Advice for new nurses trying g to get a job.
There seems to be alot of nurses having hard time getting a job out of school.
There is a ton of uncertainty about the economy, Medicare Medicaid reimbursement (many hospitals rely on this to keep their doors open), fuel and energy prices etc.
This seems to be affecting hiring and new grad programs from what I have seen. Likely this is due to them being more careful with their spending because they dont know what the next years budget will look like. I see it at my hospital (I’ve been there ten years) and seems to be happening around the country.
I got hired into a new grad program out of school when hospitals were getting better reimbursement due to Obama care. Whereas hospitals used to eat a ton of costs of uninsured people (due to a law implemented during the Reagan administration called emtala, the hospitals have to treat and admit people regardless of their ability to pay) they were now reimbursed as more people were able to qualify for government healthcare. So it was easy to get a job. Of my class some ladies went straight into nicu labor and delivery pediatric icu, tele, masters programs, one even got into the operating room, and some went med surg. Some of those specialties they had to travel out of the area to get into them but they still got into those specialties.
I think this is no longer the case as hospitals are tightening their belts as they don’t know what the next year will be like.
You guys will do yourselves a favor by going for whatever job is available.
Be careful about what you say in the interview. If you are interviewing for a floor position or a new grad program. Be energetic about working there and what they are offering not what you want to be doing. So many new nurses students talk about how they just want to get to the emergency department, labor and delivery, pacu etc. Trust me the hiring people don’t care if you handed out meds during your clinicals on icu. Or you observed in the operating room. Or if “seeing a baby be delivered was the best experience of your life.” If you applying to a new grad program that doesn’t offer those, Don’t act like it’s the only place you’ll be satisfied. Because what that says to the hiring person is “I’m gonna invest my budget on this new employee and they are gonna take off to something better the first chance they get.
Spread your search out farther. I’m sure you’d love to work in the area where you currently live or where you went to nursing school, but you might have an easier time getting a job in a smaller hospital where they have a harder time getting applicants. Big cities and places where nurses go to school has a ton of applicants and can be choosy on who they want. A smaller hospital will be much more likely to hire you because they dont get as many applicants.
Even if working at a snf for a year will get you a job, that will show the next place that you want to be hired at that you can complete a medpass, deal with people and family members, show up to work on time and get out on time and that’s the biggest thing about your first job. Some people become nurses and they get to the hospital and realize the amount of shit we deal with and just don’t make it.
Lastly be careful what you vote for. You are getting into a career that relies on progressive policies like government funded healthcare. Any politician that talks about cutting Medicaid and Medicare spending will likely affect your work life being in this profession and you will be here another 20 to 30 years. This is your pay increases, the ancillary staff in the hospital, pensions, 401k contributions , even your own healthcare benefits. If the hospital system is going to have less money the next year they will look for ways to make up for that loss and it is almost always the employees who suffer the burden. I’ve said it a million times any nurse who is voting for people that want to cut funding for programs like Medicare and Medicaid is not only shooting yourself in the foot but you’re shooting the rest of us too.