There are loads of discussions on this BB about the fluff in curriculums for Nursing school.
Yet, I repeatedly see posts displaying total ignorance of most basic economic issues and how it affects them. I have friends who are recruiters who get resumes that are a disgrace from people that have a BSN. I have coworkers that have no clue of how financial issues work.
I see repeated posts from new grads and experienced nurses about ignorance of local pay rates - do you not research your job field BEFORE you spent 2-4 years getting a degree or deciding to move across country?
You don't think that your credit rating, or your DUI or your conviction from check is going to follow you? Or that it should affect you.
You think that you can bring your kids to work or to an interview, that since you have kids, that means you get the "preferred" schedule...right out of nursing school
You think that employers can be "guilted" into hiring you, that all it takes is a good storyabout how hard it is to get a job, will trump finances and have the employer pony up the 40-80 grand a year plus training and benies.
Or that a hospital that had the kind consideration to PERMIT you to learn on their campus, despite the strain on their resources (ie. nurses that did not get pay for taking the stress of precepting, and dealt with the liability), should be forced to hire you and perhaps fire/cut hours for those very nurses that sacrificed to help you learn.
Or that the large number of unemployed/uninsured/underinsured are not going to affect our bottom line.
I would like to see Nursing schools incorporate some form of business/basic economics class in Nursing school. Included should be current economic conditions, world economy issues, researching (accurately) salaries, COL of where on intends to practice, filing taxes, getting licensed, WRITING A RESUME AND INTERVIEWING, proper behavior in the workplace. And a week or so of workplace poliics and how to deal with them.
Just out of curiosity, what exactly constitutes "poor resume writing skills". I don't think I have ever laid eyes on a terrible resume (in terms of construction, not content). They all pretty well look the same these days...
Just out of curiosity, what exactly constitutes "poor resume writing skills". I don't think I have ever laid eyes on a terrible resume (in terms of construction, not content). They all pretty well look the same these days...
"If your looking for a person who will work hard and not be lazy and be really nice to everyone who works there your going to want to hire me!"
Honest to God, that was an "Objective" statement from the resume of a classmate in my English class last year. I almost cried during the peer review portion of the assignment. It was a mixture of a farce and a horror movie.
First, as a new grad with a bachelor's degree, I can tell you that it floors me time and again to see people with a degree unable to construct a sentence in proper English. Unfortunately this is not an issue unique to those with a degree in nursing. Yet, everyone complains about all the "extra" classes you have to take in order to graduate from college. In my personal educational experience, every single freshman at my university had to take a basic English class, regardless of major. We also had an entire nursing REQUIREMENT that basically covered everything from writing resumes and cover letters to how to chart in a professional and concise manner (something which many people that I work with clearly never learned).
I kind of take offense to grouping all new grads together as people who come out of school feeling entitled and have no idea the way the world works. Anyone who worked their way through college will tell you that it takes some pretty serious economic sense/street smarts to make it to graduation.
I did plenty of research on the job market and what I should expect as starting pay once I graduated back when I started school. That was in 2004. Things have changed drastically since then. I never automatically expected to get a job where I did my clinicals, even though I spent two years of nursing school working there as a PCT.
I've been working mandatory overtime and covering shifts to allow cross-training to a new unit that I'm not even going to be allowed to stay on once a merge between two floors takes place. I figure that's what I have to do in order to have a job in this economy. I definitely don't feel I should be given the "prime" shifts. Anyone who does has a problem that goes much further back than nursing school.
Finally the kind of person who thinks it is acceptable to bring their children or mother to job interviews is ignorant enough of the way things work that no class anyone could make them take in school is going to change that.
Gee I hope this isn't true because that would be pathetic. While this would be a good elective course I'm not sure it is something college should be responsible for trying to teach. Based on the lousy decisions people in this country have made in recent years with regard to mortgages it is clear many haven't investigated financial issues but it hasn't been my experience that nurses are more prone to being ignorant of savings and retirement issues than anyone else. Personally I work with several that are quite saavy, live within their means and save for the future, including me.
Someone has to teach it because it would appear parents aren't. We've all seen the entitlement rife in the current generation (and I'm not tarring everyone with the same brush here - I know plenty of fiscally responsible 22 year olds and I'm the first to admit that in my own day I wasn't necessarily one of them - and there are plenty of financial disasters in my generation as well) and you have to wonder if the concept of a dollar is something some of them get.
A huge chunk of young adults were raised watching Mom and Dad whip out Visa every second to buy whatever it was the kid wanted and therefore are possibly clueless on the true meaning of money.
First, as a new grad with a bachelor's degree, I can tell you that it floors me time and again to see people with a degree unable to construct a sentence in proper English. Unfortunately this is not an issue unique to those with a degree in nursing. Yet, everyone complains about all the "extra" classes you have to take in order to graduate from college. In my personal educational experience, every single freshman at my university had to take a basic English class, regardless of major. We also had an entire nursing REQUIREMENT that basically covered everything from writing resumes and cover letters to how to chart in a professional and concise manner (something which many people that I work with clearly never learned).
I kind of take offense to grouping all new grads together as people who come out of school feeling entitled and have no idea the way the world works. Anyone who worked their way through college will tell you that it takes some pretty serious economic sense/street smarts to make it to graduation.
I did plenty of research on the job market and what I should expect as starting pay once I graduated back when I started school. That was in 2004. Things have changed drastically since then. I never automatically expected to get a job where I did my clinicals, even though I spent two years of nursing school working there as a PCT.
I've been working mandatory overtime and covering shifts to allow cross-training to a new unit that I'm not even going to be allowed to stay on once a merge between two floors takes place. I figure that's what I have to do in order to have a job in this economy. I definitely don't feel I should be given the "prime" shifts. Anyone who does has a problem that goes much further back than nursing school.
Finally the kind of person who thinks it is acceptable to bring their children or mother to job interviews is ignorant enough of the way things work that no class anyone could make them take in school is going to change that.
You're right on all counts - but you're not the one being referenced. You sat in class next to the ones that drive us nuts - I know you did, because I did during both of my BS degrees. You're almost the exception and not the rule.
I applaud your efforts and your accomplishments and I wish more of the 20somethings were as switched on as you are. They'd cause themselves a lot less heartache if they were.
Just out of curiosity, what exactly constitutes "poor resume writing skills". I don't think I have ever laid eyes on a terrible resume (in terms of construction, not content). They all pretty well look the same these days...
OMG - I've seen tons - crappy grammar, spelling errors, poor organization, poor wording, awful sentence structure, NO sentence structure (even bullets have structure) - there are LOADS out there. And if the writer has or is only a few credits from a college degree it's pretty much inexcusable.
Learning how to live as an adult is what you do on your own time. Once you are 18 it's sink or swim. If you need answers it's part of growing up that you learn that you need to find them through resources you cultivate. IMHO it's ridiculous to expect a college to be responsible to change children to adults.
If you have resume/dress/attitude problems that seem to label you as a child. Then, you will just have problems with other adults until you figure things out on your own.
But at 18 you're not an adult yet. Legally, yes, but in most cases, you're not REALLY truly capable. And someone has to explain it to them or we'll all be paying for them in the form of unemployment checks funded by our tax dollars when they're living on the dole.
I'm already paying the mortgages of people who weren't bright enough to understand the words "interest only loan" and couldn't read an amortization schedule if their very lives depended on it, and I'm paying to subsidize the banks who exploited them. I'd rather not pay out anymore.
When I got my first BS degree I was completely computer literate (more so than some of my professors), yet I had to take a required "computer fundamentals" class because I couldn't get out of it. I had to take some stupid PE class teaching me how to eat right and exercise and about stress injuries (this was back in 1991!!!) and I was neither overweight nor inactive - I used to dabble in competitive gymnastics, was a high school cheerleader, and spent my summers at the pool on base and out on the practice field for band camp. But I had to take it because it was required and even though it made me want to set my hair on fire.
Require a personal finance class. These kids don't need computer literacy (if they even make them take that anymore) - they need PERSONAL FINANCE HELP.
"If your looking for a person who will work hard and not be lazy and be really nice to everyone who works there your going to want to hire me!"
Honest to God, that was an "Objective" statement from the resume of a classmate in my English class last year. I almost cried during the peer review portion of the assignment. It was a mixture of a farce and a horror movie.
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PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN
2,211 Posts
I didn't realize how uneducated people really are.
Through their OWN fault--there are plenty of books on "How to...." and I know this because I've bought them!!
As for those who don't have good resumes and expect that "premium" schedule, please stop smokin' the crack because it's affecting your reality.....
J