Friday, August 21, 2009

From Commencement Line to Unemployment Line

I have been out of school now for a year. I got my BSN in nursing and was lucky to get a job pretty much right after I passed my licensing exam. It wasn't my dream job (as most of you know) but I stuck with it because it paid the bills and was good experience for me. The funny thing is, when I was in school all of my professors, all of my family and friends, practically everyone I met who knew I was a nursing major told me, "oh you are going to find a job no problem...nursing shortage blah blah and so on." But as we all know, right now jobs are hard to come by, and if it's difficult to get a job even in the health care sector, what does that say for the rest of the college graduates out there?

Well...this pretty much sums it up.

According to MSNBC, only about 1/5 (that's 20%) of college graduates this year have offers for jobs; that's 20 out of every 100 students. People have been applying since May, have gone to interview after interview with no luck. Through friends I know several nursing graduates who are sitting on their hands because no one will hire them. I also know several people who went to very good schools and got great degrees (were talking marketable skills, Education, even Engineering!) who won't even get a call back from anyone. It makes me very thankful that I have a decent paying job and my husband won't get a pink slip anytime soon (if we start firing people in the military, then we know the country is going to hell in a hand-basket)

What are your thoughts? How is the job shortage affecting you?

4 comments:

  1. hoe does the shortage affect me.. well my dad has just been laid off which means that I now have to pay for my health insurance which mean probably 60 dollars a week out of my pay check... and I don't make much as it is. It means that Christopher has resorted to going BACK to school to find something more lucrative to do instead of be a teacher. It scares the crap out of me and I hate it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Seeing that I have been unemployed for awhile, I've not really thought about any job shortage. But I think that this has more to do with the fact that I studied Art History in college, and then moved to rural KY/TN for my husband's military career. It's kinda hard to compare.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree about the job market. My husband can't get fired from the military and he is union in his civilian job, so can't get fired there either.

    I'm finding it tough to find a job in the vet field. It is flooded with experienced people who have had their hours cut and or are looking for a second job. It makes the competition fierce.

    I'm lucky that we are financially ok enough that I don't have to work... for the time being anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the comment on my blog.

    Job shortages... I had two jobs untill about a month ago. I quit my waitressing job when my hubby got home. My other job is decent. I like it but it doesn't pay the best. My husband just got out of active duty army. He is going to be in the reserves and that will be enough to take care of our insurance. He had a job when he went to the army so they had to give him a job back. Its not the greatest pay either but we were smart enough to save every extra dime we had for the last couple years so we will be fine until he is able to find a good job.

    ReplyDelete