Nurses unemployed what is happening out there???

1 Hi, I am a 15 year nurse and I am unemployed from a full time position. I cannot seem to find a job. I have experience, and I am certified is many areas, but no potential job. I have applied over and over for work. Gees, I am a nurse where did the shortage go? All they want to offer me is PRN and Per diem or Part time no benefits, means no insurance. Right now I have to accept jobs where ever I can even in LTC facilities with G tags or troubles and who do not care to orient you, high risk potential. I saw a sign at a major hospital recently it said only experience accepted, no new grads??? What is happening no new grads? Will this continue to spiral out of control? I've never ever in all my 15 years had this kind of trouble with employment?
As a brand new nursing student this concerns me as well. I have just been glancing at the job ads and I have seen "no student nurses" as well. Also reading on this message board about all the trouble new grads are having and now reading that seasoned experienced nurses are having trouble finding work. As a single mom working full time and now busting my butt to get the best grades possible, all this news is quite disheartening.

Unfortunately in this economy, it is hitting every profession across the board.

I have been out of school for almost a year and am still having trouble finding a job. I have had several interviews which all seem to go very well. It always ends up with the employer going with a nurse who has years of experience. I will be working for Mollen during the flu season. I have thought about going back to get my RN, is the job market any better for RNs?

I can tell you from someone not previously in the medical field the economy is in a lot worst shape then they are letting on. There is no double dip because there was never any recovery. They tried to say things were getting better when they temporarily employed all the census workers but even then if you looked at total unemployment it was actually growing. Another dirty little secret on that unemployment number is that after you exhaust your unemployment you all no longer counted. Therefore the rate can go down but have fewer jobs in the market. I have been a bricklayer for 25 years and haven’t worked in the last two. Have I tried to find work **** yes so please don’t go there. There are fewer new homes being built now that there has been since they started keeping track in the 1960’s. I am not getting political here I think both sides are to blame (I.E. greed and corruption have no political affiliation) they should have bailed out home owners rather than the banks. Now the banks are borrowing money from the fed at basically 0% and investing it at 2% back in the fed. Why should they loan it to new home owners at a risk when the government lets them do this. If you have noticed bank profits are way up but lending to consumers is by a greater factor down. I sometimes second guess if switching into nursing is a good idea but what industry is doing well now? Certainly not the one I am in.

Quote from danursernHi, I am a 15 year nurse and I am unemployed from a full time position. I cannot seem to find a job. I have experience, and I am certified is many areas, but no potential job. I have applied over and over for work. Gees, I am a nurse where did the shortage go? All they want to offer me is PRN and Per diem or Part time no benefits, means no insurance. Right now I have to accept jobs where ever I can even in LTC facilities with G tags or troubles and who do not care to orient you, high risk potential. I saw a sign at a major hospital recently it said only experience accepted, no new grads??? What is happening no new grads? Will this continue to spiral out of control? I've never ever in all my 15 years had this kind of trouble with employment?

Quote from vampymegsAs a brand new nursing student this concerns me as well. I have just been glancing at the job ads and I have seen "no student nurses" as well. Also reading on this message board about all the trouble new grads are having and now reading that seasoned experienced nurses are having trouble finding work. As a single mom working full time and now busting my butt to get the best grades possible, all this news is quite disheartening.

Quote from MissSpectacularWhat area of the country are you located in? I am very sorry to hear this.

May I be politely rude enough to ask if english is a second language? I mean no ill will at all, sometimes when we try to be brief it comes across differently? I only ask to help. If english is a second language, take classes to perfect your interviewing skills so others are not chosen before you. Again, this was tough to ask, might be grammar, so please understand where I'm coming from in an attempt to help. Your written words are a touch choppy.... make sense....I'm just suggesting communication might be an issue here. sry. and sigh. I mean to help.

Zookeeper your title suits you! No pun intended. Seriously, communication is not the issue.

The economy is worse that they are letting on........Theyare not hiring experienced nurses as, in most cases cost more. They aren't hiring new grads because it really costs a lot to have double the nurses (orientee and preceptor) and educate the new grads to get them up and running. I find it ironic that in the time of the health car bill being signed into law.....hospitals stop offering benefitted positions. True, not in all areas of the country, but in a lot of the country.

This is a sign of a bad economy! I lost my job with 1o years of nursing experience a month ago. For a month - no one would even call me for an interview (I applied everywhere, was even ready to get a job as an aide!). And finally -- in the past 2 days I've got 3 calls offering me RN jobs, and I am going to start orientation soon! It's in a home health (without home health experience, but with my nursing experience counted). Also, someone who I know, and she works for that company -- recommended me to them -- this is how I got the job. It is PRN, because they can't afford to pay benefits (I guess), but I am taking it in a heartbeat! The other 2 offers were from another home health, and from LTC - I turned LTC down, knowing how nurses are being exploited and badly treated in long term care facilities that offer skilled and rehab services, but still keep the nursing home nurse-to-patient ratio. Hope you will get a job soon.

Hey all,I think the nursing shortage is all very dependent upon your geographical location within the US. I graduated from a BSN program in Ohio in June. No joke, I applied to EVERY hospital in the state of Ohio and I heard back from two (one of which was only because I had a family friend who is a senior VP there). So I basically decided to forget Ohio and started looking elsewhere. I applied to between 5-10 networks in Kentucky/West Virginia/Tennessee. Within two weeks I got calls from 3 hospitals wanting interviews. After two interviews (in KY & WV) I got offered two positions ON THE SPOT! In all honesty, if so many new nurses are willing to do "whatever it takes" to get a job like they say and are willing to relocate then check out Appalachian Regional Healthcare. Their website is Appalachian Regional Healthcare - Advancing Medicine In The Mountains ...they are located predominately in SE Kentucky with a few locations in southern West Virginia (where I took an offer). This is a very rural area, for those of you not familiar with it...these are all coal-mining towns/cities but like I said, I was offered two positions within their network the same day as my interview. Also, I had an interview scheduled with the University of Kentucky Medical Center two weeks after I applied...they LOVE new grads! I was unable to make that interview due to extraneous circumstances but a friend I graduated with just recently started there and loves it. Also, Centura Health in Colorado was very persistent in trying to schedule an interview with me--they wanted to wait till I passed the NCLEX. If you live in any of these areas you should check them out...I have nothing but good things to say about these organizations. Luckily, I really had no reason to stay in Ohio...no husband, no kids, free as a bird! So picking up and moving to West Virginia was no problem to me. I found that using this website Hospitals, Medical Centers Health Systems in the United States is the easiest way to search in your state. That's literally all I used. Another piece of advice I'd like to share... the 4 interviews I went on... ALL of them told me they were very impressed with my well thought out cover letter. They said it really showed my desire to become part of their team and showed the motivation I had to warrant a second glance at my resume. So I just wanted to pass that along if any new grads were having difficulties in job-hunting. Good luck to everyone!