Since the recession, healthcare has been the single biggest sector for job growth, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to get hired.
Registered nurses fresh out of school are coming across thousands of job postings with an impossible requirement: “no new grads.”
It’s a problem well documented by the nursing industry. About 43% of newly licensed RNs still do not have jobs within 18 months after graduation, according to a survey conducted by the American Society of Registered Nurses.
“The process has become more and more discouraging, especially since hospitals want RNs with experience, yet nobody is willing to give us this experience,” said Ronak Soliemannjad, 26, who has been searching for a nursing job since she graduated in June.
New grads have taken to posting their frustrations on allnurses.com, a social network for nurses.
“It is a tough market for a new grad RN. A ‘year experience required’ or ‘not considering new grads at this time’ is pretty much the norm,” wrote one.
“It’s like new grads have a disease or something,” said another.
How can this be, at a time when health care jobs are booming and a supposed shortage of RNs sent many career seekers running to nursing school?
