Hello Everyone,

Its getting to be that time of year when people are preparing to graduate and many are looking for their first jobs. Something that has been happening in Arizona and I"m not sure it is in the rest of the country, is that Associate Degree RNs are having difficulty finding hospital based jobs. I've had many students who enter the BSN program where I teach and state that they have waited 6-12 months (or more) to get a job. Most hospitals are putting "Bachelor Degree Preferred" on their job descriptions. Even new RNs who have experience as an LPN are finding it hard to get that first job, but especially if they want to work in a hospital.

What is the job market like in your area? What type of nursing shortage are you seeing?

What tips do you have for those hunting for a job, be it a new job or that first job in nursing or other fields? What one or two things would you tell these job hunters to be sure to do, not do or put on their resume?

I look forward to hearing what all of you have to say!

As Always - I love your feedback and opinions, if you have an idea for an article, or a forum discussion, please let me know. In the case of the forum chat, please start a new thread and start discussing what is on your mind!

Lorraine

Hi Lorraine,

That's interesting! Whenever I look in the paper, nurses seem to be in demand. I'm in Virginia.

It could be that they are looking for Bachelor's Degrees, but I will say this about hiring in general as a recruiter...A "preferred" is not always a "definite." It usually means they would really like you to have one. Sometimes, if you have sufficient experience, they will take the associate and the sufficient experience in place of a bachelor's degree. So I would say, if you have a lot of experience (with the associates degree) go for it - the worse they do is not hire you, but then again, you may be presently surprised.