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I am in TN and was able to get a job at my first choice hospital about a week after I graduated (I start orientation Monday). I know two other classmates were hired as well, although they were already employed as CNAs. I was not a CNA first and was still able to get a job, and another classmate of mine who was not a CNA has an interview at this same hospital. It is tight in TN but not nearly as bad as some areas.
i am in NW Louisiana and I got a job at my first choice hospital. I was also given the option of which floor and which shift. However, I went to nursing school in south Louisiana (New Orleans) where only 4 or 5 of my graduating classmates out of 27, have been able to secure jobs (we graduated at the end of June). I dont believe any of them had many options as far as what hospital or what floor. Down there it seems like you take what you can get.
I graduated May of 2012 in Norcal. Of my cohort of 85, there are 12 of us with jobs so far. Three are out of state. Of the other 9, all are in acute-care hospitals, one in LTC... all over the state. CA in general is pretty bleak, and the SF Bay Area is worse than Socal.
Norcal, cohort of 25 graduates this may, 7 with jobs, locals are 3 acute-care, 1 ltc. 3 moving out of state, all to acute-care.
6 got jobs via a connection, 1 on his own.
I spoke with the coordinator of the nurse residency program at UC Davis in Sacramento. She said that they received thousands of applications for their program last year and presently only have 10 seats in their upcoming program. She expected the program to close within a few hours of opening due to the deluge of applications and advised applicants check the website every day until it posts.
I've heard similar stories from other hospitals in the area. New grads are being hired but at a ratio of about 1:100 compared to applicants and graduates.
I also live in the Sac area.I'll start. I live in Sacramento, California. I went to school in the San Diego area. The outlook in CA is bleek. Stanford medical center-600+ applicants for 15 spots. UC Davis 600-700 applicants for roughly 10 spots. With those odds..who knows. Its definitely hard here in California.
My recommendation would be to look to the remote rural hospitals and start cold-calling in addition to checking the websites.
I know a number of examples of people starting their careers in the little hospitals and then getting hired back into the biggies after some years of experience.
As you well recognize, the Stanford/UCSF/John Muir/UCD kinds of places are ultra-competitive and you'd be foolish to put all your eggs in one of those tier-1, tier-2 baskets... be willing to go as far out (and down) as you need to in order to start garnering experience.
vwgirl22
57 Posts
I would like to get an idea of whats happening with new grads across the country. Where are new grads actually being hired? What are the stats on the new grad programs (how many apply for how many postions, etc.) Please share what you know about your state/region on the new grad outlook.