I started my exciting and adventurous nursing path four years ago. I was told it would be a hard and laborious process but if I applied myself I would become a nurse, a pillar to the community, a helper for those in need, a voice for those who have become silent, a person with insurmountable compassion. I applied myself, gave my four years of life and nurtured my body with ungodly amounts of caffeine. Happily I can report that I am a Nurse . I can place RN after my name....but....I have no job.
About a year ago I began to get the feeling, as the economy dove, the places paying bonuses and reimbursements would dwindle. They did and are now all but extinct! I then began to feel that in order to get a job you might need more than just a diploma and license. Did I fret? NO, I have years of nurse assistant experience and quite a good attitude (if I do say so myself) and thought as long as I put my foot in the door a job will line itself up.
Enter Portland.....a land where they happen to be hiring gobs and gobs of nurses, as long as you have at least one year EXPERIENCE (as a RN). Then there are the rest of us (I tend to think "us" includes hundreds of qualified, compassionate people :redbeathe) who graduated from a hard and tear-producing nurse program, wide-eye and bushy tailed, ready to enter into the rest of our lives. And there are NO jobs, anywhere. Not LTC, SNF, Home Care, Hospital, Clinic, ect.
So now what? If you live in the area and are a new grad who has been blessed with a job, lend me a bone, what did you do? What can I do? What can the rest of us do? (In retrospect the city seems well prepared for a disaster, there are plenty of health care individuals with helping time on their hands!)
. I can place RN after my name....but....I have no job.