San Jose area job market

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I may be moving to the San Jose area from Minneapolis. How is the current job market for hospital based RNs? What should I expect for a salary?

I have a Master of Nursing (RN) degree and about 2.5 years experience on a cardiac tele unit.

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No reason to believe it has improved any since when I left the area several years ago for lack of work. Keep track of the employment websites and don't see much to get excited about, year after year. General Bay area known for nurses dying in harness.

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Specializes in Peri-Op.
No reason to believe it has improved any since when I left the area several years ago for lack of work. Keep track of the employment websites and don't see much to get excited about, year after year. General Bay area known for nurses dying in harness.

Can you decipher this coded message for us? I have looked on hospital job postings and there seem to be plenty. There are tons of travel jobs, I am going there next month as a traveler. Cost of living on the other hand is out of control.

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Your definition of plenty may not match my definition of plenty. If there is not a valid job posting that is suitable for me, it isn't doing me any good. As with any job hunt, the individual needs to consult the various employment websites as well as the websites of individual specific employers. Once they find a job offer, if they find a job offer, they are set. I left when I could no longer pay my rent.

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

It's challenging to get noticed in the stack of apps. Have you applied for your California license yet? That part takes the longest I've been told. It helps to have a local address. I moved to Sacramento but had 2 offers in the bay but took about 4 months. They just all have so many applications HR takes a while to notice the qualified ones.

Income is good, but cost of living is horrific. It's why I took Sacramento over the bay. Expect 3k min for rent depending on the area you live, try to work close to where you live because traffic is horrendous. It def peaks during high traffic times, and many hospitals do 8 hour shifts so you may encounter it depending on your shift. My mom lives there and her commute although less than 20 miles, it's not uncommon for her to have an 1 1/2 to 2 hours of sitting on freeways/roads.

Hope those tips help.

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Still tough for new grads. Seems like the market has improved slightly for experienced. Expect >$60/HR base and up depending where you get put on the pay scale.

COL insane though.

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