Economy slows jobs for new nurses
Hiring for entry-level nursing jobs is slow, but graduates still see long-term job security.
By Sarah Bruyn Jones
Josh Tucker graduated from Jefferson College of Health Sciences in Roanoke with an associate degree in nursing Friday morning.
Next week he begins a job in the critical care unit at Martinsville Memorial Hospital.
"I'm jumping right in," said Tucker, 25, of Horse Pasture. "I consider myself lucky to have a job when I finished school. It's tough this year."
Students who have flocked to nursing school with the promise of jobs are finding that the economy has made landing a position immediately after graduating this spring more challenging. Still, while the number of entry-level jobs for nursing school graduates is limited, projections of a nursing shortage still exist, boosting the long-term prospects for job security.
"This is the first year that I taught that students didn't have jobs when they left the college," said Rebecca Greer, director of the associate degree program at Jefferson. "In previous years, the majority of students had jobs at graduation. ... It's a reflection of the economy."
Greer said that the tighter job market is something that all nursing graduates are facing, including those who graduated from Jefferson with a Bachelor of Science in nursing. This year is the last that Jefferson will graduate students from the two-year associate degree program.
Other area nursing school graduates have had similar experiences.
During an annual pinning ceremony for nursing graduates at Radford University, students typically say where they are going to work, said Kim Carter, director of Radford's School of Nursing.
"A year ago, 98 percent of the class could say where they were going to work," she said. Last week only one-third of the 84 graduates who earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing had a job.
Similarly at Virginia Western Community College's associate degree in nursing program, the 43 students who graduated Friday night have also had a tougher time finding work.
"There are some graduates who already have jobs," said Shirl Lamanca, dean of Virginia Western's School of Science, Mathematics & Health Professions. "But we're finding that a lot of nurses are keeping their jobs for longer rather than retiring, and I think the job market definitely is going to be impacted by that."
Earlier this year the Virginia Department of Health Professions Healthcare Workforce Data Center released its first report surveying the state's nursing work force. The finding suggested that the economic downturn and recession had led many nurses to continue working longer than initially anticipated. In some instances older nurses are delaying retirement.
The result has been to delay the long-anticipated nursing shortage. The report found that, "If they delay retirement by as few as two years, Virginia is more likely to meet 2013-2015 demand for licensed nurses."
At Carilion Clinic, the Roanoke region's largest employer, nursing jobs are still available, but the economy has slowed the turnover of nursing positions, spokesman Eric Earnhart said.
Lamanca, Carter and Greer all said despite the current situation, the long-term job prospects for nursing graduates are strong.
"We're predicting what's going to happen once the economy improves, they will then go on and retire or go have babies as they had planned, or whatever in their life ... and then people will get hired," Carter said. "We're anticipating that this is a little slump."
It's that long-term job security that had many nursing graduates at Jefferson indicating that they aren't concerned about the current situation.
"I don't think we have to worry about getting a job," said Travis Moore, 23. "There is always going to be a need for us."
Instead of worry, most students said they were going to study and take the licensing board exam. Passing the exam gives them one more thing to add to their resumes.
"A lot of the responses I've gotten have been to call back after I pass the boards," said Kim Brittingham, 28.
While most nurses are employed by hospitals, nursing graduates are being advised to keep their options open in looking for a job.
"Maybe to get a job, it will not be the perfect job the first time," Lamanca said. "A lot of institutions will hire new graduates and then over the years they move into that perfect job situation that they are looking for. ... We tell them to look around to shop for different job opportunities."
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