New grads Need Not Apply

Nurses New Nurse

Published

First, I would like to congratulate all of the new grads who have been able to secure RN employment in this bleek economy. It is a tough market for a new grad RN. A "year experience required" or "not considering new grads at this time" is pretty much the norm. Heck, I even saw a job posting that read, "No new grads or nursing home RN." What?! So, even LTC RN are not wanted.

I have become so discouraged in my Job Search. I graduated this May with an ADN took my boards and passed on the first try, I also have a BA in Psychology. I know there are many of you who have been looking for a chance to get into nursing careers longer than myself. Being unemployed is really no joke. I haven't had a real sustainable job since I lost my full-time job in 2009. It has undoubtable been a very tough time being a single mother to a now seven year old.

Most employers want you to have that one year experience, but if everyone wants it who is going to give it? I say to people that I am an RN and they say, "Oh, what hospital do you work in?" I reply, "None!" People that hear this say they thought there was a great need for RNs because of the nursing shortage. I have to correct them and say there is no such thing. There is only a nursing job shortage.

What will happen when baby boomer nurses start to retire in droves and current new grad RNs with no experience give up on their dreams of being nurses move on to other career paths? Where will these facilities find their new workforce? In my opinion, there will indeed be a nursing shortage. So instead of waiting for that scenario, let them act now!

I have been a part of allnurses.com since entering nursing school. There has been a lot of great threads and comments on this site. I have read through many discouraged new grads postings and feel that instead of complaining about let us band together and make this a real public issue. We can be heard if our voices are numerous and loud.

I hope that I have made sence in this posting. Thanks for any comments.:up:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Intensive Care Unit.

Apply for anything and everything even if it says need experience or certain years in the field. Have you tried school nursing, home health, VA, rehabs, offices, etc? I'm sure you've done this but keep doing it...something WILL open up for you. Good luck with your search!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in cardiac (CCU/Heart Transplant, cath lab).

I agree with the above poster. Apply everywhere you can. My first nursing job 6 years ago was to a CCU that had one year experience as the desired minimum to apply. You never know how much action a job posting is getting and they may just be willing to spend the extra time training you if they need the position filled but have few applicants. I'm sorry you and other new grads are having a tough time in this market :\

If possible for your life situation, seriously consider relocating for a job. New grad hiring varies on the region.

Congrats on passing boards, Don't give up!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in cardiac (CCU/Heart Transplant, cath lab).

Also keep your ears open for job fairs in your community or colleges. I highly recommend getting the business card of the HR or nursing representative. Follow up with an email to them the next day, thanking them for meeting you. This is also how my resume got through HR to the nurse manager for the position I had applied for. Sometimes all you need is to get through HR!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Geriatric / Dementia.

Those are all great suggestions, there is another that I would love to add here. Learn how to advertise yourself in 30 seconds. If you can master this art, then you can find ways around HR easily. I have used this approach for many job positions in several different careers. Once you know how, all you have to do is work it. In this field, just watch for people wearing scrubs while out in the shopping centers, or wander purposefully around the various hospitals that you would like to work at. Many times, just selling yourself to the right person can get you past HR and on your way to an interview.

Another helpful hint is to make a business card with your credentials and contact information. When someone tells you that they are interested, pass the card along and you may find yourself being interviewed for positions that have not even been posted yet. In some of the larger corporations, managers and employees can hear about a job opening long before the job gets posted. Having your information out there, can get you in the door quickly. This also works great at job fairs as well.

I am finishing my senior practice now, and I have been doing this now for the past 6 months. Even though I have not finished my training, and I still have the NCLEX to go, I have already have several job leads that have opened up to me. All I have to do now is get my license and apply to my top choices using the names of those who have referred me.

I hope that you have a very successful career, and remember to never stop doing what you love.

In your service,

Kevin

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I feel the same way! Just keep applying like others said. I graduated last year and I've been applying but getting rejection e.mails left and right. There aren't many position that I am "qualified" to apply. I'm lucky enough to have a RN job in LTC and even though I dislike working there (love my patients but hate the management..too much politics). Hanging in there!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I applied for everything I thought I might stand a chance at doing even if it said 1 year experience perfered or required. I really did not want to work in LTC or Med Surg but I sucked it up and applied anyway. I still belive in paying my dues. Not a single call back for MONTHS. I even tried harrassing HR. No luck. I felt like a major failure...

Eventually I got hired by a peds home health company. I have only been there 3 weeks. I got a call last Tuesday from the childrens hospital for an interview (a dream come true!) I interviewed and less than 24 hours later I was offered the position! 6 months after graduation but I am so thankful that paying my dues was short lived and not really as bad as I expected...

Apply for everything! I was not as qualified as the job posting wantied me to be, but the nurse manager liked something about me and that was all it took :sneaky:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I applied for everything I thought I might stand a chance at doing even if it said 1 year experience perfered or required. I really did not want to work in LTC or Med Surg but I sucked it up and applied anyway. I still belive in paying my dues. Not a single call back for MONTHS. I even tried harrassing HR. No luck. I felt like a major failure...

Eventually I got hired by a peds home health company. I have only been there 3 weeks. I got a call last Tuesday from the childrens hospital for an interview (a dream come true!) I interviewed and less than 24 hours later I was offered the position! 6 months after graduation but I am so thankful that paying my dues was short lived and not really as bad as I expected...

Apply for everything! I was not as qualified as the job posting wantied me to be, but the nurse manager liked something about me and that was all it took :sneaky:

This is encouraging! I hope I find one right away once I'm done in winter 2015! I know it's a long way but 2013 is around the corner. I'm doing everything I can esp keeping my GPA up.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I couldn't find a job for WAYYYY longer than you. I've done it all. Long story short, get your BSN degree and use your former classmates or other nursing friends/relatives to get you a job. Make them give their manager your resume. Apply to every possible nursing job you can. Even if it's something you hate, stick with it for a year and move on. You'll finally have that 1 year of experience under your belt. Keep at it. You'll land a job.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I agree with applying for anything. I've been a respiratory therapist for 5 years and recently finished nursing school last December. Took the boards in February. I applied at many hospitals but didn't received a call back. I could have transferred into nursing department at my hospital but decided I rather work with kids. My hospital is mainly geriatrics. So I decided to continue to work as a therapist (which is not bad by the way) and applied at a pediatric home care agency. I took care of a sick chronic respiratory vent dependent baby at home for 3 days a week. It included g tube feedings and transporting baby to doctor office visits. It lasted only 2 months because mom's insurance changed and only LPN were allowed. I still get calls to cover other babies every now and again. Well I updated my résumé at the county hospital , applied for a few positions and now I will start in their PICU in a few weeks!! So you never know. I'm sure my previous hospital experience was a plus but the recruiter told me since I had a little experience with the babies it helped!! Felt like a overpaid babysitter but hey it got me where I wanted to be!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in "Wound care - geriatric care.

These times are really hard not only for NG but even for nurses with experience. I graduated in Dec 2010 and only landed a job last month. It wasn't easy and still not easy because I had to move to a remote area away from my family in a rural hospital in a tiny town, my only comfort is that at least I didn't have to move out of state. You are right about the next nursing shortage it is brewing as I type this. Hospitals are basically dismantling the nurses supply by not training new nurses for 4 years and counting. It all depends on the economy and other jobs. If the economy quick in in gear things will go back to normal as they were before 2008 and what caused this nursing glut we experience now will end within a couple of months time. This is a normal cycle for nursing however this time will be different because there are many new variables such as retiring nurses, baby boomers, health care reform, a generation of burned out nurses and a deficit in new trained nurses, mix it all together and voila...the next nursing shortage. We just don't know when will it happen. It could take many years but It may be here sooner that we think.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
"Oh, what hospital do you work in?" I reply, "None!" .:up:

Nursing students, prospective students, graduates, new RNs, please understand a fundamental truth about the nursing profession: it is broader than hospitals. Only about 60% of RNs work in acute care settings. This means that roughly 4 out of every 10 new graduates WILL NOT GET A HOSPITAL JOB! Sorry, that is the reality, and it will get worse as health care keeps moving away from acute care to home health and outpatient facilities. What makes you think you are entitled to work in a hospital? Your degree is Associates Degree in Nursing NOT Associates Degree in Hospital Nursing. Your qualification is Registered Nurse NOT Registered Hospital Nurse. Let's embrace reality and stop equating RNs with hospitals. It is living in fantasy land to do otherwise. I am tired of new grads ******** about not getting hospital jobs. Not everyone will. It does not mean there is no nursing shortage all it means is that there is no acute care nursing shortage. Also, do you think you are ready to hit a hospital floor and manage an assignment of 5 patients? Hell no! No new grad is and by a long shot. They have to train you before they let you loose on the floor. Do you know how much it costs to train a new grad? My hospital is spending nearly 80K in training costs for each of its new grads in its residency program. Not every hospital can afford that. You can't really blame hospitals when choose not to hire new grads. You say you are a mother, an adult, but your post sounds very immature and to me, like my niece crying she didn't get her favorite Christmas toy.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment