There are so many unemployed new grads out there that pretty soon we are going to be willing to work for minimum wage if things don't change soon. I bet hospitals would be willing to hire lots and lots of us at that price. That might even translate to loss of jobs and decreased wages for those experienced nurses already employed.
You might want to encourage your hospital to give new grads a chance instead of requiring experience for every job posting they have. Maybe be a little more enthusiastic about helping to train them.
Im also a new grad looking for a job but I would never work for a hospital for minimum wage. To me that would mean that I feel i'm not worth enough and be paid more to do the job. Besides, why would I want more responsibility and possibly working nights to get paid minimum wage? I just keep staying positive and patient, hoping something will eventually come through. Like a previous poster said, there are long-term care facilities that will hire new grads, I personally haven't went that route yet, but if I have to eventually, I will.:)
Unless new grad production is reduced and the economy improves (increasing hiring and decreasing experienced RN pool), the long term result will be lower salaries for both experienced and new grad RNs.
Let's not forget that these things seem to run in cycles- first a shortage and then over saturation of nurse vs jobs. Yes, right now it is hard for new grads to get jobs, but that won't always be the case. However, life doesn't owe anyone anything. Just because you have the degree doesn't guarantee that you will have a job, and it certainly isn't just nurses that this is happening to. What have you done to help yourself? Have you looked into jobs other than the hospital setting? Have you looked at relocating to an area that is in need of more nurses? Personally, I enjoy orienting new grads but after seeing 90% of those who go through orientation at my OR either not be able to handle the job (which should have been figured out long before the 9 month orientation ended) or leave for another facility that offered higher pay but no positions for no experience, I don't feel that I owe anything to a new grad.
I agree with this post to the very last period. I am OVER coming here and listening to people gripe because they worked hard for their degree. Guess what...so did everyone else. AND HERE'S THE KICKER.
Now that you've worked hard to get your degree, you are going to work TWICE as hard to set yourself apart from the other 10,000 applicants that applied for the same position you did and once you get your foot in the door, you will have to WORK EVEN HARDER to keep it there!
If you don't like it, go run for President of the US.
As a previous poster mentioned, if you want to work bad enough, some of you have to relocate to the more rural areas, or another state for work. That's what some of my friends had to do, myself included. Too many new grads are expecting jobs in hospitals only right now, which is not realistic.
Honestly, some of these posts make it seem that as a new grad, you should be entitled to a job. It doesn't work that way in any field. Not to mention, the economy has been very poor for more than 3 years now, for most sectors. So this downturn is no surprise. It is not the responsibility of senior nurses to advocate for a pay cut so new grads can work, either. They've all paid their dues.
Old nurses seem to forget that they once were new grad back in the old days. And, they had to look for a job just like today new grad, so you guys have to support us, btw the degree is not free, u know!
Gee- my degree was free. NOT.
Jobs were hard to come by when I graduated. So I went to where there was a job - to a small town in an area I really didn't want to live. But there was a job so I went. Stayed 3 years, learned a lot and got experience. Then I got a job where I wanted to be.
Sometimes you have to work in an area where you don't want, or live in an area you really don't want to be before you get to where you want to be.
Honestly, I don't see why hospital don't hire new grads on at minimum wage for their orientation period. This would knock down the training cost that is a barrier to hiring and training new grads.
I think that coupled with a reduction in new grad production would be great.
However, with 2-3 new nursing programs opening in my region every year for the past 5 years and no signs of slowing, that is not likely. New grad overproduction and unemployment is only going to get worse. MOST NURSING SCHOOLS DO NOT CARE IF YOU EVER GET A JOB, ONLY THAT YOU GET THROUGH THEIR PROGRAM AND PASS NCLEX. As long as there are droves of students beating down the school doors despite poor employment prospects, more schools will open to accept their federal student loan monies.
Everyone flocked to nursing or was forced back to nursing or was forced to remain in nursing at the same time hospitals began hiring freezes/layoffs. It is the perfect storm.
They could do unpaid internships, and sort like survivor, we could vote them out one at a time. The survivor gets a job.
Medical Residents are paid 1/3 or 1/4 of what they will make once they complete their residency. Now, 40K/yr might sound great to a new nurse, but our student debt load is considerably smaller than a new doctor. So why shouldn't new grad RNs make $10/hr for their first 3-6 months if doing that will drastically increase hospitals' willingness to hire new grads AND PROVIDE THEM WITH PROPER TRAINING AND ORIENTATION?
It makes more sense to have an institutionalized nursing residency system like that than the advice being given here to many NGs: "go volunteer and/or do per-diem flu clinic so you have some experience while you are an unemployed new grad for the next 6-24 months."
Of course we must all realize that if new grads become cheaper to hire and train, that will depress salaries of experienced nurses over time.
The nursing profession simply must exercise some level of management over the completely out-of-control proliferation and expansion of nursing schools.
where i live there are more jobs than there are new grads. the schools can't graduate them fast enough - and hundreds get turned away after they apply. i got turned down from my first choice with a 3.7 gpa.
the problem HERE is that on top of our true nursing shortage, so many grads move to higher paying parts of the country. so there ARE jobs, but people who are complaining about not having one don't want to come and get them because they don't start out making the $30- $40 they were duped into believing they could demand. what they don't realize is that you can rent a house here for what it costs to live in an apartment with a roomate in the higher paying places.
that doesn't mean i don't understand the struggles - as i said, i went for a second degree and that wasn't easy after working so hard on my first one. i worked, had children in diapers, and went to school with the "promise" of a great career. it sucks, we get it. i definitely get it. but don't drive yourself nuts only to come back here in 2012 banging your head against the same wall. consider your other options and take some action. you have to take care of yourself because nobody else will - not the school you graduated from, not the hiring managers, and most def. not other nurses. not even your mama can help you this time.
Great. An entitled new grad with a bitter chip on her shoulder against "old nurses" before she even has a job. With that attitude, *if* you get a job, you're going to be a real peach to train and work with. Best to reevaluate your misplaced anger and bitterness, and rather focus that energy positively on your life and your job search.
melmonlove
42 Posts
Im also a new grad looking for a job but I would never work for a hospital for minimum wage. To me that would mean that I feel i'm not worth enough and be paid more to do the job. Besides, why would I want more responsibility and possibly working nights to get paid minimum wage? I just keep staying positive and patient, hoping something will eventually come through. Like a previous poster said, there are long-term care facilities that will hire new grads, I personally haven't went that route yet, but if I have to eventually, I will.:)