New Grad: New York City or San Francisco

ifyouwereme · Oct 26, 2009

NYC has to be better than here! Only 25% of the nurses I know got jobs in hospitals!

smn2010, BSN, RN · Oct 26, 2009

new grads have it tough every where. it will be hard for any new grad to tell you which is tougher because all areas have limited new grad positions. there is a big difference in the cost of living between nyc and san francisco so be aware. if you have plans to relocate, please apply to medical facilities in both cities before you do. also, use a cost of living calculator to determine what surrounding cities/burroughs are best to live in/commute from because this will vary.

i would think that southern california would be harder for new grads than northern california. the weather is much better in mid- / southern california so most people will be gravitating there versus northern california (colder by 20+ degrees, rain, fog, etc as you get closer to oregon). new yorkers are used to commuting via train/bus so you can live in any of the burroughs and commute into nyc. i have friends who are new grads (may 2009) who were able to get new grad positions in upstate new york. they originally wanted nyc and surrounding burroughs but were unable to get jobs. they decided to try upstate and found jobs much easier. they relocated from the lower eastern states (florida, georgia, south carolina) and applied to positions from maryland on up to maine and even received interest/interviews from mass, upstate new york, vermont, new hampshire and maine. i'm not sure why the chose upstate ny over the other northern states but they are extremely happy where they are now. the relocation money that new york offered is what helped to seal their final decision, i think.

http://www.theagapecenter.com/hospitals/index.htm - i came upon this website, by accident, a few years ago, when i was job hunting. i sent the web address to my friends back in march/april 2009 because it contains a list of all hospitals in the u.s., by state. my friends used this website by the agapecenter.com and found it easier to job hunt since the site lists each hospital as a "link" that goes directly to the medical facilities' web page. note: if the hospital link does not work, do a web search of the hospital name because agapecenter.com does not appear to update their links very often. since the hospital name is provided on the site it seems to work well with job seekers.

good luck! :up:

trimedic37 · Mar 19, 2010

San Francisco is the place!

linRdsNay · Mar 19, 2010

SF has no jobs...I have a friend that moved from Sf to NY and she got 3 job offers within a month of moving there.

trimedic37 · Mar 19, 2010

Wow! I guess New York is the place. :)

sunrock · Mar 19, 2010

The hudson valley is opening up, go to indeed.com, albany, n.y. near the capital,

albany med. center, St. Peter's, Vassar Bros. Hosp. Cornwall hosp., St. francis hosp., it is one and a half hrs, by train from NEW YORK CITY, deer, etc., farms, cows, google up, hope this helps.

sunrock · Mar 19, 2010

Looks that way, NEW YORK, NEW YORK, COMES WITH EKG, BLS, CPR, ACLS, you name it, i am looking for home care, too old to thread the floors;

sunrock · Mar 19, 2010

New York is the place

ok2bme · Mar 21, 2010

2 hospitals that I know of have recently closed in New York City, saturating the city with experienced nurses looking for work. New grads are being cranked at by the thousands every few months. There are many unemployed nurses in nyc..I tried to find a job there but it was futile, I'm now in texas..I'll try again after I get a year of experience. I don't mean to discourage you, maybe you will luck out, just don't expect the 3 job offers in one month that another poster spoke of. Best of luck!!

mixtapes · Mar 25, 2010

Yes, I have wanted to go to NYC or SF. I came from SF but in school elsewhere. I know it's hard in both places! It really sucks knowing there's a chance I don't get to go back home to where I love. :crying2:

What a bad time to be in nursing school!!!!! I am actually trying to graduate a semester later b/c I'm afraid of not getting a job out of school. I would graduate in August but pushing it to December. I'm crossing my fingers that things might be better.

I have applied to several summer externships. I am thinking it would make me more marketable then fresh out of school w/ not enough skills. If not, I plan on getting a job as a tech for the summer. Not sure what else to do.

Who knew it would turn out this way! :uhoh3:

smugirl · Apr 16, 2010

i've lived in the SF Bay area my whole life and my mom is an RN, and all of her brothers' (3) wives are RNs. They all work here and love it. I KNOW it's great here. As far as New grad goes, COMPETITION IS STIFF. My class of 60 graduated in december 2009 and only 6 people are working as new grads in hospitals in the bay area, and they were all very lucky. I don't know much about NYC, but I know A LOT about SF and bay area hospitals. I read in a previous post that someone said southern california is harder to get jobs-- that's not true. Northern California is one of the hardest places to get a job because the pay is excellent, starting for new grad is about 35/hr (and that's low end); low nurse to patient ratio, about 1:4 or 5 for medsurg; and MOST IMPORTANT: THE UNION. Northern California's union is so strong that nurses refuse to leave this area because of it. Only recently did Southern California start having a strong union, but its still not as strong up here. What northern california nurses want, they get.