Many California nurses (who had graduated with the proper accreditations to work as licensed nurses) in the last 18 months claimed they had not been able to find their first job. This information is based on a 4th quarter 2011 study carried out by the California Institute for Nursing & Health Care (CINHC).

Recently graduated RNs (registered nurses) looking for work continues to plague the job market. After many years investing in developing the labor force and expanding academic training nationwide, the economic crisis still affects employment and continues to weaken any progress in finding steady full-time employment. A maturing nursing labor force, coupled with medical reform incentives, will intensify the need to hire nurses in the coming years. California may once again deal with a serious absence of nurses.

The study was mailed to 7,000+ nurses out of 15,000 who had earned nursing licenses in California between April 2010 and August 2011. Among the many 1,400+ nurses filling out the questionnaire (a 19% response rate), 57% were younger than 30; female comprised 87%; 49% were White, non-Hispanic; 16% Filipino; 13% Hispanic; and 4% Black/African American.

Many nurses mentioned that deficiency in skill was the primary motive for not landing a job (92%); 54% claimed that they could not find jobs readily available; 42% said that most employers desired the candidate to have a BSN degree; and 6% said the employer told them that they had been away from school for too long.

Other results included:

• Among those employed as RNs, 31% claimed that it took 6 months or longer to locate employment; 40% located a job within 3 months
• 77% of recently licensed nurses hired by employers were employed full-time
• Among the new graduates without RN jobs, 25% decided to volunteer in a health care program or find employment as a non-RN in a health care environment
• 80% of nurses lacking RN jobs were thinking about finding a non-paying internship for motives that included: improving skills, visibility to prospective employers, enhancing their resume, getting college credit relevant to a BSN or MSN degree, and postponing student financing while participating in a scholastic course.

This study is an overview of the employment problem new RN graduate students deal with in California. Its conclusions provide a powerful case for nurse front-runners to search for innovative approaches to employ new nursing graduates.

(C) FastJobResume.com