Hey guys, I highly encourage you to try hard and strive for excellence during your nursing school career.
But I just came here to vent, because I have graduated from a BSN nursing program last year, May 2014.
Come to find out that several of my FEMALE nursing classmates are working as some kind of RN. Whether it's in a care home, long-term assisted living facility, an acute-care hospital job (which is very hard to get here in my area, if you have ZERO experience as an RN!!!), several of my FEMALE classmates have RN jobs.
Life is so #(*U#$*^%# unfair!
For me, I have been working as a nurse aid/tech at a hospital in my area, since July of last year.
I am proud to work for the facility that I work for.
However, I have passed my NCLEX-RN board exam, have my state RN license, yet I am working as a tech?
Here in my neck of the wood, you have to work as an aide/tech for certain amount of time before you're eligible to apply for an RN new graduate program. This program is offered at the hospital that I work for. However, to get admitted into this program,...there is stiff/high competition. I also heard through the grapevine that applicants need to be a member of one of the hospitals committee to get into this program. So far, I am not invited to join a committee, let alone, I have asked one of the floor managers if I could join his committee, only to have him change the date and time of meeting last minute, to prevent me from attending the montly meeting (which I thought was downright dirty!).
Anyhow, getting back to the point of my thread, I found out last week that a female classmate of mine, who was a good friend of mine, is working as a med-surg RN at a hopsital in town!
She has zero experience in acute care nursing. Yet, how the hell did she get hired to work med-surg at that hospital?!!!
For me, I am working as an aide, waiting to apply for a new graduate position.
I have also submitted job applications for RN positions at other hospitals in my area, only to get no phone calls, or when I call their HR office, they tell me that my application is on "hold" because there are no openings available.
Furthermore, I also saw another female classmate's picture, in one of the local newspaper's article (featured a story about that hospital's healthcare system). The caption read " XXXXX (
For her, I am happy and proud that she's now working and getting RN PAY RATE.
But for me, I am getting flustered and frustrated that I am 'behind the curve' not getting paid what I should get paid, not using my RN skills that i have learned in school.
I don't know guys.
Overall, I still feel that there is heavy discrimination against males when it comes to the hiring process of RN's and even nurse aides/techs, in not only my area, but other parts of the US.
I am also upset because I called up that former friend classmate, asking her about her job, how she likes it, etc, only to have me leave her a voicemail to call me back. I also sent her a text message and email, asking her to email me back, or call me back.
So far, no phone calls.
Seems like my former classmate and friends in school are smug/complacent that they're working as RN's, while as for me, I am dreading everyday, and waiting and waiting for me to get admitted into my hospitals "new graduate" program for nurses who recently graduated from school, with zero/zilch nursing experience.
Nursynursenurse, ADN, RN
114 Posts
I find this a far more likely scenario for a male nurse looking for a job. Studies have shown that interviewers determine applicants are more qualified with identical resumes if there is a male name on it. This has been repeated many times with many different careers. This is a generalization, but overall, our culture views men as more trustworthy and competent. Even if people wont admit it, at a subconscious level, a male professional is deemed trustworthy more so than a female of equal experience. In many professions, respect is given to men simply for their title, but women throughout history and today have to work extra hard to "earn" the same level of respect.
In my experience, patients just LOVE male nurses. Nursing is still a female dominated field. However, female nurses are for the most part very accepting of male colleagues despite being a marginalized group in society. Imagine the hardship a women car mechanic might face getting a job in an all male shop. Men as a whole are far less accepting of women infiltrating their "masculine" jobs. Many feel that there are jobs women "shouldn't" do to protect their all boys club and egos. The reverse isn't the case in female dominated careers.
I don't believe what you are experiencing is discrimination. Its a tough market with loads of competition. If anything, you are at an advantage for being a male nurse and this privilege may HELP you to land a great job eventually.