Jobs are very hard to get, with 300 or more applicants for each position at some places. It can take years to get your first nursing job. So, if the school is selling you the idea that your going into a "guaranteed" job, your not.
There are thousands and thousands of unemployed new grad licensed nurses who are scrambling to get a job, and the hospitals are upping their standards every day, almost all flat out tell you not to apply if your a new grad, some say if your a new grad only apply if you have a BSN and a 3.5 GPA or better. Almost all positions all the way down the the lowly LTC centers are requiring BSN degrees, and even home health care wont touch you if you don't have 1 year of acute experience, which you cant get unless you have a BSN with a 3.5 average.
If you do not believe what I am saying, then Google "No nursing jobs" and take a look at what people are saying.
That being said, if you still willing to go into nursing, spend years in the most stressful program and then not be able to obtain work when your finished, then god bless you.
Debbie Downer for sure.. Bottom line: not everyone's experience finding a job will be the same, and all of us live in different areas where they may or may not have nursing shortages....If you really want something you'll got out and do what you gotta do to secure a job...
You seem horribly unhappy and burned out. Perhaps you should find a new job. And by the way, calling LTC "lowly" is a despicable thing to do. I am a pre-nursing student and plan on going into LTC. It is not a "lowly" job nor a "lowly" place to live.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Most of the general public still thinks there is a nursing shortage - so if the ability to move from place to place and specialty to specialty is very important to you as it was to me, it will play a larger part of whatever ultimate career decision is made. Some people are so motivated by other personal preferences they are willing to accept the increased difficulty of the path to securing the job they really want.
Nothing wrong with raising awareness but trying to tell other people what to do is pretty patronizing.
My reality check: I overheard my unit's director say to an interviewee that she had 800 applications for 6 positions. During the interview she asked the applicant, why should we hire you?
I am wondering if part of the problem here is that some people went into nursing ONLY because they thought it was a guaranteed paycheck. Don't get me wrong, I am not one of those who believes you need some mystical "calling" to be a good nurse, but I also think it is a poor choice for someone only looking for a paycheck. It is hard, and unless you have some sort of interest in the work nurses do, you are not going to last long.
But anyway, it seems that perhaps some of the people who are bitter because they did not land a job immediately upon graduation, and who are saying they wish they chose something else entirely, may have been in this only for the paycheck. If that is the case, well...it is probably a good idea to look for employment outside of nursing. For those who came into nursing with several good reasons (and I'm not saying job stability can't be one of them, just maybe not the only one), I think they will persevere until the economy improves. Survival of the fittest.
And I also still want to know exactly what other profession the OP and others who are ready to bail on nursing would have chosen. In what profession are new grads NOT struggling to get a job in this economy? Do tell!
I am wondering if part of the problem here is that some people went into nursing ONLY because they thought it was a guaranteed paycheck. Don't get me wrong, I am not one of those who believes you need some mystical "calling" to be a good nurse, but I also think it is a poor choice for someone only looking for a paycheck. It is hard, and unless you have some sort of interest in the work nurses do, you are not going to last long.
But anyway, it seems that perhaps some of the people who are bitter because they did not land a job immediately upon graduation, and who are saying they wish they chose something else entirely, may have been in this only for the paycheck. If that is the case, well...it is probably a good idea to look for employment outside of nursing. For those who came into nursing with several good reasons (and I'm not saying job stability can't be one of them, just maybe not the only one), I think they will persevere until the economy improves. Survival of the fittest.
And I also still want to know exactly what other profession the OP and others who are ready to bail on nursing would have chosen. In what profession are new grads NOT struggling to get a job in this economy? Do tell!
Bankruptcy, foreclosure & collections, LoL Other than that, yea, you're right and new grads in every field are in the same boat and will be for a while, but not forever.
A note to those who speak of hospitals posting many new jobs. They do that to keep the positions open on their books but many of them actually have hiring freezes and are not filling these positions. I might say that all the interviews I have gone to there have been multiple applicants for a single position.
Specializes in Nursing Education, CVICU, Float Pool.
I am wondering if part of the problem here is that some people went into nursing ONLY because they thought it was a guaranteed paycheck. Don't get me wrong, I am not one of those who believes you need some mystical "calling" to be a good nurse, but I also think it is a poor choice for someone only looking for a paycheck. It is hard, and unless you have some sort of interest in the work nurses do, you are not going to last long.
But anyway, it seems that perhaps some of the people who are bitter because they did not land a job immediately upon graduation, and who are saying they wish they chose something else entirely, may have been in this only for the paycheck. If that is the case, well...it is probably a good idea to look for employment outside of nursing. For those who came into nursing with several good reasons (and I'm not saying job stability can't be one of them, just maybe not the only one), I think they will persevere until the economy improves. Survival of the fittest.
And I also still want to know exactly what other profession the OP and others who are ready to bail on nursing would have chosen. In what profession are new grads NOT struggling to get a job in this economy? Do tell!
Other than that, yea, you're right and new grads in every field are in the same boat and will be for a while, but not forever.
Kateoh82
65 Posts
Debbie Downer for sure.. Bottom line: not everyone's experience finding a job will be the same, and all of us live in different areas where they may or may not have nursing shortages....If you really want something you'll got out and do what you gotta do to secure a job...