wanting to get just enough experience to get out of (what we refer to as) "The County".

[loriangel14, RN]

Being male really has no effect on getting hired.

[hope3456, ASN, RN]

Someone really needs to do a statistical analysis on this!

[GaMommy81]

I feel like there are more male nurses on specialty units like ICU, ER, or PACU. Out of the four male nursing students that I graduated with, two of them went to ER, one went to ICU, and the other one was hired into a management position at a nursing home. I work on a kidney, liver, pancreas, transplant unit and I was surprised that three guys work there honestly.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Heck, if you come across anyone who gives preference to male job candidates, I would be VERY suspicious about the underlying issues . . . Do they expect you to be a human fork lift for their increasingly obese patient population? Serve as after hours security because they don't have any? Are you being lured into an environment where you are at risk for sexual harassment?

I'm trying to think of nursing situations in which male gender may be a 'bona fide occupational qualification' that has an impact upon ability to perform the job effectively .... correctional or psychiatric nursing with a sexual offender population?? Hmm - there are probably more, but I can't think of any.

Just remember, if you obtain a job because of an advantage that is not associated with your ability to perform the job (physical attributes, connections to the CEO, bribery, blackmail - LOL) it will quickly become a career-limiting factor because of a very negative consequence - It will be very hard for you to overcome the initial impression and convince anyone that you are the 'real deal'.