Why are there no nursing jobs available for new grads? What is going on??

Nurses Job Hunt

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I just graduated from an ASN program in May and I am about to take the NCLEX next week. I do currently have a temporary new grad license...

But I just want to know why are there no jobs available? I live in Rhode Island and the employment here is horrible. Almost every single hospital that does have positions available wants at least 1-2 years of med-surg experience. How are we ever supposed to get experience if we can't get a job?? Even the few and far between positions for nurses at clinics and doctor's offices want 3-5 years experience, plus specialty experience. It is downright depressing.

One of the reasons I chose the health care field was because "there would always be jobs available." That is such a lie. Whenever I tell people that I just graduated and will be an RN they always say, at least you will never be without a job! That is so false.

When I spoke with the nurses at the hospitals where I did my clinical rotations, they said they felt so bad for us and how back in the 80's hospitals were begging them to take positions and even offering sign on bonuses.

I just feel like it will be so long before I ever find a job that I won't remember half of the stuff I learned :no:

LadyFree,

I've known loads of new grads who offer to start at a low salary or even work free as if in a clinical just for the chance to work somewhere. I don't mean forever, I mean for a probationary period.

I do not know any who got their offer accepted, but I made the offer myself. I got hired-not for free :-) but sometimes you do what you need to do to get your feet in the door. Otherwise you may end up working as a tech forever.

I'm shocked any new grad would actually offer to an employer to "work for free as if in a clinical".

At best, it sounds incredibly naive. At worst it sounds.... well, stupid.

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I'm shocked any new grad would actually offer to an employer to "work for free as if in a clinical".

At best, it sounds incredibly naive. At worst it sounds.... well, stupid.

Well gee, not forever! Lots of us have made that offer. In my case, the NM laughed, said that was illegal and offered me the job! New grad may equal naive, but I am far from stupid and it made me stand out enough to land a fantastic job on a specialty unit in what I consider my dream job. It took me two months to get that job though, and I would have taken any RN job anywhere in town that I was offered. Some of us have families and cannot just up and relocate.

Brandon and Lady, not sure how long you have been nursing, perhaps you don't realize just how difficult it is to just get considered! Just getting an application past the computer so that a live person sees it takes and act of congress! My grad class was 80-11 of us are working in town. 3 went to rural areas in other states. So--work for free for a month--heck yeah! If it will secure a position!

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

In the last week, I've received 7 resumes from new grads. I phoned all 7 to come in for an interview. 2 did not bother to return my call. I made appointments to interview the 5 who did call back. One did not show up....no call...no show. I interviewed the other 4. One said she would really like day shift but knew as a new person that would probably not happen so she was offered a full time 3-11 shift. One said she would ONLY work days and wasn't too keen on working weekends. She was not offered a job. The third one said she only wanted days because of her daughter. The fourth one flunked the med/knowledge test and came in wearing cut offs and a tank top. So...I was ready to hire all these new grads but.....

Some advice-if you're new, take any position you're offered. Things change quickly (which is why I need so many nurses) and you might get the shift you really want after working a different shift for a while. Experience is experience.

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Specializes in MICU, SICU, CICU.

It was about two years ago now that I was working a contract in Seattle. A nice young lady was my tech that shift. She was distracted, tearful and shaking. I was very concerned that she was just unable to cope with something so i asked her what was wrong.

She said she passed her boards six months ago and she couldn't get a job anywhere as an RN.

Maybe Allnurses could help by presenting some factual information about the job market in major metropolitan areas and specific regions.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
Well gee, not forever! Lots of us have made that offer. In my case, the NM laughed, said that was illegal and offered me the job! New grad may equal naive, but I am far from stupid and it made me stand out enough to land a fantastic job on a specialty unit in what I consider my dream job. It took me two months to get that job though, and I would have taken any RN job anywhere in town that I was offered. Some of us have families and cannot just up and relocate.

Brandon and Lady, not sure how long you have been nursing, perhaps you don't realize just how difficult it is to just get considered! Just getting an application past the computer so that a live person sees it takes and act of congress! My grad class was 80-11 of us are working in town. 3 went to rural areas in other states. So--work for free for a month--heck yeah! If it will secure a position!

I just explained to you how hard it was to get a job; I was a LPN for 7 years; I became an RN two years ago; and I stated that I LIVE in an area where there is NO nursing shortage and a GLUT of nurses being pumped out every 6 months and the many experienced nurses trying to get a job and their WORTH.

Taking a lower scale job disrupts the pay scale and sets us ALL back from receiving proper wages for ALL; it may not be "forever", but setting wages back because of desperation doesn't do anyone in the profession well.

I'm sticking by what I have stated, due to my ALL awareness of how difficult it is to get a job; I kept pounding the pavement and working underneath the license I held, so I am VERY aware of those circumstances; that alone didn't make me ask for less; I'm a grown up with bills and mortgage, and responsibilities, and I certainly wasn't going to "Lateral transfer" my wages to get an opportunity; I applied to any and everything and had to wait long, and still got burned; I then dusted myself back off and when I got the next job, I got paid MORE, then the next job got MORE money; I NEVER uttered "let me work for free" even when I didn't succeed at my first new grad job, a I went to work and it took me four months to find a new job; I didn't in into a corner and mope-EVER. And

I suggest those coming out to never waver-ever. :no:

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Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.

Putting the message our on Allnurses about the nursing glut isn't so helpful. Probably only a small fraction of people who (understandably) believe the myth that there is a nursing shortage don't even know about AN. Our nursing organizations don't seem to be interested in dispelling this myth (teaching jobs would be lost) and how are people supposed to know? Until we LIMIT the number of new grads being churned out into the system every semester, we are a cheap commodity for employers. As CapeCodMermaid has posted, anything breathing can graduate because our schools more interested in graduating students than educating students. Our admission standards are way too low (people have posted on AN about some programs admitting students purely on the number system instead of culling the herd). BSN for RN. ADN's for LPN's. Right now LPN credits often aren't even transferrable to RN program which really hurts those LPN students who want to climb the ladder. I can't believe that's even still going on.

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I just explained to you how hard it was to get a job; I was a LPN for 7 years; I became an RN two years ago; and I stated that I LIVE in an area where there is NO nursing shortage and a GLUT of nurses being pumped out every 6 months and the many experienced nurses trying to get a job and their WORTH.

Taking a lower scale job disrupts the pay scale and sets us ALL back from receiving proper wages for ALL; it may not be "forever", but setting wages back because of desperation doesn't do anyone in the profession well.

I'm sticking by what I have stated, due to my ALL awareness of how difficult it is to get a job; I kept pounding the pavement and working underneath the license I held, so I am VERY aware of those circumstances; that alone didn't make me ask for less; I'm a grown up with bills and mortgage, and responsibilities, and I certainly wasn't going to "Lateral transfer" my wages to get an opportunity; I applied to any and everything and had to wait long, and still got burned; I then dusted myself back off and when I got the next job, I got paid MORE, then the next job got MORE money; I NEVER uttered "let me work for free" even when I didn't succeed at my first new grad job, a I went to work and it took me four months to find a new job; I didn't in into a corner and mope-EVER. And

I suggest those coming out to never waver-ever. :no:

I agree, there are too many nurses being churned out. I live in an area with several major hospital corporations and there are on any given day over 100 RN positions open. Some of them stay open for several months. Yet almost none accept new grads. Most of them want you to apply online. Some say that 1 year experience is PREFERRED, not mandatory and those are the ones I applied for. I even applied for school nurse jobs (got an interview actually for that, but decided against it because nurses on AN confirmed that once you do that, you start losing your skills and become less marketable), home health, PDN (took one of those jobs and was placed in a position that I got virtually no training for and I felt I was putting my license in danger because I didn't think I was safe for the patient so I didn't stay). I applied at SNFs and LTCs as well. I was not picky at all! I worked as a tech for about half of what an RN makes while looking for a job because I have bills to pay. I am no prima dona, I expected to pay some dues. And I really do not feel like I am a selfish person who places the salary of all RNs in danger because I needed a job...but perhaps I was.

Online applications immediately-within seconds-changed status to "not under consideration". The area I live in is horrible! I couldn't relocate because my husband is a municipal employee and if he leaves the city he will be out of work.

So when my 'dram job' opened u for the 3rd time since graduation, I went in there and handed my resume to the NM and told her that I understood her trepidation about hiring new grads and to prove myself I would work on the unit for free for a month just to prove myself. I really have no good idea if that is what got me the job or not, but I got it! I am really happy I got it and I would do it again in a heartbeat!! I don't feel bad I did it--but I am pretty happy she didn't accept my offer. :-)

I started school right out of high school. I was young and believed the hype about the nursing shortage. By the time I found out it was all hype, I was in nursing school and committed and I LOVE nursing. I do not know if I would have done the same thing had I known how bad the job market was, but I probably would have because this really is my calling.

In this difficult market, you do what you feel you have to do, and if it works, you try to help others by suggesting that they do it as well. I meant no offence, and I am not trying to run down salaries, I just wanted to work.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
I live in an area with several major hospital corporations and there are on any given day over 100 RN positions open. Some of them stay open for several months.

Have you considered that those positions remain open for several months because the facility has no intention of filling them? If a nurse leaves and the unit manager decides not to replace them, the position is lost forever. However, posting a dummy position with no intent to fill it means the unit keeps that position, so if something were to change down the line and an additional staff member was needed, they won't have to fight HR to get a new position approved. My unit does this frequently. Currently, there are a few posted positions for nurses in my unit. However, because we've made do with so little for so long, there is no intent to fill those positions at this time unless we see a major uptick in our surgical volume. But if we didn't post those positions, we would never be able to fill them in the future.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
So when my 'dram job' opened u for the 3rd time since graduation, I went in there and handed my resume to the NM and told her that I understood her trepidation about hiring new grads and to prove myself I would work on the unit for free for a month just to prove myself. I really have no good idea if that is what got me the job or not, but I got it! I am really happy I got it and I would do it again in a heartbeat!! I don't feel bad I did it--but I am pretty happy she didn't accept my offer. :-).

And that right there is part of the reason nursing wages has stagnated or even decreased. When people are so desperate that they will do things like this, it devalues the profession as a whole. What will we give up next?

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Have you considered that those positions remain open for several months because the facility has no intention of filling them? If a nurse leaves and the unit manager decides not to replace them, the position is lost forever. However, posting a dummy position with no intent to fill it means the unit keeps that position, so if something were to change down the line and an additional staff member was needed, they won't have to fight HR to get a new position approved. My unit does this frequently. Currently, there are a few posted positions for nurses in my unit. However, because we've made do with so little for so long, there is no intent to fill those positions at this time unless we see a major uptick in our surgical volume. But if we didn't post those positions, we would never be able to fill them in the future.

I did not know this! Thanks for the information.

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And that right there is part of the reason nursing wages has stagnated or even decreased. When people are so desperate that they will do things like this, it devalues the profession as a whole. What will we give up next?

I can't argue with this, but I still would do it again. We ARE desperate! We (BSNs) Go to school for four years during which we are told not to work because school is too demanding (it was), and then we graduate and learn some nurses are still waiting a year later for first job. I don't think what I did was wrong--I think that the system is wrong! If they are graduating new grads knowing that we aren't going to find work then they are doing the disservice, not us desperate new grads! School loans need to start getting aid 6 months after graduation---if it takes an average of 11 months (in my area that is the average) to get a job then desperation is to be expected.

Schools should be honest during the recruiting process. And hospitals and other facilities should be more new grad friendly in my opinion. Until they are, there are going to be way more desperate people willing to do whatever it takes to get that illusive first job and while the schools are turning out so many of us no one is going to have any incentive to pay better. My area is also one of the lowest paying in the nation--didn't know that until I saw it on these boards either, and I am in a large metro area. Nurses are hired at between 21 and 27 an hour. I thought I would be making 10 more than that as a nurse. That is due to the abundance of nurses, not the desperation of new grads!

The BONs should pull accreditation from any school not being honest with career information in my opinion. If people knew they weren't going to be able to work-less would enroll, less would graduate, and nurses would be in short supply again, driving up wages!

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Specializes in Leadership, Psych, HomeCare, Amb. Care.

Some advice-if you're new, take any position you're offered. Things change quickly (which is why I need so many nurses) and you might get the shift you really want after working a different shift for a while. Experience is experience.

Great examples. Even experienced nurses sometimes take less than perfect jobs in order to get their foot in the door.

A few years ago I took a job hoping to move up when my 1-up retired. An internal reorganization killed that idea, but gave me the experience that allowed me to move up elsewhere.

i also had a nurse that wanted FT on one shift, but only had nights. She declined, took another job, regretted it, asked us to reconsider. By this time, I had only PT nights. She took it, and before even completing orientation, an evening nurse resigned. She was able to move into FT evenings.

Sometimes things work out if you take a chance

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