What states have the most NG jobs? (the two or three there are)

Erikadawn RN · Sep 13, 2012

Try upstate NY

andywolfe · Sep 13, 2012

I was in the same boat as you are. I graduated in May 2012 and applied to every single hospital in California. My full time job was to look for a full time job. After 4 months of searching and applying for jobs only in CA and wasting all that time, I decided to look into jobs in New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas and Virgina.

I would recommend looking into smaller cities in Texas or the border cities. I had job offers from El Paso, Lubbock, Plainview, and Odessa. Pay and benefits are definitely less here in Texas then what it would in CA; but, at least I have a job and I can go back to Ca after 1-2 years of experience. However, I wouldn't recommend applying to bigger cities like Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio. They seem to hire new grads only from their local college and university system.

Leonardo Del Toro, RN · Sep 13, 2012

Thanks Andywolfe. Yes I totally get that the big centers are not hiring. I look at a Wikipedia hospital list by state, then I Google map to see where they are. If its a tiny little town I apply to it if not I leave it alone. The more remote the place the better. So right now I'm looking in Texas and there's lot's of little places. Not at all concerned with pay at this point. All I want is experience and training. Texas is good because there are direct flights to CA but I'm also looking in more remote places such as North Dakota. I think the key is to look in places no one wants to go before even these places will have competition since nursing schools keep churning more and more RN with no end in sight.

cljbrn · Sep 13, 2012

North Dakota is a good place for new grads. You might look at Altru Health in Grand Forks and also the hospitals in Bismark. As of May of this year, facilities in both of these cities were offering extensive new grad training programs.

Leonardo Del Toro, RN · Sep 14, 2012

Thank you that was helpful!

HollywoodDiva · Sep 14, 2012

Have you tried places that no one wants to go to in CA such as high desert areas? Bakersfield, Fresno, Barstow, Victor Valley, Apple Valley, Lancaster, Palmdale, Santa Clarita?

jtmarcy12, BSN, RN · Sep 14, 2012

You should have come to Northern CA, I believe that the jobs may be better. Also I know that Atlanta GA is hiring RN's and LPN's. Best Wishes!!

Angels_wearScrubs · Sep 14, 2012

try North Carolina. I moved from San Jose CA to NC for school bc the wait list was so long in the bay area. Graduated may 2011 and I had a job before graduation, granted I was class president and worked as a CNA, but 100% of my ADN classmates had jobs within a few weeks of graduation. Good Luck!!

macgirl · Sep 14, 2012

I too am in NC, I got my license in February, then started applying within 2 weeks I had 2 jobs. I had to turn down interviews for weeks.

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Leonardo Del Toro, RN · Sep 14, 2012

Thank you all for your reply. I guess I'll porifice the fine combing ounce more in Cal this time only targeting rural hospitals. I did get two calls yesterday from Texas and North Dakota(wow they actually called me I was so happy). ND has jobs and they will hire without experience but there's a big problem and that is no housing. I you have an RV that can take that kind of weather and are willing to make $23/h they will hire you. I guess I can do better than that. There are tons of small 25 bed hospitals everywhere in places no one wants to go and I'm just getting started.

mangopeach · Sep 15, 2012

You should have come to Northern CA, I believe that the jobs may be better. Also I know that Atlanta GA is hiring RN's and LPN's. Best Wishes!!

I'm in the ATL area and the job situation here is similar to other major cities. New grads have a tough time here just like many other major cities. Yes many hospitals here have new grad programs but there simply are not enough spots for all the new grads. I went to a new grad job fair when I graduated in May, roughly about 300 people showed up for 20 positions. Not saying its impossible here because most of my friends that I graduated with have jobs now, but it certainly was not easy for many. One of my good friends just got a job 2 weeks ago. There are still some others in my class that don't have jobs yet. I work in psych and I love it, it was always my goal to work psych but even in psych many places here still want at least a year's experience.

I've heard that rural GA hospitals are usually a lot more willing to take on new grads than the ATL area hospitals. Not sure though. I just would not advise anyone to come to GA as a new grad thinking that there are lots of jobs here for new grads. The hospitals have new grad programs but with several nursing schools in the area pumping out grads every few months, there are not enough new grad positions to go around.

Having said that, if you are willing to work in areas out of the hospital, then you may have some luck here. It was never my intention to be a typical floor nurse so I applied to all sorts of "non traditional" positions and got a few call backs. A cardiology clinic, long term psych residential facility for kids,out patient psych clinic. A few of my classmates have found jobs in LTC facilites,corrections and home care so there are opportunities for non hospital jobs.

Good luck in your job search!