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:

Specializes in LTC.

Speaking of moving, my nursing school is a consortium of 3 different colleges. Each in adjoining counties.(thank God they're joined). This means I will need to travel to 3 different counties and 3 different hospitals for clinicals.

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Wouldn't it be considered "entitlement" just as much from the older nurses who hangin even when they slow down and may not even be as beneficial to pts and facilities as they once were to collect a Check, while new grades busted their butt just like them, and they never get a chance to work. How would the older nurse feel if they were us and nobody would step aside so you could have a chance. I kinda feel it could go both ways..

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Wouldn't it be considered "entitlement" just as much from the older nurses who hangin even when they slow down and may not even be as beneficial to pts and facilities as they once were to collect a Check, while new grades busted their butt just like them, and they never get a chance to work. How would the older nurse feel if they were us and nobody would step aside so you could have a chance. I kinda feel it could go both ways..

Totally disagree! The seasoned nurses paid their dues, learned everything new that came up over the years and deserve to keep the jobs that they are good at. 4 decades rom now when I am retirement age, if the economy mandates that I continue to work, there is no way I will "step aside" so someone else can have a chance at the career that I spent my life building. How dare you suggest tat they slink off just to get out of our way? They deserve the careers they build! They should stay at it as long as they want to work!!

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Well. We can agree to disagree. And I would also like to just add.. We have all ran into that old nurse who isn't as sharp, and is potentially just as dangerous as a new nurse. And getting paid top salary at that. Scary part is they just have the experience to cover it if needed be.

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I admit much of my opinion could be formed from the great amount of rejection I have felt from facilities being a "new grad" and also the treatment new nurses have to accept from some (not all) of these experiences nurses bc they are bitter a new younger nurse had been brought in. I have only had clinical experience but I can say it has shown me a lot in itself about how things go in a lot of facilities. Much more about politics than it is about providing adequate, compassionate care.:no:

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Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.
Wouldn't it be considered "entitlement" just as much from the older nurses who hangin even when they slow down and may not even be as beneficial to pts and facilities as they once were to collect a Check, while new grades busted their butt just like them, and they never get a chance to work. How would the older nurse feel if they were us and nobody would step aside so you could have a chance. I kinda feel it could go both ways..

Sure, I'll step aside and give you my job just so you can have a chance but you will have to pay my mortgage, buy me food, pay my bills and I like at least one nice vacation a year. Oh, and I'll be needing to replace my car in about 5 years so you might want to start saving up for that too.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.
Totally disagree! The seasoned nurses paid their dues, learned everything new that came up over the years and deserve to keep the jobs that they are good at.

Not necessarily. An incompetent nurse is an incompetent nurse, regardless of age.

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Not necessarily. An incompetent nurse is an incompetent nurse, regardless of age.

You are correct! However this wasn't about competence, it was about a new nurse thinking that old nurses should retire just to give new nurses a chance in the work force. Competent seasoned nurses being forced into retirement just to give a new grad a chance at a job is the most ridiculous concept I have ever heard!

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I see one nursing school in my area stating that they have a 95% job placement track record for new nurses. However, the BON says that they only have an 80% NCLEX pass rate! Simple math--does not compute!

I started school right out of HS, and we were promised the moon. I was a kid, I had no idea that college recruiters were a bunch of over-hyped sales people! By the time reality hit, I had my degree in hand, it was a bit too late to back out! I wouldn't have anyway, I love being a nurse, and I got lucky. I impressed the NM where I did my practicum and got my dream job.

I think that there needs to be some sort of control over the false advertising and I think the truth needs to be told at the HS level! People need to know what the job market is out there, or at least have a reasonably easy way of finding out. If nursing is someone's true calling, the truth wont stop them, so there will still be new nurses every year...but the people that go into nursing only because they believe that there is going to be a $70k job hand delivered to them upon passing NCLEX should probably go into something else.

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Please note that posts have been removed.

Please do not make this a personal one-on-one discussion as it serves to disrupt the thread and tempers flare.

Thank you.

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