Question for the Nashville RNs out there.

[Jedi of Zen]

This is kind of a lengthy question, but I'll try to make it as brief as possible:

I am about to graduate as an RN. I live in the Huntsville, AL area. Jobs for nurses are here, but they don't seem to be as readily available as they have been in the past. Example: This area's biggest employer for nurses, Huntsville Hospital, only has about 13 RN job openings listed on its website right now (whereas up until a few months ago, they consistently had 80, 90, 100 or more jobs open at all times).

Huntsville Hospital says that it's having to cut back on hiring due to the poor economy. I hear that other hospitals and employers are saying similar things.

My question is - does the job market for RNs in Nashville seem to be going through a similar problem right now? Or are the jobs still fairly easy to find?

I've lived in Nashville twice before over the years, and now that I'm about to finish nursing school, I'm considering looking for work there. From what research I've done online, it looks like the jobs might be slightly easier to find in Nashville than here, but I was just wanting to get some personal feedback on this from any local RNs. Thank you in advance!

[Sunshine1879]

I live in Nashville and graduate this may. Jobs around here seem pretty scarce as most of the hospitals seem to have only night shift or part time jobs available. Stonecrest was my first choice of hospitals but at the moment they have ONLY ONE rn job posted. Williamson only has like 12 at the most and St. Thomas doesn't have many posted either. Most hospitals I think right now are looking for nurses with experience as opposed to new grads. I've been throwing my resume all around and have only heard back from one place so far. Hopefully this economy problem (or whatever the problem is) fixes itself and fast!!

hope this helps

[mbw5680]

I have to add to Sunshine1879, I am also a new May grad, and yes, there is a dearth of jobs right now. Centennial and Vanderbilt are done hiring their new grads for the summer, and St. Thomas has only posted a few possibilities. I'm waiting to hear back from the VA, so if they're hiring I'll pass it on!

[TN Student]

Right now Saint Thomas has 40-50 RN positions available and some of them are listed as Nursing Grad. One other thing I've found out is that just because there is only one listing for a particular dept or floor, doesnt mean that they are only looking for 1 RN.

I have a friend who works on one of the floors that only has one RN position listed, however she said that they are hiring 17 RN's.

Not sure if this helps at all, but thought I would share what I know!

JPM