No NP jobs. What now?

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In my area the NP job market is saturated. We had an opening at my place of work and had over 45 applicants for a nurse practitioner position. I’ve had the same NP job for 5 years. They’re now not hiring FNPs for hospital work either (which is all I’ve ever done thus far). I’m feeling very hopeless about my prospects for this occupation in the future. I am currently employed which is something I’m very grateful for, but I’m wondering if I should consider a career change because of how terrible the job market for an NP (specifically I’m an FNP) is. I did not want to always stay in my home state, but the job market doesn’t look much better elsewhere. What do you think?

Specializes in Family Medicine, Medical Intensive Care.

If you're looking to break into primary care, then I'd suggest relocating to a rural area or working with underserved populations in more urban settings in order to get the prerequisite experience that you need. I still see several positions posted for experienced FNPs to work in Family Medicine or Internal Medicine in my region of Northern California, although most seem to be for clinics whose population overwhelmingly is served by Medi-Cal. 

I agree with @FullGlass. I don't think PMHNP is the way to go unless you have a passion for psychiatry and truly want to work in that speciality. There is a reason they are compensated so well; it's a challenging area of medicine not many people are cut out for.

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What is the best state to be for jobs as a new FNP , looking to work in Family Practice? 

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NP programs should be put on hold. There should be guidelines in place for at least 10 years RN experience to enter a program. 


There are way too many Nurse practitioners, ( including all the variety of certifications). There are  little to no jobs, and many are exploiting NPs for their DEA license for these remote telehealth positions.

New NPs should be warned that schools are looking for money. It's an over saturated environment to say the least.

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Specializes in Former NP now Internal medicine PGY-3.
54 minutes ago, RN/WI said:

NP programs should be put on hold. There should be guidelines in place for at least 10 years RN experience to enter a program. 


There are way too many Nurse practitioners, ( including all the variety of certifications). There are  little to no jobs, and many are exploiting NPs for their DEA license for these remote telehealth positions.

New NPs should be warned that schools are looking for money. It's an over saturated environment to say the least.

Or people should get a brain and not chase degrees that aren’t worth it. 
more keep doing it so I can hire like four nps for cheap and sit home all day and $$

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Specializes in 8 years Telemetry/Med Surg, 5 years Stepdown/PCU.
On 9/13/2020 at 3:53 PM, OkieNP said:

I will say as a full disclosure, I haven’t actually been trying full force to get a new position, ha! I just know that amount of job postings are down and the number of applicants per job is 40+. I’m not a new grad, I’ve been an NP for 6 years. I am sure I could get another job if I actually tried, my concern is that what’s already a bad situation is getting worse at an alarming rate. As the above poster says Oklahoma is saturated with NPs. OKLAHOMA. This is not a place that I would call a highly desirable place to live ? as some others have suggested. I’m not even exclusively looking in the largest cities!! If Oklahoma is saturated and we don’t even have many in-person NP schools, the whole country will be saturated soon. 
So I guess I’m considering.... should I continue as an NP relying on the hope that because by 2025 when we have twice as many NPs I will have 11 years of experience and thus I’ll be a shoe in? Or should I become a psychiatric NP because they won’t be likely to have a shortage? Or should I completely change careers out of fear? 
 

“62 percent surplus of primary care NPs by 2025” -https://www.medicaleconomics.com/view/number-nurse-practitioners-more-doubles-study-finds

All so this silly article by all nurses:

 

Did you end up relocating to Oklahoma? The cost of living isn’t bad at all

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