"There are no jobs out there for us!" "I concept nursing was supposed to be such a sure thing for job-security, but I can't get a job anywhere!" "All the positions are for experienced nurses only...how am I supposed to get any caress if no one will hire me?" "Nursing shortage? What nursing shortage? If there's such a shortage, why aren't there any jobs?"
This is a typical lament of the newly-graduated nurse, looking for his or her very first job out of school, at least in some parts of the country, and in some situations. I believe that some encouragement is needed, as well as some "sage advice."
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The job market, in some places, is very tight. While it is disheartening, we need to comprehend that this isn't thoroughly new. Nursing, as a profession, has been here before, to a degree. When I first began my career, nurses were being laid off, allied professions were being cut...this was over 2 decades ago now. New grads and both current and hereafter nursing students: You're caught in the middle of a beyond doubt weird situation right now. Trust me...there is a nursing shortage! And it is going to get worse.
The question seems to be that, like every other company around, hospitals are having to make the same gut-wrenching funds cuts as every person else. It's hitting so many areas of nursing right now...students, faculty, schools, hospitals...everyone is affected by the current economic situation. Hospitals, either they're short on nurses or not at the moment, are dealing with a cash-crisis. A brand new nurse, fresh out of school--no matter how many "A's" you got in nursing school, no matter how many articles you've written above and beyond, no matter how many volunteer/student-work/extra-credit hours you've logged--a brand new nurse will take close to a full year to mentor and precept into an independent Rn. They will spend tens of thousands of dollars on you, above and beyond the salary they pay you, just to get you to the place where you beyond doubt "earn" that salary. Don't be offended...the hospital typically knows that you are a great investment! These just aren't typical times right now.
You may not believe it right now, but most of the skills of nursing are learned after you get out of school! In school, you are studying the "science" of nursing, the "theory" of nursing. Upon graduation, you will learn how to apply that science and theory in the real world of nursing. Your clinical rotations were not the real world. Nursing requires judgment skills; judgment skills are the effect of caress backed by the theory and science you learned in school. It just takes time.
Ok, so...what can you do? First, identify that you Do have options:
1. comprehend that your first job is just that...it's your first job. Few new grads, either they're nurses, lawyers, engineers, or architects, land their dream job right out of school. When you say that there are "no jobs anywhere" in your area, is it beyond doubt No jobs? Or have you puny yourself in any way by not considering jobs in, shall we call them, "less than desirable" specialties? I beyond doubt disliked my first year of nursing! But you know what? It was only my first year. Once it was over, I was the "experienced Rn" that hospitals were crying out for. I named all my hereafter positions, where and when I wanted them. But that first year, in what amounted to a "glorified nursing home" was not what I had Ever imagined for myself. So...have you beyond doubt looked everywhere?
2. I have read more than one nursing pupil posting comments online about how upset they were that there were "No Jobs" out there, only to then read that she is a senior in nursing school or a brand new graduate nurse who wants to go on to become a nurse anesthetist, and to get into that schedule she has to have at least a year of Er or Icu experience...and "no one will hire me." To such students and grads, may I tell you in the kindest way that if any hospital does hire you into their Er or Icu as a new grad, they are setting themselves...and very perhaps you..up for a potential lawsuit because of the dire consequences your lack of caress and juvenile expert judgements may cause someone?
I worked 10 years of my occupation in significant care...All areas of significant care...and new grads naturally do not have the knowledge, skill, or judgment abilities to work in these areas. Period. Want to become a Nurse Anesthetist? Then graduate nursing school, take whatever job you need to to get working as a nurse, so you can beyond doubt begin to function as a "real" nurse (not just a pupil nurse!) at the bedside, fulltime. Learn. Learn all you can in that first job. Be the best new nurse you can be.
Get the best peer reviews. Get the best reviews from your Unit Manager. Be the nurse the patients and their families write letters to the hospital directors about (good letters, of course)! Then, at the end of that year, go apply for a job in the Er. Go get a spot in the Icu. Believe me, when you're in there, you'll be starting all over again with the studying curve! But when you're in, you're in...now, remember what you did that first year in that first position? Do it again. At the end of that year, go apply for that slot in the Nurse Anesthetist program. Smile...you'll have earned it, because you worked for it. Well worth it!
Again, few new graduates, whatever their profession, land their "dream job" fresh out of college. Most new grads expect to start, oh, somewhere near the bottom, and work their way up, gaining experience, wisdom, and leadership skills along the way that will be used in their futures. In nursing, we are fortunate...the lowest isn't that far from the top. It doesn't typically take more than a year of doing what you'd rather not be doing in order to shoot level to where you do want to be. So just get started.
2. Let's say you beyond doubt have looked at every hospital, every nursing home, every assisted living town in your area, and there are No jobs. You have a decision to make. I tell my own kids this all the time: you can either pick where you want to live, and then work at whatever you like best that is available there, or you can pick what you'd love to do, and then go wherever you have to in order to do it. It's just that simple. With a occupation in nursing, If you wait long sufficient and are willing to do what it takes at first (probably not too long, but be ready for a year or so), you'll probably be able to have Both.
Jobs Are out there. Go where they are, get your feet wet and become the experienced, independent Rn everyone's looking for! Do what it takes! It's Worth It!
New Graduate Nursing Jobs - A Word of Encouragement and a Bit of guidance