Newly registered nurses who can’t get jobs: why do so many struggle?
Newly registered nurse job applicants explain the impact of repeated rejections despite nurse staffing shortages seeming to point to ample career opportunities. NHS recruitment freezes and role substitution are among factors making it hard for newly registered nurses to find a job. Read advice on how to get the right nursing role
Newly registered nurse job applicants explain the impact of repeated rejections despite nurse staffing shortages seeming to point to ample career opportunities
- Demand for nurses is far from slowing down, but funding to fill NHS nurse vacancies is, as employers strive to meet financial targets
- Newly registered nurses describe the impact of repeated job rejections, and how childcare commitments and lack of flexible working can limit options
- Find out how newly registered nurses can maximise their chances of landing the right nursing role
Despite sky-high nurse vacancy levels, with more than 30,000 in England’s NHS alone, a surprising proportion of new registrants are struggling to get jobs.
Many are facing unemployment and considering leaving the profession before they have properly started. There is evidence that nurses are routinely working shifts in overcrowded and understaffed wards, and two thirds of nurses have concerns about patient safety due to overwork and staff shortages. So many will ask why talented new nurses are struggling to find work, especially given initiatives to increase the nursing workforce, such as through the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan in England.
‘If career options are limited then people may start looking outside of the profession’
Alison Leary, professor of healthcare and workforce modelling at London South Bank University
Nursing Standard has heard from dozens of newly registered nurses who secure interviews but fall at the final hurdle when employers tell them they have hundreds of applicants for just one role.
Nursing workforce leads and experts blame local recruitment freezes, lack of preceptorship support programmes and vacancies for newly registered nurses, and in some cases an influx of international nurses.
London South Bank University professor of healthcare and workforce modelling Alison Leary says the situation reflects ‘a very sad state of affairs’.
‘Looking at NHS jobs at this time of year, you’d expect to see loads of adverts asking for newly registered candidates, but there aren’t that many at all.’
Students about to qualify and employers’ workforce leads are telling her the same thing. ‘There just aren’t jobs with preceptorships available,’ Professor Leary says.
Professor Leary adds that workforce leaders are telling her that there are two main reasons for this. First, because financial targets set by NHS England mean trusts have had to freeze jobs but also, in other cases, jobs traditionally taken by new registrants have gone to nurses from overseas and nursing associates. This is because international colleagues are often experienced nurses who must start at the bottom of Band 5 and do not require preceptorship, while nursing associates are ‘cheaper’.
The situation concerns Professor Leary. ‘We are seeing frank substitution of registered nurses for nursing associates, which comes with its own issues, particularly around exploitation. The other issue is the recruitment of international colleagues, particularly from red-list countries. You’ve got these working practices going on where organisations are recruiting from overseas and also from red-list countries.’
Half of the 60,000 who joined the nursing register in 2023-24 were internationally educated
Latest NMC data shows half of the 60,000 who joined the register in 2023-24 were internationally educated.
There has been a significant increase in recruitment of nurses educated in the World Health Organization’s red-list countries such as Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Volume of joiners from Nigeria has increased more than ten-fold since 2018-19, from 276 to 3,178.
‘I want to work. I want my career. I’ve worked so hard. But it’s a struggle to find a place where they’ll accept little experience and offer flexible working for childcare’
Newly registered nurse
Professor Leary says: ‘If career options are limited then people may start looking outside the profession. The reality is that people have to pay the bills. It’s a complete waste of talent. It seems very shortsighted. The consequences for the workforce and the future of healthcare in the UK are completely detrimental.’
Tips for newly registered nurses looking for a job
Do your research If the area or location you are interested in is new to you, research it thoroughly. Research the field of nursing you want to go into, look up the employer’s website, familiarising yourself with the organisation’s values and achievements, and look up its Care Quality Commission or other inspection rating
Visit nursing careers and jobs fairs The free RCNi Nursing Careers and Jobs Fairs are a good example. Find the one nearest to you or in the geographic area you want to work in and make sure you register for the event. Take your CV and prepare to be interviewed on the day – you might just come away with your first job
Express your interest If you are particularly interested in an area of nursing or a specific ward, contact the manager and enquire about recruitment, asking if they are happy to employ newly registered nurses. If you are in a placement area you would like to work in, make this clear and find out how frequently vacancies come up. Keep an eye on the organisation’s nursing vacancies and NHS jobs website
Make the most of free resources to support your application The RCN has a careers resource with tips on everything from how to write a CV to interview skills and techniques
One newly registered nurse who has young children tells us she is struggling to find a post that will give her flexible hours to accommodate childcare.
‘I have barely been qualified a year and I am contemplating leaving the profession,’ she explains. ‘I am seriously struggling and worrying about this daily. It has been such a negative distraction. I want to work. I want my career. I’ve worked so hard. But it’s a struggle to find a place in my region where they’ll accept little experience as a newly qualified nurse and offer flexible working so I can solidify childcare options.’
‘Many NHS employers are under significant financial pressure so prolonging a vacancy or implementing a recruitment freeze is often an immediate response’
James Buchan, workforce expert
No lack of demand for nurses – but there’s a lack of funding
170,000
The target for a rise in the number of nurses by 2036-37 in the NHS in England
Source: NHS Long Term Workforce Plan
Workforce expert and Health Foundation think tank senior fellow James Buchan, says the problem does not reflect a lack of demand for nurses, or willing recruits, but rather a funding shortfall.
‘Many NHS employers are under significant financial pressure and looking to control costs,’ explains professor Buchan. ‘Healthcare is labour-intensive, so prolonging a vacancy or implementing a recruitment freeze is often an immediate response.
‘If the scale of this response shifts from being localised and temporary to one that becomes sustained and system-wide, then we have a red flag for NHS funding issues,’ he says.
Employers withdraw vacancies as they struggle to balance the books
Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, Mid and South Essex NHS Trust, and Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust are among employers to announce recruitment freezes in recent months.
All are either withdrawing hundreds of vacancies or making redundancies in a bid to claw back millions of pounds as they struggle to balance the books.
A survey of 100 leaders of primary care providers, NHS trusts and integrated care boards found they feared they were trapped in a cycle of immediate cuts to meet financial targets that are be prioritised over long-term plans to improve and transform services.
‘I have trained hard, like all student nurses – and now I feel as if I will have nothing to show for it. However, I am determined to stay positive and continue with my job search’
Rosie Hart, final-year adult nursing student
Nursing students told Nursing Standard about feeling disillusioned, frustrated and fearful of the future as they repeatedly receive rejections from job applications. This, despite witnessing acute staffing shortages while working on their NHS clinical placements.
Rosie Hart, who is in her final year studying adult nursing at the University of Plymouth, says: ‘The process of applying for so many jobs and being rejected over and over again is incredibly disheartening.
‘I have trained hard, like all student nurses. Working 2,300 hours while juggling essays, exams, children, sickness, home life, bereavements – and now I feel as if I will have nothing to show for it. However, I am determined to keep an open mind, stay positive and continue with my job search.’
‘You get doubts in your head thinking that you’re not good enough’
Amy Mann, who was a nursing student finalist in the RCN Nursing Awards 2023, says she has been unable to find a job yet.
She has applied for dozens of roles and attended four interviews so far, and the lack of success is affecting her confidence: ‘You get doubts in your head thinking that you’re not good enough,’ she says.
Ms Mann hopes to find a job in emergency nursing, critical care, a post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) or in hospice nursing. She is currently on her final clinical placement and will qualify shortly.
While looking for a nursing job I’ll do bar work
‘I don’t want to work in a ward because of the unsafe staffing levels – I don’t want 16 patients with just me, that is not my nursing ethos.
‘You see those stories about newly registered nurses leaving within six to 12 months, and that would be me. I could take a job like that but it would burn me to the ground. I want to go another 40 years in nursing and have a career.’
Ms Mann did hours of preparation for a recent job interview for an emergency department role.
‘I thought I’d absolutely smashed it,’ she says. ‘But two hours later I got a phone call saying I’d done a great interview but I hadn’t got the job. I sobbed down the phone.’
She has now decided to move to live with her best friend and work in a pub while she looks for a job. ‘I’ll just have to hope and pray something comes up nearby. I am taking a massive risk, but I hope it’s worth it.’
Nurses’ family commitments can make it hard for them to move for a job
In Glasgow, 85 children’s nurses in one student cohort were told there were no jobs at all with the Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS board.
Some are applying for jobs further from home, but many say they are unable to uproot because of children and family commitments.
University of Central Lancashire associate dean of nursing and midwifery Tyler Warburton agrees that certain areas are affected more than others by a lack of jobs for nursing graduates. Dr Warburton worries the ‘talent and passion’ of his students will go to waste if they do not find a job, or just take any nursing job they can get.
‘Nurses who come out of our course are absolutely amazing, fantastically talented, confident and dedicated individuals who will make an absolute difference to the place where they work. But if they’re not in the right place that talent won’t come to bear, and they’ll leave.’
20%
Percentage of nurses to qualify by apprenticeship route in England by 2028-29, up from current 9%
Source: NHS Long Term Workforce Plan
Dr Warburton also has concerns about misinformation on social media about why nursing graduates cannot get jobs is causing more anxiety and stress to students, such as rhetoric that students from overseas are being prioritised for roles.
‘The way students work these days is they rely on sharing a lot of information between them, and people jump to conclusions and share that information. We are working hard to communicate with our students and dispel the myths around what is happening.’
DHSC promises independent workforce assessments
The Department of Health and Social Care promises comprehensive, independent workforce assessments in the future so NHS staffing can keep up with demands of an ageing and growing population.
A spokesperson says: ‘It is absurd qualified healthcare professionals cannot find jobs in an NHS that is under-resourced, and patients are subsequently not receiving the care they deserve. We are determined to change that. This government will provide the staff, technology and reform required.’
But Professor Buchan says if the government in England is to keep the promises of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, more funding is needed for jobs. ‘The plan is ambitious in scope and scale: it assumes we can rapidly expand the numbers of student health professionals in training, and the numbers of nurses and other staff employed in the NHS.
‘Workforce planning can only deliver more NHS nurses in the wards and the community when it is aligned with the finances required to make it happen.’
