When I was in nursing school I was told repeatedly that nurses are in such high demand. I have been a nurse for 3 years, and for the past 2 years I have seen jobs dwindle. I have seen hospitals lay off 100s of nurses. And now that I have relocated to California, I have been unable to find employment. I have been searching for 2 months. When I graduated there were plenty of hospitals hiring new grads and were willing to train and orient them to the unit. Now I am looking at available hospital jobs and they mostlyt are in specialty areas and they are requiring the nurse to have experience. It appears hospitals are no longer willing to train nurses to specialties anymore. I have an acute care, stepdown, long-term care, and public health background, but all of these positions are either not open or want more experience than I have. I don't even have a chance to get my foot in the door before they close it. Are any other states having this problem? Are any other nurses experiencing this dilemma?

So many postings about folks having trouble finding jobs. It is down right scary for me. I went back to school got my LPN and then went right back and am pursuing my Rn, ADN. I left a stable state job as a secretary to go into nursing. I am working part-time while in RN school. The thought that there will not be any good jobs for RNs when I get through with school is horrific. Of course I want to further my education to make myself more employable, but to keep reading of new graduates of Rn programs hunting for work for months on end does not make sleep come easy.

In 1994 as a new RN grad, I could not find work for myself in a hospital setting. I even volunteered on a high-risk OB unit hoping to get my foot in the door. I ended up working in a rehab. center with vented patients which was about as close to "acute" care as you can get. It was GREAT experience and helped me get my foot in the door at an inpatient hospital in 1996. By 1999, I was a travel nurse making LOTS of money having a blast traveling around the country with my pick of jobs and hospitals. Currently, I am employed and working in several different departments and loving it. I am looking to move in the next 9 months and hope that there will be jobs but I feel things will eventually turn around. The shortage is only going to get worse as many nurses will be retiring in the next 5-10 years. It will all work out!

Same situation here in NY. I've been looking for an RN job for almost 2 months now with more than 20 institutions which includes nursing homes, hospitals and doctor's office. I dont know what to do anymore! Most of the hospitals are either on freeze or will only hire nurses that has experience. In nursing homes, they will only hire RN for managerial positions. To be honest, it is really frustrating that they are doing this to us. We've studied hard to get our degrees and studied harder to pass the nclex. How can we gain our experience if they will not give us a chance.:(

I graduated in June with my BSN, passed boards in Sept. and have applied to over 150 positions. I finally landed a job this week. It is very hard to stay optimistic when one gets no response from such hard work. How am I supposed to get experience without experience. I'm thankful that some places still hire new grads, and i hope the economy turns around for the patients' sake.

alphamale says ...

One of the bad things about the nursing,,, dare I call it a profession... is... when the economy tanks,,, sport-wives who left the job to raise kids, drive them to soccer games...supervise the house cleaning crew.. etc etc.. all of a sudden return to the job... thus, not only driving down wages.. but decreasing the number of job available...

 

It is the nature of a female dominated career.

Nursing is not a profession.. its is a job and  nothing more.

 

Yes so so true, I was reading in nursing in 2010 magazine this week. It quoted, that many newgrads are having problems getting hired, because many of the experience nurses are returning back to nursing, because their husbands were laid off. So many retired nurses are returning also, for the same reason. A few are returning back, because they are straight out bored from not being challeged by nursing itself. I read 70 percent of nurses are married, and mostly are the breadwinners in the family.

The old saying about Medical Jobs was that "They Are Recession Proof" cause people will always get sick and die. While that is true what we are finding out is that the money grubbers at the top of the food chain in Hospitals are caring more about bottom line than Pt care.

I'd be willing to be if a hospital Admin got all it's staff into an auditorium and was honest and up front w/ the dilemma, and asked for everyone to take a pay cut so that everyone could retain their jobs the majority would do so.

In his State of the Union address Prez Obama stated that "JOBS" should be everyone in office main concern and that was the only time that both sides of the room applauded. Things appear to have stabilized in the US but stabilizing isn't the same thing as growing.

Lets hope all the in fighting in DC stops and they can all work towards not stabilizing the economy but overhauling it.

The good thing for most of us here is one of the first areas that will see any labor increase will be medical work, as facilities will need to increase their staff to handle the baby boomers as they begin to retire and encounter end of life things.

 I know for a fact that nursing is not recession proof, but nursing is faster than any other profession to bounce back quickly. 2008 and 2009, was hard for me, even as a CNA, now it is 2010 early this January, my phone and email is full of calls from recruiters. I just got my first interview as a LVN.  My interview is February 18, 2010.  Maximum Healthcare, wants to  hire me as a hospice LVN. Pray everyone that my interview  will go well. God is not always there when we wants him to be, but he is always on time.  God speed to everyone!!!