What is the point of becoming a nurse?!

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I am starting to see from threads and other sites that cities are being flooded with new grads and their are barely any jobs in the market. What is the point of going through nursing school and spending all that money to graduate and not get a job. I live in Houston, TX and every place I call says that they are only hiring nurses with experience.

I am starting to see from threads and other sites that cities are being flooded with new grads and their are barely and jobs in the market. What ia the point of going through nursing school and spending all that money to graduate and not get a job. I live in houston tx and every place i call says that they are only hiring nurses with experience

Well, no point, I guess. What's the point of getting any degree and not getting a job after graduation?

As others have mentioned, the economy is tough in general right now. Folks in other fields are struggling as new grads as well- I think it's just a bitter pill to swallow as a nurse because "there's a nursing shortage" so we should have it made. I still think we have it better than many fields of study- there's tons of journalism out there about college grads with usually employable degrees working retail and food service and living at home after graduation.

There ARE new grad jobs out there. They might not be in your city and they might not be on a unit you want to work on, but they very well COULD be. I went to school in a tight market and had a job 3 months after graduation on exactly the type of unit I wanted, and several other classmates were similarly lucky. Some took longer, some took less desirable jobs, but most of us found jobs.

I think you need to decide how badly you want to be a nurse. Are you willing to distinguish yourself and assume that with hard work, creativity and flexibility you will be able to find a job? Will you prepare yourself a contingency plan for a possibly long job search (like PT job during school you can stay at while job hunting)?

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Idk it seems that all of us nursing students are blind to the fact that the goverment is playing us and making millions out of us to become nurses and then we have to deal with jons in the end. But im still going to work hard to become a nurse and see where it gets me :(

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Hi Igunbor,

I understand completely what you're talking about but do not give up hope! Think in the long run, our WORLD population will be escalating every single year, people will come more and more sick so who will take care of these people? Of course nurses will, so nurses will always be needed even if there are no jobs available yet, but there will be. Hang in there, do your best to finish nursing school and try to look for a job and most importantly don't listen to those who say they can't find a job and how they hate it and etc. You never know unless you personally try it out yourself.

It also depends on where you live as well. Some cities are open to hiring new grad nurses and some are not. Just keep looking and hold your head up high, the worst mistake you can do is to make assumptions before hand. Concentrate on one thing at a time. However, if you aren't too fond of nursing in the long run you COULD major in something else.

Hope this helps!

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What can you major in these days that gets you a guranteed job? Someone please tell me. Not education, nursing, engineering, you can barely get into the military.

Heck at this rate, why even go to college? Why don't we all just work at McDonalds and work our way up. Kidding.

I believe that I will find a nursing job. If not immediately, then at least I will have the education to get a nursing job when one comes up.

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You have to dig deeper in order to find a Nursing position, if you did it for the money then you are not going to last long. The Job market has been saturated with new grads in Houston and San Antonio , Texas. In San Antonio, I hear they are going to to lay off anywhere between 200- 700 nurses.

Dig deeper and make yourself marketable.

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Specializes in Med/Surg/Tele.
Idk it seems that all of us nursing students are blind to the fact that the goverment is playing us and making millions out of us to become nurses and then we have to deal with jons in the end. But im still going to work hard to become a nurse and see where it gets me :(

REALLY????????? The government is MAKING millions of us become nurses?!?!? This isn't Panem! The government doesn't make us do anything here in the United States of America. I respectfully suggest that you rethink your "career" in nursing if you are only doing it because you feel the government forced you to do it.

Job markets fluctuate along with the economy. No job is safe (including nurses and doctors) There WAS a nursing shortage that was expected to become drastically worse when baby boomers started to retire. The medical and educational communities responded to that shortage by calling attention to the shortage and advertising the "benefits" of becoming a nurse. Enrollment in nursing programs soared. Flash forward a few years later. The great recession hits. Every single business in the country starts to tighten their belt. Hiring freezes pop up in every industry. Older nurses that had retired or were about to retire came back to work when their retirement funds took a huge hit. Nurses that were not working or only working part time, came back to full time work in order to help with family bills or to be the sole breadwinner if their spouse was laid off. But colleges and universities could not just stop teaching students ( colleges are businesses too and they need to make money) So now we have new grads that are unable to find work... some for more than a year after graduation.

This will change in the future. As the economy repairs itself, hiring freezes will end. Sooner or later, older nurses will start to retire and slowly but surely..... that nursing shortage will start to rear it's obnoxious head again. Gone will be the threads complaining about not finding a job..... they will be replaced by threads complaining about patient loads being too high etc etc.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.
Wow so some nursing students are willing to become a nurse knowing that their is no jobs out their that is crazy that motivates me so much i just hope that i can make it
Perhaps you should take an English class or at least learn to spell properly before you worry about getting a job.
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Specializes in Forensic Psych.
Perhaps you should take an English class or at least learn to spell properly before you worry about getting a job.

That seems unnecessarily rude. I think it's a legitimate concern and question.

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Well im not sure how u heard this. But in my situation im a PCA in a hospital in the dfw area. And i am garanteed(sp) a RN position once i get my BA. I plan on sticking it out for however long im in school because i have a family. And I fought, and worked pretty hard to get where I am. And im not going to let anyone else tell me otherwise. If i have to clean up sh8t for 3-5 MORE years. Than so be it. I have been a CNA, PCA since 2009. And if i can do it this long, whats a few more years just to get what I want.

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Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.
So what is the point of becoming a nurse if u caint get a job and help people and make a living for yourself

What is the point of becoming a ___________ if you can't get a job and make a living for yourself? You could ask that question about any number of jobs out there. The only difference is that nursing goes in cycles, so that some years new grads can cherry pick their jobs and some years they have to be like any other new grad from any other program. I'm sorry if you were sold some line about how much nurses are needed; the truth is, right now the industry can afford to say no to new grads. It won't always be like that. Good luck to you.

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I get your concern. I'm fortunate enough that if I didn't get a job right after graduation it would be ok since my hubby has a good job. And I personally would not be able to move for a job with 5 kids and my hubby making the money he does. However I'm more than willing to even take a CNA job or whatever might be offered to me if it meant I got my foot in the door. Even places that require experience will hire from within before outside new grad with no experience. I think there's many options although they might not be what I want in the end I will get there. The hospital I want to work at does require 1 year experience, so my plan is to try to work an hour away at a much larger hospital that currently sits with currently has like 100 positions available just to get my experience. And who knows they might offer me the floor I want (OB) and I might never end up at my first choice work place! I don't know, I think IMO it depends on how badly you want to be in the field. I have wanted this for 21 years and will do whatever I have to. Just my 2 cents. I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide. : )

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
the truth is, right now the industry can afford to say no to new grads. It won't always be like that. Good luck to you.

*** That is going to be the new realiety for nurses. The glut of nurses will continue and was created on purpose. The Great Bush depression only moved the day ahead a few years. Just think how much such a situation positivly impacts a hospital's bottom line.

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