Where the heck are all the jobs?

joanna73, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2014

As many threads will indicate, there is no nursing shortage. Cutbacks continue in all the Provinces and the US wherever they can, particularly the cities. We do need nurses desperately, but no one is hiring. Unfortunately, this is the trend for years now.

The school wants your money. Many of the postings will either go to internal applicants or sit unfilled for months. Temp, casual and part time is the norm because employers don't want to pay benefits or pensions.

I would have chosen differently had I known this 10 years ago when I decided to return to school.

lemur00, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2014

As mentioned, not getting callbacks has nothing to do with union work and everything to do with whether they are hiring in the facilities/regions you want to work in.

Saskatchewan has one of the stronger nursing unions and I had a permanent full time job in acute care a month before I even graduated. In fact all of us who applied had jobs of some type by our last day of class. This was mostly because there is a provision for the creation of temporary grad nurse lines, at the end of which you can apply for all positions like any internal applicant. So it's actually easier to get into the system because of our union contract.

I've started talking to managers face to face and learning more how difficult it is to get into a hospital environment because of the unions forcing jobs going to internal applicants first making it neigh on impossible to enter as an outsider.

lemur00, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2014

Cutbacks continue in all the Provinces and the US wherever they can, particularly the cities. We do need nurses desperately, but no one is hiring. Unfortunately, this is the trend for years now.

That's the real rub that I think a lot of people new to the field miss. It's not that there is a major glut of qualified applicants, but that austerity measures keep nurses from being hired in the places they are needed. So yeah when people tell you there's a real need they're telling the truth. But there is no real intention to fill the need with qualified people.

Many facilities fill with casual/temps so that they can keep lines open which someone would happily take on a permanent basis. So people look at all the jobs needing to be filled and think "well I should be able to get SOMETHING" not realizing that many jobs are posted more for show than to actually be filled with an applicant. Tonnes of postings =/= tonnes of jobs. This is why you often have to look further afield, or take casual/temp.

joanna73, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2014

The Alberta government says they are providing jobs for new graduates but that's not accurate. Certain lines are created for new grads, but probably 70 percent of the new grads are scrambling for casual lines which many will not find.

Same was true and still is in Ontario and BC.

Freddy614 · Jul 14, 2014

I just do NOT understand how Alberta has the graduates from the practical nursing program with the highest scope of practice, the population is constantly increasing and there is an oil boom once again, BUT.... health care seems to get so, so, so...... overlooked. Wait until you or your loved one is sick and in the hospital.....then people will see that there needs to be more nurses. Why is this happening?

Fiona59 · Jul 14, 2014

I just do NOT understand how Alberta has the graduates from the practical nursing program with the highest scope of practice, the population is constantly increasing and there is an oil boom once again, BUT.... health care seems to get so, so, so...... overlooked. Wait until you or your loved one is sick and in the hospital.....then people will see that there needs to be more nurses. Why is this happening?

OK, I've got to chime in on this.

I am a Norquest grad. There is a huge difference in the quality of new grads we are seeing arrive in acute care. This last year's class have had a few good nurses and some true under performers. Nurses who would have been held back ten years ago.

When I completed my final placement, I had to be able to do my preceptors job. Be it five or three patients and have demonstrated competency in my skills. We had five orientation shifts in total on our new unit and were expected to be independent by the end of it. We were encouraged to ask floor staff about anything we were unsure of and we did.

No time management or people skills. Unable to take a full assignment and are requesting longer and longer orientation periods in facilities that they were students in. They have the book smarts but no real interest in the job. The actual nursing skills don't cut it. Some appear never to have changed an incontinence product or be able to safely turn and bed bath a bed ridden patient. Very unsure of their meds.

We all work for the paycheque, you just don't have to make it so obvious. We dread hearing that we are getting a new grad nurse be it an LPN or an RN. We don't have time to teach you your skills, hold your hand for the first month.

We do have time to show you the unit routine, be there when you hang your first IV meds, insert your first foley, etc. because that is what buddy shifts are about. They aren't meant for floor staff to teach you your skills. We aren't out to get you, we are far to busy with our own patient load and we do resent hearing that you are getting a third, fourth, fifth week of orientation.

Long orientations only ever went to staff who went to units like Dialysis or the OR because they were/are separate training programmes.

We are seeing patients mistake new grads for students and ask them how long it will be until they graduate. We have had patients ask not to have the "new nurse" again because they didn't feel safe/comfortable with them.

You've also got to understand that the infamous workplace utilization plan is still ongoing. We were told that there were going to be staff ratio changes. UNA fights the addition of every LPN because it is the loss of an RN floor line. The LPNs fight the loss of every LPN to an NA.

You have to enter nursing because you think it might be a field you will enjoy working in. Not as a "sure thing" or a job that is in demand.

If you aren't having luck with AHS have you tried the Covenant system, the private facilities, doctors offices that post on the CLPNA website?

loriangel14, RN · Jul 15, 2014

LOL Yes I mistook a orientee for a student once. She was an RN that had been out of school for months.I agree that the new grads are frightening. I was able to care for a load of 5 by myself by the end of consolidation. I got a job at the faculty I did my placement at and I had no orientation period.

joanna73, BSN, RN · Jul 15, 2014

I've trained many new RNS and LPNS. Even more alarming is not only that they don't have the skills/ knowledge, some of them don't care to learn.

We were informed in school that we would not graduate if we were unable to demonstrate certain skills while handling at least 4 patients. I'm teaching people how to call the physician and give IMs right now, people who have recently graduated. Or explaining why you need to take a full set of vitals.

So when it comes down to it, sometimes employers prefer to work short than hire a new grad. Many of them require too much effort and the training is costly.

loriangel14, RN · Jul 15, 2014

We had a PN that orientated for at least 7 weeks. She was there as a student and then got hired despite us advising against it.Then she failed the exam. She was keep on as an aide until she could write again.Then 7 weeks of orientation. finally she got let go.Lovely girl but she just had no skills. I don't know how she graduated without learning at least the basics.

Freddy614 · Jul 29, 2014

Wow, I had no idea that new grads were so terrible! Just a question though, you ladies were new grads once upon a time too, right..... New grads do need mentors but I do understand your frustration. Yes, I agree that they should be better prepared.

Freddy614 · Jul 29, 2014

Scary....

loriangel14, RN · Jul 29, 2014

Menotors yes, but we shouldn't have to teach them the stuff school was supposed to.