Nursing Jobs in NYC

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My facility received a call from a local nursing program. The coordinator wanted to know if we could host her graduates for the summer as nursing interns. When our clinical educator followed up to ask how many students did the school wish to place as interns, the schools coordinator said as many as you can handle. I was asked to speak with the schools placement coordinator and I was troubled by what I heard.

The program is about to graduate over 70 associate degree nurses and is looking to place them in an internship so that the students are not facing the immediate reality of the local job market. Unfortunately, this year we will not be able to host more than a few interns. Budget cuts have reduced the staff hours that can be used orient and supervise these graduates.

What is really sad is that this is not the only school that approached us. Our facility has stopped hiring new grads due to the fact that we can easily pick experienced nurses to fill an open position. We have had a significant drop in our nursing staff turnover and we have closed units and services due to budget cuts and strategic realignment.

I am writing this today so that students are aware of how difficult it is to get a job as a nurse in the NYC area. Experienced nurses with certification are having a rough time. Making the situation worse is the backlog of nurse who graduated over the last several years but are not able to find RN jobs. NYC area has had hospital closing and downsizing of units and services. More hospitals are expected to merge facilities and to downsize units. All of these changes makes it more difficult for the new nurse to get their first job.

I should add that this problem of reducing beds and mergers has effected everyone in healthcare. Our facility continues to host MPH and MPA students who were doing internships and administrative residency programs. These students are new to healthcare and most do not have any clinical background. The placement of these students has not be successful as the market is just saturated with qualified, credentialed and experienced managers. Management jobs are not being created as belt tightening is the rule of the day.

My final take is that these students, both the nursing students and those studying management should be told the truth by the schools. The nursing shortage is over and realistically will not be back for a long time. Nursing education needs to be followed by the new nurse entering the nursing workforce so as to learn the skills of being a nurse. While the delay in entering the workforce is involuntary for these new nurses, the longer they are out of nursing, the value of their education diminishes. I know that schools are now recommending a nurse refresher class for nurses who have graduated and have not found a job as a nurse with 2 to 3 years of graduation.

Nursing students need to research what is going on. Nursing education is time consuming, costly and demanding. Having a degree and an license is great but without a job to practice so as to learn your profession, you have seriously wasted a lot of money and time.

Good luck to all the new nurses out there. Lets hope the job market for nurses rebounds.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Thank you for your post. So many nursing students come here with questions and are offended by the reality of the situation. They have heard nothing but lies from the media and their schools.

Thank you for you honesty!

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This is why, if I cannot get a job within a year or so of graduation, I will change careers. I did not go into nursing to be unemployed and/or living on food stamps.

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As an NYC resident, I can really see where you are coming from with this post. We recently had a SUNY Downstate hospital close and now they have managed to reopen it. But with so many cuts and not enough funding it's going to be difficult to find employment once I finish. I am glad that I have a versatile medical background and i think that a nursing refresher is not an entirely a bad idea. As an EMT we are required to refresh every three years, whether you are on a truck or not. It's a good way for everyone to brush up on skills and learn new protocols and techniques.

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I am one of those students soon to be in the marketplace (although I'm BSN, not ADN because I couldn't justify it given the job market right now) and I was warned upfront about the sluggish job markets when interviewing for nursing school, so some schools are being very upfront about the reality of our situation. But not every school, I suspect. I was told that I would have to work a lot harder if I wanted to get an "in" someplace and I've taken that to heart - I've really tried as hard as possible to keep in touch with clinical contacts, I'm volunteering in two hospitals and trying to get a PCT or HHA position as well. As much as I hate working for free, I'm desperate to make those contacts and put myself just a little ahead of the pack. Is there anything else you would recommend I do that might make me a more desireable candidate? I'm considered phlebotomy tech certification, PALS, but I hear mixed advice on whether spending the extra money is worthwhile.

Truth be told, I'm very aware of how much the cards are stacked against me and am fully ready to leave NYC should it come to that. My husband's job is here, but we've been looking at the reality of the situation and exploring our options. We're not happy about that but I was aware that it might be a possibility when I started my program.

The part I don't understand about the current climate in NYC is that every hospital I've been to in the last five months (about six, both public and private) is packed to the gills. Every bed taken, long waits for a bed, and patients are acutely ill - multilple comorbidities, you name it. And I haven't been in a fully staffed unit in those five months - there are always down at least one nurse, if not more. I've heard rumblings here and there about certain emergency departments, and staff nurses getting fed up and leaving becuase they were not willing to deal with the patient ratios - at some point do you think the tide is going to turn? The understaffing is so chronically bad that it seems unsustainable to run these bare bones staffing with patients sicker than ever.

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Specializes in geriatrics.

This trend is continuing globally. I have friends in England and Australia who report similar cutbacks. I am Canadian, and I've watched nursing get worse over the last 10 years. We thought maybe after the recession....unfortunately, no....downsizing and de-skilling of the nursing workforce is here to stay for years to come.

Yes, nurses are retiring, but many of these vacancies are not being replaced at all. Not with new grads or experienced nurses. Add to that, units are being restructured so many working nurses are losing their jobs or being forced into PRN/ casual lines. I would estimate that within 10 Provinces, we have approximately 30 new grad postings per Province right now. Each Province graduates 1000- 2000 RNs each year. You do the math. Where are my numbers coming from? I've been looking at trends very closely the last year as I job search.

I would not recommend anyone enter nursing right now. The jobs are not there, and this has nothing to do with encouraging or discouraging anyone. The media reports are very conflicting, but this is an effort to disguise the real truths. Do your own research and then decide.

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Excellent post and thank you for taking the time to compose and post.

The other problem in NYC at the moment is we just simply cannot seem to stop the flow of hospital closures. It seems like every few months this hospital or that system is in dire financial straits and closing down.

In the past ten years we've lost in NYC something like twelve hospitals (would have to crunch the number but think it is around this), and people are saying the City still has too many inpatient hospital beds.

The nurse employment market barely absorbed nurses from Cabrini when Saint John's and Mary Immaculate shut down. Those nurses in turn were in good number still seeking full time employment when Saint Vincent's closed. Then came North General....

Mayor-elect Mr. de Blasio for now seems to have assisted in succeeding to keep Long Island College and Interfaith hospitals open, but the future for both remains very cloudy. Published reports state Interfaith is having a very hard time recruiting and keeping good nursing and other medical staff. People just don't want to go work at a place with the threat of imminent closure hanging over.

The only "nursing shortage" in NYC at the moment is for those with experience matching exactly what a facility wishes. New grads are being hired but mostly BSN degree and no where near the numbers to absorb not only the hundreds of newly licensed each year, but those that graduated one or more years ago that cannot find full or part-time work.

All this is going on against a nursing program machinery that continues to operate on high gear. To get into any NYC nursing program you need to be "correct"; that is have an excellent GPA ( 3.0 is good but 3.5 or above is better), and good testing scores. Even then most programs report 2:1 or 3;1 and in some cases higher applicant to slot ratio.

To make the NYC nursing employment market even more complicated is that residents of the City are often competing for spots with nurses from all over the USA. Just as with other professions everyone seems to want to come to NYC, and they are. Sometimes they are recruited, travelers, etc..., others pick up and move here to "make it" and or come because their husband/partner/wife/spouse was transferred or otherwise has employment in the City.

You keep reading about an "impending" nursing shortage and or how things will turn around because the ACA will bring tons of new patients into the healthcare system. Good luck with that... *LOL*

Sooner or later either at the state or local level something needs to be done to sort this mess out. It just is not fair to have hundreds of pre-nursing and nursing students bust their hinnies and often go deep into debt based upon vague promises.

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I am one of those students soon to be in the marketplace (although I'm BSN, not ADN because I couldn't justify it given the job market right now) and I was warned upfront about the sluggish job markets when interviewing for nursing school, so some schools are being very upfront about the reality of our situation. But not every school, I suspect. I was told that I would have to work a lot harder if I wanted to get an "in" someplace and I've taken that to heart - I've really tried as hard as possible to keep in touch with clinical contacts, I'm volunteering in two hospitals and trying to get a PCT or HHA position as well. As much as I hate working for free, I'm desperate to make those contacts and put myself just a little ahead of the pack. Is there anything else you would recommend I do that might make me a more desireable candidate? I'm considered phlebotomy tech certification, PALS, but I hear mixed advice on whether spending the extra money is worthwhile.

Truth be told, I'm very aware of how much the cards are stacked against me and am fully ready to leave NYC should it come to that. My husband's job is here, but we've been looking at the reality of the situation and exploring our options. We're not happy about that but I was aware that it might be a possibility when I started my program.

The part I don't understand about the current climate in NYC is that every hospital I've been to in the last five months (about six, both public and private) is packed to the gills. Every bed taken, long waits for a bed, and patients are acutely ill - multilple comorbidities, you name it. And I haven't been in a fully staffed unit in those five months - there are always down at least one nurse, if not more. I've heard rumblings here and there about certain emergency departments, and staff nurses getting fed up and leaving becuase they were not willing to deal with the patient ratios - at some point do you think the tide is going to turn? The understaffing is so chronically bad that it seems unsustainable to run these bare bones staffing with patients sicker than ever.

Under staffing is a huge issue and is proving to be a hard nut to crack. Recent contract negotiations between unions representing nurses and facilities have managed in cases to get things on paper regarding staffing, but the issue is far from settled across the board.

Because of hospital closures and other factors the remaining places are often "filled to the gills" as you say. But places are still closing units/reducing inpatient beds and not taking on sufficient staff.

The battle as reached Albany with each side pressing their cases. Unions and or those representing nurses claim it is a patient safety issue and want some sort of mandate on staffing. Owners of hospitals claim now is not the time to impose upon them inflexible and *expensive* staffing rules.

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As an NYC resident, I can really see where you are coming from with this post. We recently had a SUNY Downstate hospital close and now they have managed to reopen it. But with so many cuts and not enough funding it's going to be difficult to find employment once I finish. I am glad that I have a versatile medical background and i think that a nursing refresher is not an entirely a bad idea. As an EMT we are required to refresh every three years, whether you are on a truck or not. It's a good way for everyone to brush up on skills and learn new protocols and techniques.

If you are referring to Long Island College Hospital who "owns" it is rather up in the air! *LOL*

In theory yes, SUNY Downstate still owns the place but a judge yanked/reversed the sale and is trying to get the previous owner Continuum Health Partners to take it back. Well CHP has now merged with Mount Sinai (Mount Sinai Health System is the new name IIRC) and has made it clear they don't want LICH back under any circumstances. So now a panel of doctors, nurses and mayor-elect de Blasio are working with the court to find a buyer for LICH.

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Yes I was definitely referring to LICH. At least for the sake of the neighborhood, regardless you owns it, patients are being taken again.

I think there is a flooding in all areas of healthcare right now in NYC. They are cranking out Nurses, MAs, HHAs, PCTs, EMTs and Medics at an alarming rate, which makes the few jobs available even more difficult to land. I wish you all the best of luck!

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Specializes in Primary Care, OR.

Oh no let all be shocked!!! Our streets are NOT paved with gold!!!!:nailbiting:

Thank you writing this very accurate portrayal of what's going on out here. If I here one more moving to NYC to make it big story I think I'll just vomit.

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Specializes in CCM, PHN.

I feel this article, and its sentiments, apply to the SoCal market also. A recruiter I know in OC told me she had almost 700 applicants for one PART TIME med/surg position. Even though the posting specified "we are not hiring new grads at this time" over half the applicants were new grads. It's a mess out there right now, and brutal. I wish this thread could be made a "sticky" on the general nursing student forum! :)

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