New grad

[ABSNnewgrad, BSN]

I am graduating in 3 months and looking for a nurse residency program. Boston medical has cancelled their Spring and Summer cohorts due to COVID. Any recommendations on this new and ever changing entry into nursing ? Also curious about thoughts on this possibly opening up for more opportunities into Boston’s competitive job market or the opposite. This is a lot to figure out. I’m coming from out of state also.

Thanks for any thoughts or advice.

[Serhilda, ADN, RN]

Well Boston already had a surplus of nurses, so now with elective procedures having been canceled and censuses being down, the market is even worse and may continue declining. Just my two cents. Some hospitals are on a hiring freeze and they're having to cancel nurses because they're simply not needed.

I would highly suggest NOT moving to Boston or the surrounding area at this time, especially as a new graduate. It's a volatile market right now. If I were a new grad and had the opportunity to relocate, I would start somewhere that hasn't been hit as hard by COVID just to get a better orientation and have job security.

[OncologyCat, BSN, RN]

I think MGH still has their nurse residency program. However they only pay you $20/hr for all new grads (yes they wrote it in their job description) for the first 3-6 months of your orientation. Keep in mind that housing in Boston is very expensive (at least $1,000/month for a 1b1b unless you share a condo/house with 4-5 other roommates), so you might need to think about how you can survive on that salary...

I honestly do not think they’ll open more positions for new grads. New grads require extensive training, and right now we might not have enough nurses to staff a unit, let alone pulling a nurse to orient. In general they’d prefer experienced nurses that require less orientation and can hit the ground running.