Nursing’s reputation as being a recession-proof profession is taking a bit of a hit as more people enter nursing schools and then more graduates vie for the available jobs. Even so, nursing school graduates are able to find jobs within a relatively short time. An article about Orange County, California indicates that there is plenty of room for optimism:
“The increase in new nurses has made getting jobs immediately upon graduation very difficult,” said Diane Pestolesi, a nursing instructor.
“Students are finding that although new facilities are opening they are not usually looking to hire new graduate RNs to staff them,” she said.
The rise in the number of nursing students has made positions harder to covet.
According to Pestolesi, there has been a 64 percent increase in the number of new graduate nurses produced in the last two years. This is the result of growth in the existing community colleges nursing programs.
Also contributing to this growth, is four new entry to practice programs that have been started in Orange County in the past five years.
New facilities like this help, but there are still a variety of jobs out there for students graduating from the nursing program, said Tamera Rice, assistant dean of health sciences and human services.
“We’ve been pretty fortunate. Students are finding jobs within three to six months of graduating,” Rice said. “However, dropping off your resume is not enough. Students need to be persistent. A lot of networking is involved.”