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2011 Healthcare Employment Outlook

Hiring Picks Up — Slightly

But there are signs that healthcare hiring trends will improve in 2011 — at least a bit. “We’re seeing a very, very slight increase in openings in nursing and allied health,” says Dennis Yee, a recruitment consultant at Children’s Hospital Central California in Madera, California, and president of the National Association for Health Care Recruitment.

Entrants to healthcare fields, even those that have suffered serious labor shortages for years, will likely continue to find their options limited. “It’s taking our graduates longer to find a job,” Morris says. “They’re often not able to get their first or second choices, and it’s very difficult to get a first job in specialties like pediatrics, perinatal or ICU.” Many nursing graduates take a med/surg starter job by default, she says.

Still, 65 percent of new BSN grads had a job offer upon graduation in 2010; four to six months later, a total of 89 percent had secured offers, according to a survey by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

“The educational requirements for some jobs have been raised,” Yee says, with some physical therapy and rehabilitation jobs, for example, now requiring a doctorate. In nursing, “the advantage of a baccalaureate over an associate’s degree in nursing has gotten greater,” Morris says.