New Grad BSN for '11

[Wicks1ml]

Hello all,

I am currently a BSN student at the University of Florida. I hope to graduate in August of 2011 and would love to move to the Portland area afterwards. However, I am concerned that I will have difficultly finding a job at a local hospital as a new grad from out-of state. I would be willing to travel all throughout Oregon or even up into Washington for a good starting position. Is this something I should be very concerned about, or is the job market fairly accepting of new grad BSN nurses? And if this is something to worry about, is there anything I could be doing now to improve my chances of finding work? Thank you for any and all guidance.

[MsoccerRN]

Hey,

Well all I have is personal experience, but as a new BSN grad that went to school in Oregon, I find myself struggling to even get an interview. I have not looked south of Eugene (which is about 2 hours south of Portland), but north of Eugene has been pretty sporifice. I graduated in June of this year with a 4.0, I'm a member of the National Nursing Honor Society, and I have my BLS, but I have no work experience (outside of school) as an RN. I have applied to every and any job that I met the minimum requirements for over the past 3 and a half months and have only gotton 1 interview for a new grad position. Unless you have experience, I can't say your efforts over here could be much different, but maybe things will change/improve over the next year?

[LoveMyBugs, BSN, CNA, RN]

I am working flu clinics and the nurse I worked with yesterday was from Ohio, graduated in May and moved here in June, she had a BSN and went to a well known school associated with the University Hospital however, she has not gotten any interviews here, however...

I am a ASN (well known for the Portland area) now enrolled to puruse my BSN, have 3 years experience in the ED as a CNA, plus one in a LTC

Hired by my school to be a mentor and assistant in the skills lab my second year, memeber of NSNA and volunteer as a victim advocate.

have been on 4 interviews, one was 40 spots with 546 people interviewd, another was 1 spot for 100 people that they screened, another one was for a LTC that offered no training at all, wanted me "to hit the ground running, with as little orienation as possible", and the last one they interviewed 100 people for and my friend got it, which was good for her as it was where she wanted to specialize in. My classmates who have gotten jobs in the hospitals have been because they either knew someone, or did their preceptorship on the floor.

So I don't think that it really matters if you are from out of state or not as the Portland/Willamette Valley job market is very very tight, there are 7 school in the area which is staturating the area.

I don't know about the job market south of Eugene or east of Hood River

[PACNWNURSING]

Florida has many job opennings for nurses I recommend staying in Florida gain your 1-2 years experience and then head over to Portland. With experience you will have no trouble finding a job with great wages.