Nursing jobs are harder to find
NURSES: Grads have hardest time
| Saturday, Jun 13 2009 09:28 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Jun 16 2009 02:56 PM
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Jenn Ireland / The Californian Paola Llamas gets a kiss on the cheek from Sharon Borradori after receiving her nursing pin during CSUB Nursing's Pinning Ceremony Friday evening at New Life Center. Borradori and Llamas work together at the American Lung Association and Llamas credits her graduation to the encouragement and support she has received from Borradori throughout the course of the program.
Jenn Ireland / The Californian Rob Barrena, left, waits excitedly with other nursing program graduates before the CSUB Nursing's Pinning Ceremony begins Friday evening at New Life Center.
Two or three years ago, thousands of students went to college to study nursing. Many had the idea they would easily have a job by graduation. After all, there was a severe nursing shortage in California and hospitals were eager to hire. But now that graduation has arrived, the job search is turning out to be not so easy.
Officials at Bakersfield College and Cal State Bakersfield said in previous years, 100 percent of their nursing graduates would leave with a job lined up.
That's not the case this year.
Only 85 percent of BC's 80 nursing graduates had a job by commencement in May, said Cindy Collier, the college's director of nursing and emergency medical technician programs.
It's even bleaker at CSUB. Department chairman Norman Keltner says only 25 percent to 35 percent of the nursing students who graduated Friday have a job.
One reason for this lack of jobs is an overabundance of nurses.
A few years ago, "Nursing schools expanded their enrollment," Collier said. "Now they're hitting the market all at once."
Kimberly Horton, vice president and chief nursing officer at Mercy Hospitals of Bakersfield, said efforts to get more nurses to fill the shortage "is manifesting more than what we need.
"The timing was off, and we didn't plan well enough to prepare for the onslaught."
The declining economy is making the situation even worse.
CSUB graduate Cynthia Fisher was scheduled to graduate in 2006 before taking time off from school for medical reasons.
"In 2006, people would put out resumes and would get interviews with at least four hospitals here in town," she said. "This year they're lucky to have one or two interviews."
Fisher said nursing graduates are now competing with 20 to 40 others for the same position. Making things especially difficult for local nursing graduates is an increase in out-of-towners looking for jobs here.
"People who commuted to Bakersfield for school are now thinking of staying," Fisher said.
Lisa Bulis, a recent BC nursing graduate, said 500 candidates nationwide applied for certain nursing positions with her employer, Mercy Hospital. Plus, the new nurses are not just facing other new graduates.
With the recession, nurses that were planning to retire are keeping their jobs, said Deloras Jones, executive director of the California Institute for Nursing & Health Care.
In addition, those who were out of the work force are coming back to work, Jones said. According to the institute, 90 percent of registered nurses under the age of 55 are working.
That reluctance to retire is being felt locally. At San Joaquin Community Hospital, the turnover rate for nurses is down to single digits, said Debbie Hankins, the hospital's vice president of nursing. Four years ago, the turnover rate was 25 percent, she said.
Budget issues are also causing hospitals to cut back on the number of hours nurses can work, as well as the number of nursing positions.
When Mercy Hospital closed its skilled nursing facility at the beginning of the year, between 30 and 35 nurses took other positions within the organization, Horton said.
But even with economic problems, some hospitals are growing. San Joaquin, for example, has expanded from 178 beds to 255, Hankins said.
Kern Medical Center got approval last week to add 46 full-time nursing positions. However, new graduates will only be able to apply for some of those positions, hospital CEO Paul Hensler said. That's because new graduates may not meet the qualifications some positions require.
"You have to be very careful not to saturate your work force with new graduates," Hankins said, adding that only 20 percent of San Joaquin's nurses have two years of experience or less.
Even though it may appear jobs are being filled easily, hospitals still report a 7 percent registered nurse vacancy rate, according to the California Institute for Nursing & Health Care.
"There's not a shortage of RN jobs," Jones said. "There's a shortage of hiring opportunities for new graduates."
And it's not all bad news for new nursing graduates. Horton said Mercy Hospital just hired 25 new graduates, while San Joaquin brings in about 100 to 120 new graduates throughout the year, Hankins said.
Ruth Armstrong, who graduated from BC in May, was offered a job at two hospitals. She ultimately took a position at San Joaquin.
Armstrong said she didn't know what set her apart from other candidates. She graduated with a 4.0 grade point average, but other 4.0 students don't have jobs, she said.
"It's difficult to say what makes someone get a job," she said.
CSUB graduate Fisher doesn't have anything lined up yet, but said she is hoping to get a job with the Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center, where she worked while in school.
"It's cyclical, it's not going to stay this way," Fisher said of the nursing field. "There are people looking around, but jobs are just few and far between.
"Everyone is just trying."
