Nursing Lay-offs: 6 Steps to Finding a Job You'll Love

Being part of a nursing lay-off is becoming more common. With rising healthcare costs and an impending recession, workforce reductions might start happening more. Learn the six steps you can take to find a job you love after being laid off.

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Nursing Lay-offs: 6 Steps to Finding a Job You'll Love

Finding out today is your last day at work will undoubtedly leave you wanting to head for the door and never look back quickly. However, surviving the next few weeks and landing a new role starts the minute your boss tells you about the workforce reduction. Therefore, you need to ensure you understand a few things before you leave, such as:

  • Will you receive payment for the remaining days or weeks they're expecting you to work, and how many weeks of severance are coming your way?
  • When and how will your severance check be paid out? And, is there a waiting period before you'll receive it? 
  • When will your insurance coverage and any other long-standing benefits end?
  • Is there any job search help they can offer, such as a transfer to a sister facility, letters of recommendation, or referrals?

Once you get this information, you can start planning your future in a way that makes sense and considers your overall financial and career needs. First, let's look at the current state of workforce reductions in healthcare and then dive into a few things you'll need to do to keep your head above water and find a new job you'll love.

Health Systems Cutting Jobs to Keep the Lights On

In an article published on September 28, 2022, Advisory.com lists 23 organizations that laid-off workers to cut costs and remain open. While many listed companies cut back in non-clinical or administrative roles, some facilities, like Commonwealth Health, announced they are closing a psychiatric hospital and outpatient center at the end of October, resulting in a loss of more than 200 employees. Another company that noted eliminating nursing roles was Trinity Health of New England's Mercy Medical Center, which laid off 12 of its 380 nurses in May this year.

In the first half of 2022, the healthcare industry laid off more workers than any other industry in the U.S. Becker's Hospital Review reported a 58.8 percent increase in healthcare cuts in June 2022 compared to the same month last year. These statistics are frightening and should have you wondering what you might do if you discover your next.

Create a Plan to Cover Immediate Needs

Unfortunately, bills will keep coming even when you lose your job. The answers to the questions above will help you navigate the next few days, weeks, or even months without a steady income. You'll need to determine if you have any immediate leads on new nurse opportunities or if you should start the process of filing for unemployment, which can take a few weeks to begin in many states. You'll also need to consider getting COBRA coverage for health insurance and take a hard look at your bank accounts to determine how long savings and other assets can get you through without a paycheck coming in. Once you have a clear understanding of what's in each account, write out a plan detailing how you can make your money last as long as possible.

Choosing Your New Nursing Job

Yes, indeed, you weren't planning to find something new. However, looking at new opportunities can be fun and exciting. So, do you like your current field, or have you considered switching to an up-and-coming nursing field or maybe returning to your roots and revisiting a previous role? Well, here's your chance!

Don't just start applying to any nursing job. Begin by doing some discovery work. Search the nursing job market to get started and figure out where you want to go next. Use a search engine like LinkedIn, Indeed, or ZipRecruiter. Enter keywords that describe the specialty you're considering and look to see what opportunities are near you. If you're looking for tech jobs, case management, or utilization review positions, you can also search for remote companies to increase the target area and find many more opportunities.

Dust off Your Resume

Most nurses don't keep an updated resume. So, you might need to add your most recent job and any new skills or certifications you've obtained. If you aren't highly skilled at writing, finding someone to create a new nursing resume for you might be a good idea. Search for nurse or healthcare resume writers to find someone who understands the healthcare industry. They can capture your skills accurately and build emphasis in your resume where it's best suited for the types of nursing jobs you're interested in moving forward.

Start Searching

It's time to start the nursing job hunt! You might think the best strategy is to apply for every nursing job you find. However, you will likely become discouraged from rejections or lack of response. So instead, you'll need to create a job search strategy by following the steps below.

Network

Reach out to people you know who might have leads on nursing jobs. This could be former colleagues, supervisors, or community connections. If you're considering a new field, find someone excelling in it, reach out to them, and ask for 30-minutes of their time to discuss the job outlook. This strategy is an excellent way to find a job opportunity or a mentor.

Check out Local Companies

Instead of looking for jobs, look at companies. Most nurses love their work but don't always love the company's policies or culture. So, instead of finding a job, find an employer first. Search for a company that matches the mission, vision, and culture you want in an employer. You can also read reviews of the company to find out which one best fits your work style and where employees are happiest.

Peruse the Job Boards

The last thing you should do is look at job boards with vacancies. If you find a job that interests you, do your due diligence investigating the company and the top execs to get a feel for the company's culture before applying. Read about the company and its financial status, and check its standing with state and federal insurance programs like Medicaid or Medicare if applicable. You can also look at their social media accounts and any hashtags they might use to understand what makes the company tick.

Keep Your Spirits Up

Looking for a new job when you're worrying about when you'll get paid again is more than just a little stressful. However, you'll need to be on-point when interviewing, which means you must balance the job search with self-care and understanding. So do things that help you feel relaxed and happy. This might be as simple as taking a long bath or spending time with a good friend. Whatever makes you feel good on the hardest of days - do it!

Prep for Interviews

Finding a job you're interested in is only half the battle. You must prep for any scheduled interviews so you shine! But what's the down-and-dirty way to prep for an interview when you might not feel super confident? We've got you covered!

Practice common interview questions - No one likes to think about their strengths and weaknesses or how they might handle a specific situation. But, when you're interviewing, you need to think about how you might answer these questions so you don't get flustered by the interviewer.

Hire a coach - If interviewing for new nursing jobs unnerves you, hire a coach. They can help you practice answering questions and provide feedback about your answers and overall presence during practice interviews.

Make a list of questions - Interviews aren't only for the interviewer to get to know you. It's also critical for you to ask questions about the company before you consider taking a job.

Get Ready to Shine

Shining and being confident will not be your go-to emotions when starting this journey. However, as you get further from the layoff, you'll begin to get your feet under yourself again and connect with what makes you a great catch for a new employer.

Did we miss any essential steps you should take after being laid off?

If you've ever gone through a workforce reduction, tell us how you got back on your feet fast!

References/Resources

These 23 health systems laid off employees 'to keep the lights on' in 2022

Commonwealth Health: Behavioral Health Services

Trinity Health of New England's Mercy Medical Center

Becker's Hospital Review: Healthcare sees most job cuts of any industry in 2022

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Melissa Mills

About Melissa Mills, BSN

Workforce Development Columnist

I'm Melissa and I'm a skilled writer, editor, and content manager and I would love to help you with your next project. I specialize in healthcare and women's content.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).

It's hard to believe that in a time when people woulld have us think we were is an unprecedented nursing shortage, any nurse would have to worry about lay offs. Still the pandemic added many more temporary nursing jobs that are now disappearing due to the waning of the Pandemic.

Many nurses who stayed loyal to their facilities instead of jumping to lucrative travel contracts may now have jobs threatened due to younger cheaper nurses coming up out of school. The caution here is to believe that anyone can be replaced especially in at will employment states.

Hppy

 

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

Very practical advice. As someone who has gone through layoffs and even been fired once, I think the most important thing to do it remember that it's not a reflection on you as a person. There might be some difficult and uncertain times, but you can come out ahead in the end. You can give yourself time to be upset, process the change and be disappointed, but know that you can get through it and find personal and job success. 

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I have been laid off a few times along with doing what the author has written

I do a deep clean of my apartment, and email 

Check and update (if needed) social media, contact information, certifications, supporting documents

Review all memberships and subscriptions

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Specializes in Workforce Development, Education, Advancement.

@JBMmom & @Red Shirt 6 Thanks for the comments! I'm actually going through the process myself right now. I love the deep cleaning idea, and reviewing memberships and subscriptions is another good one! ~Melissa

 

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Specializes in Critical Care.

A couple other ideas I recommend is a Roth IRA that can double as an emergency savings, a HELOC if you own a home, and if you turn 55 this year or are older you may be able to access your 401k/403b without penalty as well due to a little known IRS loophole The Rule of 55. 

The Roth IRA also helps with early retirement by allowing you to keep your taxable income lower so you can qualify for better subsidies for government marketplace health insurance aka Obamacare.  You want to apply for a HELOC before you lose your job and some credit unions offer a low teaser rate for 6 months to a year and even allow to keep the low rate yearly with a low fee which is good to check as HELOC's are variable and rates are rising with the Fed increasing the interest rates.  You also have to check that your 401k/403b allows early distributions, but I expect most do.  If you can roll over any other employer 401k's or traditional IRA's before you quit as they are not eligible for penalty free withdrawals before 59 1/2.

If health insurance is cheaper on healthcare.gov you can pick one there and than use cobra for dental or vision for up to 18 months.  Avoid bronze if you can afford it choose silver because if you end up in the ER or hospitalized you may be stuck with a very high bill when you find that the insurance company does not give a fair discount.  I had an anaphylactic reaction and for the ER visit they gave a flat fee of less than 1K and stuck me with over 5K so this year I made sure to get the silver plan! 

Hope these tips help!

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Specializes in Workforce Development, Education, Advancement.

@brandy1017GREAT info! Thanks! ~Melissa

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