I recently lost my job and started applying. Seven years of experience and a bachelor's degree, I thought I'd be a hot commodity. It's 2019 and things are no different than when I graduated shortly after the recession. I apply to jobs and my applications are instantly rejected because I don't have medical/surgical experience. I don't fit the requirements for a new grad program, either.
Well there is this supposed shortage where everyone is understaffed and desperate for nurses. I don't see it. Nobody is willing to train new staff and nobody will hire those of us who got screwed during the recession.
I think it's all BS. I've met a lot of nurses in similar situations and they all struggle trying to get out of this low level line of work.
My last job was at Kaiser where I had a benefits plan worth my annual salary. We were horribly understaffed too. But, I would look at the jobs page for anything available so I could tell my friends where to apply. There were never any jobs there. Management always told us they were going to hire more, but they never did. When the Joint Commission left, they got rid of the travel nurses and stopped hiring. Then, they started instituting mandatory overtime and overloading us past the ratio policy limits.
Honestly, I think hospitals and facilities are just happy the way things are. They know there are nurses who want to get in. I've never been in management before, so I don't know why they make that decision. However, I suspect it costs more to hire a new employee than it would to pay overtime for current staff.
It took me two months to get two job offers (three if you count the other spot) for when I relocate. I was really scared.
Current job is so understaffed it is bad. We are tripling assignments left and right in the icus across the board. It is supposed to be magnet. I just learned of two other nurses quitting. I’m leaving in two weeks
It took me two months to get two job offers (three if you count the other spot) for when I relocate. I was really scared.
Current job is so understaffed it is bad. We are tripling assignments left and right in the icus across the board. It is supposed to be magnet. I just learned of two other nurses quitting. I’m leaving in two weeks
I got one Part-Time offer which required me to relocate within two months. It was the only interview I got as well. Had to decline that because I couldn't afford to move for what I would have been making.
I recently lost my job and started applying. Seven years of experience and a bachelor's degree, I thought I'd be a hot commodity. It's 2019 and things are no different than when I graduated shortly after the recession. I apply to jobs and my applications are instantly rejected because I don't have medical/surgical experience. I don't fit the requirements for a new grad program, either.
Well there is this supposed shortage where everyone is understaffed and desperate for nurses. I don't see it. Nobody is willing to train new staff and nobody will hire those of us who got screwed during the recession.
I think it's all BS. I've met a lot of nurses in similar situations and they all struggle trying to get out of this low level line of work.
My last job was at Kaiser where I had a benefits plan worth my annual salary. We were horribly understaffed too. But, I would look at the jobs page for anything available so I could tell my friends where to apply. There were never any jobs there. Management always told us they were going to hire more, but they never did. When the Joint Commission left, they got rid of the travel nurses and stopped hiring. Then, they started instituting mandatory overtime and overloading us past the ratio policy limits.
Honestly, I think hospitals and facilities are just happy the way things are. They know there are nurses who want to get in. I've never been in management before, so I don't know why they make that decision. However, I suspect it costs more to hire a new employee than it would to pay overtime for current staff.
I too, feel that the nursing shortage is total BS. Is perhaps the reason you lost your previous job the reason behind the difficulty in finding a new one? Best of luck to you!!
It took me two months to get two job offers (three if you count the other spot) for when I relocate. I was really scared.
Current job is so understaffed it is bad. We are tripling assignments left and right in the icus across the board. It is supposed to be magnet. I just learned of two other nurses quitting. I’m leaving in two weeks
Have you checked to see what their requirements are? The hospitals near me have hundreds of positions open, too. They all require medical/surgical experience and will automatically reject my application if I don't have it. So, they're not willing to train new staff for the positions, not even case management where I have years of experience. They require medical/surgical experience for hospital case managers.
How are your references? Any trouble that makes you undesirable personally, not just being short of Med Surg? Anyone badmouthing you to prospective employers in the Nursing community?
If you expect to be rejected, you often will be. Something about the mindset.
Good luck. You can achieve your goal, I think, if you figure out what the true issues might be.
Any friends or relatives who can help you get a foot in the door somewhere you would like to work? Get a job the old-fashioned way if you can't get it on your experience alone. You know - connections.
It took me two months to get two job offers (three if you count the other spot) for when I relocate. I was really scared.
Current job is so understaffed it is bad. We are tripling assignments left and right in the icus across the board. It is supposed to be magnet. I just learned of two other nurses quitting. I’m leaving in two weeks
Why don't you guys complain to CMS, state authorities, the media, your Senators and Congressmen/women? Why not start informing your community about the way things are instead of running away?
OP, have you looked at a remote/work-at-home nursing position? With your experience, it might be an option. A lot of companies hire remote case managers. There are also remote triage companies that require hospice experience. Just a thought!
All the hospitals near me including the level 1 trauma center hire new grads (actually they hire last semester nursing students tbh) - so no med/surg required. They hire straight into most departments even with ADN. I'm in SE Wisconsin. There's a major level one trauma center/med college/children's hospital campus, and just a bunch of other hospitals. I'm actually not sure why we have so many but they all compete for nurses. Three of the hospitals within twenty minutes of me are Magnet hospitals.
Yep! Big shortage in SE Wisconsin! All require BSN completion within 5 years of hire.
I feel like a common problem nowadays is that the taskiness and simplification of nursing by computers and technology is making experience less and less valuable to employers. Most hospital nursing positions don't require a lot of skill or experience, just someone able to semi-safely pass meds and click a bunch of required charting boxes on the computer. Most med-surg nursing (and even some ICU) jobs are done by computers telling nurses exactly what to do, with little discernment required on the nurse's part.........chart this at that time.......give that at this time........titrate this drip for these numbers.........etc.
So the experienced nursing are expecting higher pay for their experience, but hospitals don't want to pay you $10 more an hour when wet-behind-the-ears new-grad Emily over there can just as easily click the boxes and pass the meds for a whole lot less money.
Sure, there will be some collateral damage in the form of missed signs and symptoms, or med errors, or maybe even a death here and there, but what they're saving by staffing with cheap new grads and young nurses who are just happy to have a job makes that collateral damage negligible.
That's the way it seems to me anyway. The ICU where I work is probably 70% staffed by nurses with 1-2 years experience. They don't want to hire a nurse like me with 8 years experience when they can get young nurses who can just complete the task and make their paperwork look good, and who's willing to shut up and do whatever they tell them.
I don't even intend this post to really be a complaint, but just an acknowledgement of something we have to adapt to.
I feel like a common problem nowadays is that the taskiness and simplification of nursing by computers and technology is making experience less and less valuable to employers. Most hospital nursing positions don't require a lot of skill or experience, just someone able to semi-safely pass meds and click a bunch of required charting boxes on the computer. Most med-surg nursing (and even some ICU) jobs are done by computers telling nurses exactly what to do, with little discernment required on the nurse's part.........chart this at that time.......give that at this time........titrate this drip for these numbers.........etc.
So the experienced nursing are expecting higher pay for their experience, but hospitals don't want to pay you $10 more an hour when wet-behind-the-ears new-grad Emily over there can just as easily click the boxes and pass the meds for a whole lot less money.
Sure, there will be some collateral damage in the form of missed signs and symptoms, or med errors, or maybe even a death here and there, but what they're saving by staffing with cheap new grads and young nurses who are just happy to have a job makes that collateral damage negligible.
That's the way it seems to me anyway. The ICU where I work is probably 70% staffed by nurses with 1-2 years experience. They don't want to hire a nurse like me with 8 years experience when they can get young nurses who can just complete the task and make their paperwork look good, and who's willing to shut up and do whatever they tell them.
I don't even intend this post to really be a complaint, but just an acknowledgement of something we have to adapt to.
Absolutely this. The only way to get into acute care after a couple years out is to know someone, move to an area desperate for nurses, or, if you are lucky, take the most undesirable position out there.
The nursing shortage is in LTC. The sad thing is that a lot of nurses feel that LTC is beneath them or that they will lose their skills. Both false. All LTCs are begging for RNs, LPNs and CNAs.
applesxoranges, BSN, RN
2,242 Posts
It took me two months to get two job offers (three if you count the other spot) for when I relocate. I was really scared.
Current job is so understaffed it is bad. We are tripling assignments left and right in the icus across the board. It is supposed to be magnet. I just learned of two other nurses quitting. I’m leaving in two weeks