No jobs or nursing shortage-- Nursing isn't in demand!

leadperson · Feb 3, 2011

I am sorry you are feeling this way about nursing. I graduated as an LPN in 2008. Before I graduated I was hired by a long term care facility to shadow a nurse until I passed my boards.After passing my state boards, I worked as a medication/charge nurse and went back to school for my RN degree in 2009. I continued to work while I was in school. My second semester my workplace pulled me from my med cart and started training me for a RN Supervisor job. I trained the days I worked with a RN until I graduated and once I passed the boards I assumed my position over a hall. I have never been happier. I am 46 years old and plan to continue my education for a Masters degree so I can teach at some point. Don't give up!

SE_BSN_RN, BSN · Feb 3, 2011

Hey you guys! Responses have been overwhelming..good and not-so-good. I appreciate those who aren't attacking me and are openminded enough to see both sides of things! :) I didn't go in nursing thinking that I would come out and be able to snap my fingers and have employers begging me to work for them..but jeebus..it would be nice to know that going back to school at least would give me an opportunity to have my resume so much as looked at.
As far as the old job goes..I was working in a legal department for a utilities company..practically a glorified administrative assistant...doing clerical/organizing stuff...you better believe that position is long gone lol. Last time I heard, the company has a hiring freeze.
I'm going to keep trying to apply..but truth is..I'm ready to get a job at Starbucks or Denny's just to get some kind of income coming in. I'm totally floored at how bad it is.
I don't really have the means to move out of NYC. I don't have a car and the place I am staying in now had rent paid for in advance for a while..thanks to my loving sweetheart :)
So I try really hard to be positive..I don't have kids or a mortgage..I really don't have crap..feel like I sold my soul to nursing school and haven't experienced so much as a lick of the fruit lol. I know people say I am lucky that I don't have children, etc..but I don't have them or anything else because I was busy dedicating my time to nursing..so far..I'm high and dry..hope that won't always be the case..but I am not that lucky. I don't have a job or the means to at least move up in the world, period. I'm not too far from being 30 and I'm watching my friends get married, have children, and have fun...never thought being a LPN would allow me to live like a Rockstar..but it would be nice to know I at least have a chance to make an honest living.

OK I've read all the replies up until now and have to chime in. I am an LPN, been one since 2005. I am working toward my BSN (will graduate in 2013.) I don't know what the cost of living is in NYC, I suppose it is probably comparable to where I used to live in CA. You will have a chance to make an "honest living." I work double shifts (6a-10p) every weekend and have all week off.....time with the family, time for school work. I have done so for the last 3 years and will probably do so until I graduate. I make a little over $50K a year, own my own home, AND have 4 children. I am the main breadwinner in my home. (Hubby "retired" from bus driving (gave up an $80K/year job) so I could start my career. So, if you are willing to work the trenches and put in your time, you can do almost anything with a BSN. The moon and the stars.....things you can't do with an LPN. My pharmacology instructor is a FNP and she said she has never worked as a floor nurse. How she did that, I have no clue. But my point is, if you limit yourself to just one or two things you will miss the bigger opportunities that are really out there. LTC and hospital nursing are just drops in the bucket compared to what is out there. The opportunities are endless........if you are willing to look for them and put in your time as the new grad. If nursing is truly what you want to do, then you have to think outside the box and get creative. If they won't call you for a job, you call them. You do have a chance. If I did it, so can you!

SE_BSN_RN, BSN · Feb 3, 2011

Wow, there certainly are some strong emotions to the OP, but that's symbolic of a passion career. I set out in early 2004 to be an RN in a Level 1 trauma center. Without any experience I started as a PCT. At once I knew nursing was a good fit. So, I applied to an LPN program; I completed the year long program and started working on the same Neuro/Ortho surgical floor I tech'd on. (No one wants a new grad without experience, but if they know you and know your ability and work ethic then you're less of a risk). Shortly there after, I started working on my ADN, because I knew LPN was just a stepping stone. My wife was transferred to Atlanta and I had to start from scratch in a new hospital. Employers here would have been more impressed with a slice of cold pizza than they were with an LPN license. I got a job in the acute rehab unit of a hospital only because of my references from the previous job. Once I completed my ADN I transferred to the ED and started learning all over again, as the ED is a different world altogether. I tried looking at other hospitals, but they all wanted experienced RN's. I now have my BSN and work in a L1 ED, and I love it. I'm not getting rich, but 70k-80k isn't as common in the work force as many people think. This is a passion job, you need adequate compensation, but you do it because it matters to you. Like Fire/EMS, police, teaching all great middle class professions, but if you want to sit at a desk and get rich see suggestion #2.
Suggestions:
1. Work as a tech since they'll hire from within before bringing a new hire in, It's cheaper.
2. Go back to school. Education prepares you as a person, not just for a job; you don't have to be a floor nurse.
3. Prepare yourself properly for the position you desire. LPN's work in nursing homes, private duty, and sub acute centers. Those in hospitals are the exception to the rule. You should have known that from the start, I did.
4. Be happy doing what you do, whom you do it with can be changed, so can where you do it. If you want to be a nurse, then love being one and get your butt back in school to learn to be the best nurse you can. If that sounds like too much effort for too little reward then find something else to do and get your butt back in school. There are always stories about "I have a friend(s) that makes $$$", but without an education that 48k from your old job was darn good and will be hard to beat.
-Rock on

"70k-80k isn't as common in the work force as many people think." Oh so true. In very little professions can a 4 year degree bring in this amount of money. I live comfortably on my income now, but I am looking forward to being able to add this to my bank account and prepare my kids for a future I had to get by working hard, putting myself through school and still being able to raise a family and enjoy my likfe, and my work. You never really know how good (or bad) you have it until others put into perspective for you! Of course I want my kids to know the value of hard work, but I don't want them to have to struggle like I did.

daverika · Feb 3, 2011

Like natural selection, it seems like the current hard times are winnowing out those unsuitable for this profession. I for one am glad of it!

Nightnurse2002, DNP, RN · Feb 3, 2011

Hi I was an LPN fr 9 years (technically i still am) i just graduated from an LPN To RN program and take boards in 2 weeks...Originally from NYC I know that there are jobs available even as an LPN good jobs re there but it comes down to a willingness to make some sacrifices sometimes such as a longer commute, different shift etc. I went on for my RN because as we know we are limited to a certain degree so now i won't need to wait for the RN to give my iv push or hang my blood etc..Nursing is beautiful field yes there are some snobbish nurses out here who look down on LPNS or even RN's with associates degrees...but not everyone is that way so there is hope..If you love what you do and you are good at it hang in there...there are far too may people in the field just taking up space just wanting to make a buck.

evolvingrn, BSN, RN · Feb 3, 2011

Like natural selection, it seems like the current hard times are winnowing out those unsuitable for this profession. I for one am glad of it!

I once heard a manager at a nursing conference say......"to often we keep the losers and lose the keepers" ..............I think some of that is going on as well.

bree* · Feb 3, 2011

AMEN!!
Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN
Somewhere in the PACNW

Praise the Lord! haha. I like you Lindarn..I see you on here often :)

sunshine3630 · Feb 3, 2011

Life is difficult for everyone. People are suffering everywhere. Nurses have enjoyed one of the most secure "jobs" during this economic hardship. Many of the nurses I know from coast to coast are keeping their households afloat while the rest of their family attempts to find another desk or construction job. I interview many new grads that have been looking for a long time, some 14 + months. But often it is because they were too picky in the beginning. This is only temporary. As the economy turns around, we will likely see a surge in hiring first. We have continued to hire all along. Fortunately for us, the candidate pool has deepened. I remember 4 years back, when we were grateful for single applicant we received. It was like living through a drought, we took what we could. At the facility I am employed at, we are no longer able to hire anyone, regardless of experience, unless they at least have a BSN. Many of the Magnet facilities in our area are the same. If it is truly your passion like you say, you will find a job that is a good fit. Those that came for the $$$$, you made a big mistake. You are going to be so miserable. You wasted a lot of time and money on school, because there is no amount of money that can compensate you for this role if you do not practice from the heart.

I am enjoying the other end. I work along side people that are grateful for their jobs, not to mention their benefits. They do not treat people like everyone else needs to bow to their every whim any longer.

Keep your head up and stay positive.

bree* · Feb 4, 2011

Get out while you can, kid I have been an LPN for 40 years. I have sent out countless applications to countless places. No Jobs. I do Agency work and not much of that. They are trying to get rid of LPNs to save money. The Bean counters do not realize that LPNs can work around patients better than RNs. I've have seen Nursing go from a caring profession to a cover your butt one. I've have had a number of chances to go on for a BSN but I wanted to stay with bedside nursing. I use to be able to listen and help people. Now if I get a day with the agency, I put pills in little cups. Maybe take a BP. I have put in for early retirement. I'm going back to college for commercial art. I just thought of something. Maybe if you go to Mexico or Africa come back here, keep repeating 'I don't speak the English' You'll get a job right away. That's what it has come down to. Anyway I hope you get that job soon.

You have a lot of guts and I admire you for telling it like it is. Every rotation I was on was full of foreign nurses. You can barely understand their English Most were from Africa and Jamaica. New grads, from the USA, aren't #1 in line for hiring..that's for sure. I don't blame the foreigners either.

oneinamillion · Feb 6, 2011

Keep your head up. Getting a job in nursing is just like getting a job in any other field. You have to network and aggressively go after positions-sometimes before they even get posted. Speak to you LPN instructors about helping you find a position. Go back to where you did clinicals and inquire. In the Boston area lpn positions don't get advertised but most actively looking new grads manage to find jobs in the $40-50k range. Most hospitals have 20-30 postings for RNs listed but most are for BSNs.

dhinson45 · Feb 9, 2011

I have been LVN for 37 years and you have already seen the writing on the wall. I went for my RN and in my clinicals ( at St. Davids in Austin,Tx), looked around at the RN's and asked them if they really liked what they were doing and not one-that's right -not one told me they did. I ended up " KILLING' my patient one day. If my Professor had not caught me I would have killed him!!! :eek: The KCL dosage had been written wrong,Physician, Pharmacist and nurse did not catch it and I was about to adminsiter it. I had my drug book in hand and still did not catch error, glad she did.She made me tell my peers that afternoon after clinical s were over. I told them I would not want this to happen to anyone so pay heed. Right then I quit. Decided I did not need to be in that position EVER again. I do not want the responsibility of seeing over other medical people and the mistakes they can make.I could have been the one to go to prison as it is a nurses responsibility to know these things and catch them. I have stayed a LVN even though have RN education. I am glad that there are plenty of nurses out there that love what I have grown to cringe at. I no longer practice, thank God. Best wishes to all and glad there are people like you.:heartbeat

dhinson45 · Feb 9, 2011

DITTO!!!