As many nurses are graduating and taking the NCLEX, one question is on many of their minds: How easy will it be to get a job?
The standard expectation has been that, as a nurse, you will be in demand and that finding a perfect job should not be a struggle. Recently, however, many experts are questioning whether there still is a nursing shortage due to the difficulty new grads are having with finding work.
Rebecca Hendren of HealthLeaders Media explores this issue in an article I thought you might find of interest. She explores how the recession has temporarily relieved the nursing shortage, so finding a job might be more difficult at the moment. There are a number of reasons why the recession is affecting the number of jobs:
- Nurses about to retire have stayed on longer
- Some are picking up the slack of unemployed spouses
- Hospitals are engaging in hiring freezes
Are you on the search? How is it going? What are you concerns? Share below.
August 25th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Student nurse Kate here and I was just wondering a few question…
-How do you go about getting a job in another city as a Graduate Nurse?
-What all does a Graduate Nurse entail? How do they differ exactly from being a real nurse?
January 3rd, 2011 at 3:15 am
Speaking largely out of a miserable combination of frustration and discouragement, I am at the point of agreeing with all those who contend that the nursing shortage is nothing but myth. I graduated with my degree in August of 2010, with distinction at that, carrying a 3.83 GPA as an adult student with 8-year-old twins. I successfully passed my boards in October of 2010… and here I still am, in the same job I have had for almost 7 years now, working for the HOSPITAL’S LABORATORY, which does not employ RN’s. Nothing more insulting than fielding phone calls from some seriously condescending witches, knowing full well that I can do their jobs, but they were hired over me and have no clue what my credentials are. Meanwhile, I’m still making the same money, and my student loans kick in next month. I have begun telling everyone I know who is about to enter nursing school that they need to seriously weigh their options; had I known then what I know now, I would never have gone through that, nor would I have put my kids through it.