NJ to CA???

I think you should start here, last time I worked in Cali, they had a lot of criteria to meet. As in your NJ school needs to meet their standards. http://www.rn.ca.gov/applicants/index.shtml

I think you should start here, last time I worked in Cali, they had a lot of criteria to meet. As in your NJ school needs to meet their standards. http://www.rn.ca.gov/applicants/index.shtml

Thank you for your reply and the link.

Also be aware that the economy is incredibly rough at this time in California, it could change in two years, but it may not. I just was talking to one of our ward clerks last night, turns out she's been an RN for about 6 months, and has yet to find her first job.

No one is hiring new graduate nurses. At least in this state. Please have that in mind when you are going to rack up a large amount of student loans. And also be ready to look for jobs in other states as well.

Also be aware that the economy is incredibly rough at this time in California, it could change in two years, but it may not. I just was talking to one of our ward clerks last night, turns out she's been an RN for about 6 months, and has yet to find her first job.

No one is hiring new graduate nurses. At least in this state. Please have that in mind when you are going to rack up a large amount of student loans. And also be ready to look for jobs in other states as well.

I know the economy is bad in CA but it's bad here in NY and NJ area as well. But is the job market for nurses specifically worse in CA then here? That I'm not sure.

It is worse in California...don't consider a move without a job 100% lined up. Really research where you are moving....I can't emphasize this enough - its very very tough to get a first job there, yet alone to find work as an experienced nurse. Some new grad programs in San Diego were getting upwards of 300 apps for 1 new grad position. I just moved back from California to NYC, and I won't move back to California until I have at least 1 yr of Med Surg or more.

I don't know about comparing the NJ/NY job market to the Calif job market . . . as others have already said, the job market for new grads in Calif sucks. The other factor to consider when moving to Calif is that housing is very expensive, esp in the SF Bay area, where I work. But, you're probably at least 2 years away from your planned move . . . hopefully, the job market will have opened up by that time.

BTW I'm from Southern California but have been in NJ a year and a half now. I didn't look into nursing until recently, I actually made a career change to become a police officer in CA but due to budget cuts I realized I may not get hired, on top of that I'm sure not getting any younger either where I can wait. I was told by a male RN in Orange County two years ago who was moonlighting as a kickboxing instructor that I should pursue nursing instead of law enforcement. At the time I didn't take his suggestions seriously because I thought I had a real good chance of getting hired by a dept. But now that I'm seriously thinking about nursing, I remember him telling me that I would have an advantage being male since there are shortages of male nurses which I'm sure has been covered here a lot already. I could be wrong but he gave me the impression that the hiring bias towards male nurses was significant. I would think it would be almost the same thing as females having a pretty big advantage of getting hired over males at most police depts. because of pure numbers or lack of. Am I wrong?