New Grad RN Jobs?

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Hey all,

I've got a year left of nursing school in Alabama and I would love to move to Hawaii as soon as I graduate. I don't care where I live or what kind of setting I work, but I do want to function as an RN and not a tech.

What are the job opportunities like? Any advice?

Thanks!

Andrea

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Read through these forums. This has been asked many many times.

To work in a hospital you'll have to work as an aide/tech for at least about a year before getting into a new grad RN program. If you're ok with working SNF you can probably find a position immediately. However, realize that SNF does not count as acute care. If you try to work in a hospital later they will not count your SNF experience and you'll still have to work as an aide/tech and wait for a new grad program.

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I feel like while those of you with experience living in Hawaii and employment opportunities are trying not to give false hope, I'm not sure it's entirely true that you HAVE to work a position that you are over qualified for in order to get a job as an RN.

I recognize that it will be extremely difficult to get a bedside new grad RN job, but if I have no limiting factors (have a BSN, will work nights or days, will float, will work any unit), I have a hard time believing that I will never be hired (unless I work as a tech or cna).

Perhaps I will be proven wrong upon arrival... I appreciate the honesty, but it would be helpful if those of you could give some pointers/tips that *may* help new grads to get hired as RNs. Surely if zero new grad RNs got jobs, the nursing programs in HI would have less and less students and eventually would not exist because everyone would know that they couldn't get a job as a new grad RN in HI.

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I feel like while those of you with experience living in Hawaii and employment opportunities are trying not to give false hope, I'm not sure it's entirely true that you HAVE to work a position that you are over qualified for in order to get a job as an RN.

I recognize that it will be extremely difficult to get a bedside new grad RN job, but if I have no limiting factors (have a BSN, will work nights or days, will float, will work any unit), I have a hard time believing that I will never be hired (unless I work as a tech or cna).

Perhaps I will be proven wrong upon arrival... I appreciate the honesty, but it would be helpful if those of you could give some pointers/tips that *may* help new grads to get hired as RNs. Surely if zero new grad RNs got jobs, the nursing programs in HI would have less and less students and eventually would not exist because everyone would know that they couldn't get a job as a new grad RN in HI.

Go call the HR departments at all the major hospitals. They'll tell you the same thing. You're a bit naive if you think having a BSN and being flexible makes you more marketable than the hundreds of equally qualified new grads working as aides/techs and waiting their turn. Even experienced RN's have trouble getting jobs here.

As far as the supply side of the problem, there are a couple nursing programs here that are in it for the money. They prefer their "customers" not realize how terrible the job market is until after tuition has been paid in full. You'd be surprised how many nursing students are completely oblivious to the reality of the job market here. They've only been told only about the great pay and job security. Not about the 1-2 year wait for a job post graduation.

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Perhaps I'm naive, and I'm not minimizing the degree of difficulty of getting an RN position out there... But I'm willing to bet my bottom dollar that there are new grads who do get employed as RNs after graduation. It may not be the majority, far from it even, but there is still a chance between civilian and military hospital establishments that new grads are hired.

I know the job market is tough out there, and I'm sure it's hard to give anyone encouragement if you have been battling to get employed, but it is tiresome reading "you have no chance" "nope" "there is no way you'll get employed as a new grad RN".

Maybe I will subscribe to that after a year of fruitless employment seeking, but until then... I'll take it in stride and know that it won't come easy, but it is still possible.

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Ok well good luck with that.

You should know that it's pretty hard for new grads to even get aide/tech jobs right now. It takes some new grads 6+ months of applying to every aide/tech posting at every hospital before even getting called for interviews.

The only scenario in which new grads have been hired directly into acute care over the past couple years has been when Queens ran a larger than normal new grad program last year to staff up for the opening of Queens West. There are no plans to open new hospitals on Oahu any time soon but I suppose if you're stubborn you could wait for a new hospital to open and hope they take new grads. The new grads that were hired directly into the Queens program were UHM students who spent their last semester at Queens (essentially an internship). Coming from outside the state, this scenario obviously would not apply to you.

If you're planning to live on the outer islands there are sometimes new grad positions there. But when most people ask about the Hawaii job market they're usually referring to Oahu.

But don't take my word for it. Read the forums. Call the hospital HR departments. Browse through the dozens of new grad job postings online.

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I'm not sure why you are so hostile, but thank you for your insight.

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First let me ask, what makes you want to move to Hawaii? I don't think mcubed45 was being hostile, it really is the harsh truth. Finding a job in Hawaii is extremely difficult. There are RNs who have been working as aides/techs for 1-2yrs with no luck obtaining an RN position. Although there are new grad programs, they usually only hire in-house. I was in contact with Queen's, and they told me they do new grad programs about 3 times a year. However, I have yet to see a posting on it. I have a friend who works there, who gave me a heads up on a new grad RN posting at work BUT it never went on the website. She later found out it was only in-house. It's the same thing with Hawaii Healthcare Hospitals. I was in contact with their HR, and they also said they only hire in house.

Hawaii is over-saturated with RNs. There are numerous schools graduating all these RNs with no jobs. Nursing is very common there. As with a lot of schools (even the ones here in Las Vegas), they tell us about the nursing shortage BUT they fail to tell us that finding a job is extremely difficult. Although there is a need for nurses, there's no money to pay us.

I speak about all of this, having experienced it. I'm born & raised in Hawaii, but moved for college. I been wanting to move home, but I have so many friends with no jobs or working as aides/techs. If I could give you any advice it would be to get experience then move to Hawaii. If you absolutely have to move there, get aide/tech experience in this last year of your nursing school. Maybe then you won't have to work as an aide/tech as long when you decide to move there.

Honestly, it's not that we're "tired of" the situation and just being negative. It really is the truth. Since you are already on the mainland, I would suggest you get experience first. It really would be frustrating to move there and have to work and aide after all the time spent in school. Many Hawaii new grads stay because they can't afford to relocate. In my case, I finally landed a job out here in LV.

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I'm not sure why you are so hostile, but thank you for your insight.

Well, you came into our Hawaii forum and basically said all the people who have been giving career advice about the local job market are wrong and that you know better than us. Not sure what kind of reaction you were expecting.

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Well, you came into our Hawaii forum and basically said all the people who have been giving career advice about the local job market are wrong and that you know better than us. Not sure what kind of reaction you were expecting.

I'm sorry you interpreted my posts as insinuating you are "wrong".. That was not my intention. It just seems that those of you who are posting about it are saying that zero new grads get hired as RNs... Which isn't entirely true, since there are new grads that I know who did land jobs out there.

As I said before, that may not be the case for most, but it seems like you are casting a shadow over ever finding a job. My initial post was meant more to solicit advice on what to do to try to avoid having to work as a tech for the first year.

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@lvhirn - my husband is military and moves out there in June; I'm staying behind this next year to finish school (accelerated bsn program; not really conducive to working) and will be joining him when I graduate next May.

I really am willing to take whatever position that will take me on as an RN. Any shift, prn, part time until I can get my foot in the door. I just can't afford to spend 3 years in HI after graduation and never work as an RN and then move again and have to try to explain why I was working as a tech for years.

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You said you know of people who got hired as new grads in Hawaii... what hospital was that at and when?

If you have no prior healthcare experience, the only places you would probably get hired on as a new grad are care homes or other areas outside of the hospitals. I was getting a lot of calls from a staffing agency to work private practice. Other than that, chances are slim to none for acute care.

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