New Grads We Have Hit A New Low...Work For FREE

Nurses New Nurse

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They want you to work for free for 6 months with no guarantee of a job offer. This is outrageous!

VOLUNTEER NEW GRAD RN PROGRAM Catholic Healthcare West Sacramento, CA

If this works for you then do it! Most of us who went to nursing school and graduated did NOT go to school to end up volunteering afterwards. I don't know about you but I put a lot of hard work into getting my license and for this company to even suggest that I work for free is obsurd! I live in the same area as this hospital and I even had my clinicals there. How would it look if I was volunteering (with no direct patient care) at that hospital and the class under me gets to do almost total patient care and they're still students at that same hospital. Plus some of my classmates have gotten hired at this hospital (through a new grad program that only had about 10 spots for 700 applicants) so I would feel pretty stupid volunteering my time there when they are getting paid to do the REAL job of an RN. The whole set up is bad. Plus, I also don't see how this qualifies as "experience" when you can't even touch the patient. I have 5 years experience as a CNA and I think that contained more direct patient care than this volunteer opportunity does. It's pretty insane and unfortunately there were a lot of applicants from what I've heard.

I'm sure most people who went to school also did not go to school to end up with no job. I'm sure they didn't think they'd be unemployed and would spend their days filling out applications.

I think volunteering looks better than not doing anything though. I think if there are no job offers, at least get out there and do something, so you are in some sort of network and not just filling out applications. Volunteering gives people the chance to network, and that could lead to a job.

I may not "touch" patients, but I get to interact with them. It may not be RN experience, but it is experience. I don't just sit on my butt and do nothing all day. I interact with patients, families, doctors, and nurses.

CNA is just a different type of care. Sure it's more "hands on."

Volunteers can actually spend more time with patients though. I could sit with one person on the oncology floor for hours if I wanted. But I usually try to rotate around. I get to see the patients in a way the nurses and CNA's can't. Nurses and CNA's don't have time to sit with someone and make small talk to help them not focus on their pain. I can touch them. I can hold their hand. I can cry with them. I can listen to them just talk about life. I am providing care. Sure it's not "medical" care, but it is care. And I think it's pretty important too. If you haven't been in a position like that, then I could see why you don't understand and don't consider it experience.

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Specializes in Vascular Surgery.

lol. They're always in need of nurses too. The company makes around a $400 million dollar/year profit and essentially is taking advantage of an economic situation to avoid paying nurses for work that needs to be done.

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Specializes in Tele, CVIU.
I'm sure most people who went to school also did not go to school to end up with no job. I'm sure they didn't think they'd be unemployed and would spend their days filling out applications.

I think volunteering looks better than not doing anything though. I think if there are no job offers, at least get out there and do something, so you are in some sort of network and not just filling out applications. Volunteering gives people the chance to network, and that could lead to a job.

I may not "touch" patients, but I get to interact with them. It may not be RN experience, but it is experience. I don't just sit on my butt and do nothing all day. I interact with patients, families, doctors, and nurses.

CNA is just a different type of care. Sure it's more "hands on."

Volunteers can actually spend more time with patients though. I could sit with one person on the oncology floor for hours if I wanted. But I usually try to rotate around. I get to see the patients in a way the nurses and CNA's can't. Nurses and CNA's don't have time to sit with someone and make small talk to help them not focus on their pain. I can touch them. I can hold their hand. I can cry with them. I can listen to them just talk about life. I am providing care. Sure it's not "medical" care, but it is care. And I think it's pretty important too. If you haven't been in a position like that, then I could see why you don't understand and don't consider it experience.

It doesn't matter if I consider it experience but it does matter if HR does. I am fortunate to be working right now in an eICU as a secretary and I still get to see a lot and learn a lot while I'm waiting for an RN position. I actually get to use my nursing education at my job and I get paid for it. I understand your point that doing something is better than nothing. I agree with that. Bottom line is this: volunteering doesn't put food on your table, clothes on your back, or a roof over your head. In tough economic times like these it's almost essential for people to be employed and it's unfortunate that educated nurses are being asked to put in work at a hospital for free.

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I would say look at it as free training and keeping yourself hire-able because you have experience after a year when jobs do come around compared to those who sat around after graduated without any experience at all; but it does not sound like you even do nursing skills "Indirect patient care" ? And what happens if your in it 5 months and you get offered a real job that pays? What are the ramifications for "quitting" a volunteer position? Oh come here, help out the nursing staff, be degraded because we wont even let you do direct patient care, no benefits, not even a free meal on the days you volunteer, and if you quit your in trouble?

I was actually a part of this program. There are consequences. You do get paid for time on the floor but if you are late to anything, including your pre-employment physical, they will cut you from the program and ban you from getting hired at that facility ever again, which I think is extreme.

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Also you can't call in sick with the same result. They tell you that they own you and that they can order you to do anything they want anytime they want..

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It's VOLUNTEERING people. Calm down. Did anyone read it? It's only once a week for 3 hours. I don't really consider that work. Which is why it's called a "volunteer" position.

I volunteer once a week for 5 hours in a hospital. I'm not guaranteed a job when I get out of school, and I don't care. I volunteer for the experience. It's a choice I made.

Why wouldn't a person who can't find a job volunteer for 3 hours a week to get a little bit of experience? That is better than having nothing for 6 months.

It's a shame some of you think that because of your education you are "above" volunteer positions.

This is NOT a three hour a week position. It is a full time commitment. It's 40 hours a week plus classroom time. You are not guaranteed a job at the end, but they try and put you into a unit that has an opening or will have one. They encourage competition among the participants so that they can who they want. They tell you they own you, which in my opinion is a very poor choice of words.

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Specializes in geriatrics.

This is a new low, and more people need to avoid these kind of "offers".

If you want me to use my title "RN", I better be paid well, or hell no. Only when I decide to retire will I consider volunteering. We don't pay the rent or mortgage in corn flakes.

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Specializes in Emergency.

I did not read all the posts so I'm not sure if this was said already, but in NJ there were programs where you PAID THE HOSPITAL $4,600 for 14 weeks of what was basically shadowing so that you could "gain experience". There was no offer of work afterwards, only a chance to say you had hospital experience...

I bet for the people who paid the $4,600, working for free sounds like a good deal...so sad.

Good luck to all you new grads out there. It took me 14 months, 4 states, all my money, and most of my sanity, but it worked out. You can do it!

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Yup, I've heard of more than one program in NJ where you'd be paying thousands of dollars to work for a set period of time. I am not sure what exactly that work entails or if you really do use you skills. I was advised by experienced RN's not even to take one of those residencies out of desperation, that it will look worse on my resume than simply not being employed for a while after graduation.

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i would think slavery had ended in our country but evidently not. i could agree if a person was deeply into their religion and chose to offer and do 6 months of service as a calling but i think that the eeoc and department of labor would view this as a bit extreme. i don't think it would be very well accepted in the labor department.

slavery is rampant in this country, we just call it customer service, volunteering, community service, and nursing school clinicals ;p

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