By Susan Kreimer, MS, contributor
April 21, 2010 - The nursing job market has seen ups and downs during the past year. As the economy rebounds, hiring is slowly starting to pick up the pace. So, what will that mean for nurses in 2010?
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that overall employment in health care continued to increase in March, adding 27,000 jobs, with the largest gains occurring in ambulatory health care services (16,000) and in nursing and residential care facilities (9,000).
Some health systems that have announced major hiring plans, according to the Association of Registered Nurses’ web site, include Banner Healthcare, based in Phoenix, Ariz., and Ohio’s Cleveland Clinic. Banner has over 600 openings for registered nurses as they open new facilities in their collaboration with the M.D. Cancer Institute of Texas, and Cleveland Clinic is expected to hire 1,800 new workers in 2010, including RNs, physicians and support staff.
“Nurse recruitment is a year-round activity with highest movement in summer months,” said Pamela F. Cipriano, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, editor-in-chief of American Nurse Today, the journal of the American Nurses Association.
That doesn’t mean hiring will be entirely on the upswing. “Seasoned nurses are still holding onto their jobs and delaying retirement, and in some cases, retaining increased hours above those they would like to work,” she said.
As for newly minted nurses, hospitals will still be hiring, just not as many as in more prosperous years.
“There may be an easing in the new graduate recruitment market, but some areas of the country are still pretty saturated,” said Cipriano, who until October 2009 served as chief clinical officer and chief nursing officer at University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville.
New graduate orientation programs usually take place twice a year – in March or April and in June or July – with variations in different facilities. Relocation may increase one’s employment options for nurses in very tight job markets such as the San Francisco Bay Area.
“I’ve talked to colleagues in other parts of the country, and there are jobs out there,” said Jane Hirsch, RN, MS, NEA-BC, director of nursing and health systems leadership at University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing. She encourages nurses to look for work in other states.
“I know this is a hard place to leave,” she said, “but nurses can get jobs and experience elsewhere, and then return at some point if they wish.”
Workers that are more in demand include seasoned nurses for intensive care, the neonatal unit and the emergency department, said Donna Cardillo, RN, MA, president of Cardillo & Associates, a central New Jersey-based professional development firm, and author of The Ultimate Career Guide for Nurses and other publications.
More opportunities will surface in alternate inpatient settings such as acute rehabilitation, long-term care and cancer centers. Outpatient and ambulatory settings such as surgical centers, hemodialysis, public health and nurse-run clinics also have more job openings.
“All nurses, including new gradate nurses, should explore employment options beyond the hospital,” said Cardillo.
Some employers with difficulties filling openings have given sign-on bonuses in the past, but the practice isn’t common in the current economic climate. Many employers are scaling back on traditional recruitment efforts and turning to online advertising, she said.
Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Penn., for instance, posts positions on its Web site for external candidates, as it seeks experienced registered nurses to start in May 2010 and the rest of this year, said Marilyn Guidi, RN, MSN, director of staffing.
“Recruiting is beginning from our list of experienced RNs who had applied in 2009 and were placed on a callback list,” she said. “We are contacting them now to inform them that we have positions and determining their interest.”
In 2009, hiring of seasoned RNs was restricted to highly specialized areas such as the pediatric intensive care unit. This year, Guidi said, the network expects an increase in the hiring of RNs with experience for its medical/surgical units, progressive cardiac care, operating room and emergency departments.
“We have held positions for our own employees who were graduating from nursing programs, as well as for our nursing scholarships students who were graduating in 2009 and the beginning of 2010,” she said.
Baccalaureate-prepared new graduates stand a higher chance of being hired in the wake of studies showing improved outcomes with more education. This trend is in its third year, so employers can be selective, said Cipriano.
“That is not to discourage ADN (associate’s degree nursing) graduates, who are also able to find jobs and contribute to the work force,” she said. “They should quickly look for a career path to continue their education.”
To achieve better odds of finding employment, nurses also should consider joining and remaining active in associations that promote professional networking. Volunteering is another way to gain additional experience.
“All of these things will keep nurses marketable, visible and generally better able to navigate an ever-changing health care arena,” Cardillo said.
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