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Concerto_in_C, BSN, RN · Dec 7, 2013

I moved from Chicago suburbs to Northern Illinois, almost Wisconsin border. Big change in lifestyle because my new area is more rural. There is a farm right behind my house with a grain silo, goats running around, chickens and a combine driving up and down the field during the cutting season.

No more big city living, but the job market is completely different. When you are in big town right now, every unemployed bum has a bachelor's degree in something, including nursing. Impossible to find a job-unfavorable demographics-too many unemployed nursing majors-too many nursing schools, hospitals have grown too large for the demand and gone through several rounds of nurse layoffs by now.

But inside rural America, if you have a bachelor's degree in nursing you are hired. There are tons of openings: med-surg, ortho, ICU step-down, cardiac surveillance. Impossible to find experienced replacements for those positions. In the last 2 years, I was the only experienced BSN my manager succeeded in hiring. All the other replacements have been new grads because we don't have a choice-not enough BSNs in the area. Entry level units (e.g. med-surg) have a very high turnover of nurses.

Completely different picture in Chicago-if you post just 1 med-surg opening, within minutes you have 200 med-surg nurses with 10 years of experience knocking on the door. Most of those people have to be turned away.

So I guess right now, in the economic circumstances we are in, location is everything since it is clear some areas are experiencing nurse shortages, while other areas are laying off nurses.

**NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN** · Dec 7, 2013

I one time almost didn't call back on a state lvn job. I remember the salary being low and i was just getting back from my honeymoon. It paid more than i thought with 2 months off a year paid. Plus free school. It was a college clinic. Sometimes i wish i had stayed there instead of got my RN. Not really though. It definitely was tho easy. Maybe when my knees give out someday.

HangInThere, BSN, RN · Dec 11, 2013

I moved from Chicago suburbs to Northern Illinois, almost Wisconsin border. Big change in lifestyle because my new area is more rural.
No more big city living, but the job market is completely different.

Concerto_in_C, how long is your commute, and is it tough on winter roads? Also, is it easy to build social circles at your hospital or neighborhood? I am a city dweller now, and I wonder how long it would take to feel like I belong in a rural area.