Skip to main content

Where the Jobs Are: 2012 Report

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) published their most recent report about employment rates for new graduate nurses at the bachelor's and masters levels.

The good news:

  • Employers prefer BSN graduates these days and those preferences are reflected in hiring numbers.
  • Job offers at the time of graduation for BSN nurses doubled between 2011 and 2012 to 57%.
  • There is no variation between public or private nursing schools in terms of job offer rates.
  • Four to six months after graduation, 88% of new graduate BSNs had jobs.
  • MSN graduate were the most likely group to have jobs at graduation and within four months of graduation.
The bad news:

  • Geography matters for job placement. There are more jobs in the Midwest and South.  The West has the fewest.
  • New associate degree and diploma program graduates are facing more barriers to hiring in hospital settings.  Slowly, their job options are becoming limited to long term care facilities and other non-acute care settings.
  • Major urban areas with large numbers of nursing schools mean tighter competition for jobs for new graduates.
For those of you graduating in December 2012 and next May 2013, job prospects are looking good!  Remember to stay flexible about where you're willing to work and the shifts.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

There Are Other Masters Degrees Besides a Nurse Practitioner - Part I

It strikes me that many students and nurses do not seem to know about the "other" masters degree options for nurses.  Everyone seems to want to be a nurse practitioner these days.  Now, that's great news for the primary care provider shortage, but we need nurses with masters degrees who can work in other positions and have other skill sets. Let's review the other masters degrees in nursing.  Nearest and dearest to my own heart is Nursing Education.  Remember that really cool clinical instructor you had in your entry-level nursing program --that could be you!  Do you like precepting new hires?  Are you the person on your unit who unofficially keeps everyone up-to-date on the latest evidence?  Do you really enjoy patient teaching, whether in the hospital or community setting?  Do you just like to teach?  Nursing education is the right masters for you.  Skills learned in a nursing education masters cannot be learned on the job.  Cur...

Is it time to get your PhD in Nursing or Midwifery?

 Over the years, I've written a lot about pursuing a PhD in nursing and I'm including midwives because we need more PhD prepared midwives too.  Getting a PhD is a great way to address the problems you've seen on the frontlines of COVID-19, another way to address the social injustices of racism and discrimination on health outcomes, and to make your voice heard by the decision-makers. A third of the 1% of nurses with PhDs will retire in the next five years so we need people to take their place. We cannot lose our voices in all the places where nurses and midwives with PhDs work. Here's a compilation of the posts I've written about getting a PhD and the things to think about as you figure out where you want to apply. PhD or DNP?   This is where many people start when trying to decide on their doctoral-level career advancement. This post has my two cents on the topic. Should you work as a nurse before getting a PhD?   There's a lot of opinions out there on this sub...

Codes

Remember your first code?  That time when you see that first patient under your care go into respiratory or cardiac arrest?  Haven't had one yet?  It will come, soon enough. Responding to a code takes some training.  Simulation has gone a long way in helping new healthcare providers respond better to that first emergency.  It doesn't mean that first time doesn't make you freeze up; make you cold with fear that whatever you do will not be enough; of having to talk to the family, comfort them if things do not go well. Any emergency response requires training.  Anyone who thinks that in the face of danger, they will respond heroically and with a clear head has never actually been in that kind of situation.  Ask any soldier who has gone through battle and many will tell you the first time in the face of real danger did not necessarily go as they had been told in training.  They did not necessarily respond as they thought they would, as they would ...

Translate