Sick of hearing there are NO jobs?!

[Royal_RN, BSN, RN]

Am I alone or are there other nurses out there, new and experienced, sick of hearing newly graduated nurses say there are no jobs out there, especially now during COVID? I just saw another post on LinkedIn of a new graduate RN complaining (in disguise of seeking advice) that they are they are still searching for jobs and no employer is getting back to her.

For background, I am a newly graduated/licensed nurse this year and I had my job secured months in advance of my Summer start date. However, even with COVID, every major hospital I applied to and even the hospital I worked at during school have been going through massive hiring drives. Was I and everyone else in my orientation cohort somehow an exception? I would like some feedback from new and experienced nurses because perhaps I am missing something.

And so this does not become another complaint post about complaining posts, I will offer what advice I do have, for what it is worth, for new graduates or last year nursing students:

1. Widen your scope - accept you may not get your dream job in the L&D unit or NICU, or some other cushy or specialized specialty right out of school. You may have to put in time elsewhere, where the jobs are OPEN. If not, then the fault lies with yourself for limiting your options. Just because you don't see the job you want, does not mean there are no jobs elsewhere.

2. Beef up the resume with anything you can - keep busy and keep learning. Take a job while in school, look for volunteering opportunities, and reach out to groups of interests to participate.

3. Consider moving out of a saturated market (I'm looking at you New Yorkers and Californians). Once again, there are jobs in other major metropolitan areas, but you have to realize cities may be harder to secure jobs in some cases.

4. Connect with your professors during school and after graduating, they are bound to have some connections that may be able to help. This entails maintaining a good standing with them.

5. Apply early. This may be too late for Spring graduates, but any last year nursing students, try applying over a Winter break in your free time or even a month prior to graduation. Do not wait until graduation because then there is naturally more supply and less demand, hence more competition.

Hopefully this advice is helpful for some. Also, please offer your feedback, because perhaps I am missing something. It just seems everywhere I look new grads are unjustifiable jobless, which is the complete opposite of what I seen/experienced personally.

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

You make some fair points but re: #3:

(and I assume you meant saturated market) but if you've just graduated and don't have a lot of money in the bank due to...just graduating, it's really expensive to up and move to a new state. Especially before you even get your first paycheck. Most places no longer pay any relocation stipends.

I did it, but there were a lot of stars aligned that allowed me to do it relatively painlessly.

But preach on with the rest of your advice! Some people get despondent and need a kick in the rubber parts...

[Royal_RN, BSN, RN]

5 minutes ago, Jedrnurse said:

You make some fair points but re: #3:

(and I assume you meant saturated market) but if you've just graduated and don't have a lot of money in the bank due to...just graduating, it's really expensive to up and move to a new state. Especially before you even get your first paycheck. Most places no longer pay any relocation stipends.

I did it, but there were a lot of stars aligned that allowed me to do it relatively painlessly.

But preach on with the rest of your advice! Some people get despondent and need a kick in the rubber parts...

Thank you for the feedback and yes...saturated would make much more sense, wouldn't it!

I tend to agree that it may be hard to move out of state. I moved out of state as well and my employer offered a delayed relocation stipend. Regardless, my thought regarding that choice is that there are two options: 1. Stay and make no money as a nurse (which may also mean it is expensive to maintain living where you are) or 2. make the initial monetary sacrifice and at least a new grad will have a job/income to work with.

My underlying point with this I suppose, is that beggars cannot be choosers...at least at first. I appreciate the feedback.

[rnofsunshine, BSN]

OP, I’m really glad you had an easy time finding a job! That’s good to hear, but as a recent new grad who finally just landed a job, sometimes there is a “no jobs.” I’m not sure where you’re located, but where I live, every New Grad Residency I applied to (pretty much the only way to get a job) got cancelled. I had to start from scratch. I was accepted at a hospital that didn’t have any positions open but kept me “on hold” for a position they finally had for me 3 months later, when I had already secured another job. I had been applying since beginning of February (May grad) and didn’t get my job offer until early August. Thankfully by end of July I had my pick of the litter with jobs, but for a solid several months I was hoping I’d already be working, I was met with either no responses or actually ‘no’s. Meanwhile, everyone I went to school with (in a different state) were able to secure jobs quickly because their state wasn’t in a hiring freeze, while mine was. Especially with COVID, states have reacted and acted differently. My friend lives in NH and any jobs she applied to in the NE region had, in big bold letters at the top of their job postings, NO NEW GRADS WELCOME, for nearly every hospital she applied to accepted the one she worked at, where she moved internally. For people who aren’t able to do that and have a state in a hiring freeze, it’s hard. Especially with point #3, a lot of people can’t just leave where they live, say if they have a dependent like a child or a sick parent they have to take care of. While several people probably aren’t spreading out their options to other specialities, some may be, or some may not be due to future career goals, like MSN-NP or DNP which require a certain number of years in different specialities. It’s easy to think of all of your points in one way, but oftentimes there may be more to the story, like me or my friend. What might be best in these situations where people are complaining is just offer your best advice but not assume any other points unless you know them personally ?

~RN of Sunshine

[Royal_RN, BSN, RN]

25 minutes ago, rnofsunshine said:

What might be best in these situations where people are complaining is just offer your best advice but not assume any other points unless you know them personally ?

~RN of Sunshine

I appreciate your feedback.

The reason I posted this was to seek other points of view as well as discuss what seems to be more or less whining (for lack of a better word), rather than valid complaints. To elaborate, many of the "complaint posts" I see are from new grads with headlines "searching for L&D position", "searching for NICU experience", "searching for pediatric oncology position", and so on and so forth. If a new grad complains about not finding a job in the most desired positions in nursing (or any other unit excluding medsurg), then I do not believe his/her complaint to be valid at all. I interpret that as there are jobs that he/she just does not want. Which to me means he/she should not complain, especially in the context of mass unemployment due to COVID.

I understand your point that some people have goals in the future that require specific experience, but that does not mean one is entitled to that job and can write off all others. My point of this all is that at the end of the day, someone either wants a nursing job or does not. New grads should be flexible and realistic. If there are open nursing jobs in the area, but someone refuses them for months because it is not in his/her specialty, then that is his/her prerogative. They can hold out for as long as they want until they get their dream job...but don't go posting blanket statements that there are no jobs and spreading discouragement and inviting in a victim-hood mentality. I believe this comes off insensitive and paints this year's graduates in a bad light when there a countless people unemployed right now in fields that actually have little to no job openings.

Once again, I appreciate you offering a different point of view to be considered.

[HiddencatBSN, BSN]

I think there’s a ton of regional variability with hiring in general and during COVID in particular. I graduated when things were still recovering from the 2008 recession in a city that had many, many nursing programs, and applied to over 300 nursing jobs. I had 2 interviews and LUCKILY 1 job offer.

Moving wasn’t an option for me and isn’t an accessible option for a lot of new grads- how can you make a financial sacrifice with money you just don’t have? Like....does it fall out of trees? Do you wish it in to existence? It’s such a big assumption to say that people can just “make a short term sacrifice” to move when there’s nothing to sacrifice for a lot of people.

I know there are new grads who are too picky in their first jobs but....it’s hard and can be really frustrating to find a job. Pass over the posts you find to be whiny and offer suggestions when you have them if you feel so inclined.

[Sour Lemon]

As a new graduate, I didn't even have a car. There's no way I could have moved out of state...my electricity wasn't even on sometimes. And while applying early sounds like a good idea, in some markets, an employer won't consider you until you have a license in hand.

I was lucky to have been "born" in an employee's market and found a job right away. The hospital I applied at had a policy to call any RN who applied and schedule an interview right away ...within three hours of the application, if I remember correctly.

I "get" not holding out for a dream job, but at the same time, it's difficult to transition from some areas to others. It can be better to have a clean slate than unrelated and undervalued experience, if you can afford to wait. I guess we could all stop complaining and get a job picking tomatoes ...but most of us want what we want, and we're going to vent if we can't make it happen. I think you're taking the "no jobs" comments too literally.

[harvestmoon, RN]

I graduated into a market of furloughed RNs and cancelled surgeries.  Surgeons had been furloughed.  I actually accepted a job as a nursing assistant and the market for RNs seems to be opening now.  I'm in the cold part of the Midwest.  I have applied to so incredibly many jobs - from dialysis clinic to med-surg to IR. I get nibbles but no bites.  I've networked with my cohort - one person has a job promised in November, one has accepted a job from their current employer (they're an NA) to start in November, one got a dream job (but had years of experience with the same employer in the Cardiac-Telemetry dept), and one accepted a peds clinic job.

I'm going to start applying to outpatient clinics now as elective surgery is back on, I'm working COVID testing clinics and volunteering.  I accept I am likely not going to get a hospital job and am even looking at neighboring states to see what those possibilities might  be.  I'm a couple months from my BSN, well, maybe 6 months (WGU) and hoping that will help my marketablility.  But it is really discouraging.