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Important Announcement to Our Job Tools Users In June 2009, IMDiversity.com moved to a new jobs database and tools format, providing expanded job opportunity listings and streamlined jobseeker tools, at http://jobsearch.imdiversity.com. For the convenience of our users with existing accounts on our old database at http://jobs.imdiversity.com, we are still making your previous Job Tools Accounts available during the brief transition period. However, we urge all users to visit our new extended jobs network, and to create a new Job Tools account today, with expanded searchable resume posting options, and new, simplified tools for managing custom saved searches and email job alert agents. |
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CINCINNATI (AP) -- Their fellow students call them "Mom and Pop."
Both 40 years old, Lena Gambill and Bob Mitchell are among the first-year nursing students at Shawnee State University, in the Ohio river city of Portsmouth nearly 100 miles southeast of here. In an Appalachian region that was already struggling with double-digit unemployment before the national recession hit, they both considered a nursing career their best bet for a secure future.
"The reason I decided to do it is no matter where we go, no matter what happens economy-wise, this is an occupation I can count on and I can take with me," said Gambill, a mother of three who had been a full-time teacher's aide.
"There is always something you can do with nursing," agreed Mitchell, a former state prison guard.
A field that has long seen staff shortages is getting another look from people who are out of work, fear they soon could be or need to replace a laid-off spouse's income.
But there are barriers to overcome, from getting the needed education to meeting the profession's sometimes exhausting demands.
"The most difficult thing has been budgeting between my family and schooling to get to my goal," said Gambill, estimating she spends 40 hours a week studying and doing clinical work in a two-year program to become a registered nurse.
Industry experts say the recession is reducing nursing vacancy rates because more nurses are delaying retirement, moving from part-time to full-time status for the extra income, or coming back from retirement.
But plenty of need remains, especially as the Baby Boom generation ages and requires more health care. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected more than 1 million nursing openings over the 10-year period ending in 2016.
Among the benefits of becoming a nurse, besides employment security, is yearly pay that usually ranges in hospitals from around $50,000 into six figures, depending on experience and skills. Nursing offers flexible scheduling that can include three-day weeks (12-hour shifts) and weekends-only positions. And workplaces are as varied as physicians' offices, nursing homes and health-related corporate jobs.
The bureau also projects strong job growth for some faster routes into health care. They include licensed practical nursing; the degree takes about a year to earn, and jobs usually pay about two-thirds what registered nurses earn. Growth also is projected for lower-paying jobs such as home care aides, which do not require college study.
Universities and nursing schools have been scrambling to keep up with growing interest, but they face a shortage of qualified instructors -- in most cases, nurses can earn much more working in a hospital than teaching.
At Shawnee State, with about 200 nursing students, twice that number of qualified applicants get turned away each year, said Mattie Burton, who heads the nursing program. Of the first-year students, about 15 percent each year don't make it through a demanding combination of classes, clinical studies and work.
"We have people who made straight A's coming out of high school who find it's too difficult," Burton said. She said nurses need good a background in sciences such as biology and chemistry and in mathematics.
Some students are unprepared to see illness and pain up close on a regular basis.
"They haven't had experience with sick people like that before and decide that's not what they want to do," Burton said.
Debbe Endres, who heads human resources for the Cincinnati-based Health Alliance's five hospitals, said nurses must work well in teams, be respectful, and set high standards for themselves and for care. The job can be physically and emotionally demanding, and doesn't lend itself to a 9-to-5 mentality.
"It's 24-7," she said.
"For anyone considering nursing, my best recommendation is to sit down and talk with a nurse, find out what are the positive aspects, and what are the challenging aspects," said Endres, adding that some places offer job shadowing for those thinking about the field.
As for advancement, some employers will underwrite additional training and education for nurses who commit to stay.
Gambill will pay for her two years of school with some $15,000 in education loans. Her husband's income as an ironworker disqualifies her from grants, she said.
And unlike many young students, she and her husband are busy raising children -- ages 11, 14 and 15. Her mother-in-law has pitched in on housework and helped teach the kids how to handle more of their own daily needs.
"Without a good support system, this wouldn't work," Gambill said.
Mitchell's wife is also in health care, working full time as a phlebotomist. They have two children, ages 9 and 12.
"There's lots of times I have to go to the library and study to get quiet, a lot of times I don't see my family," Mitchell said, saying his wife has accepted the extra burden while he earns his degree.
Mitchell, who had first aid training and experience as a prison guard, said he thinks that having had children who get sick or injured is a plus in nursing studies.
"My life experiences help out," he said.
Mitchell stands out on campus. A 6-foot-3-inch, 250-pound bald man who likes interacting with people, he also sees a lot to like in nursing.
"The variety -- it challenges your mind. You have to be observant," he said. "You have to earn your pay, but it is fulfilling. It makes you feel good to help somebody else."
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On the Net:
American Nurses Association http://www.nursingworld.org/
American Association of Colleges of Nursing: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/
Bureau of Labor Statistics/Career Guide to Health Care: http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs035.htm
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Important Announcement to Our Job Tools Users In June 2009, IMDiversity.com moved to a new jobs database and tools format, providing expanded job opportunity listings and streamlined jobseeker tools, at http://jobsearch.imdiversity.com. For the convenience of our users with existing accounts on our old database at http://jobs.imdiversity.com, we are still making your previous Job Tools Accounts available during the brief transition period. However, we urge all users to visit our new extended jobs network, and to create a new Job Tools account today, with expanded searchable resume posting options, and new, simplified tools for managing custom saved searches and email job alert agents. |
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Today's Featured Jobs in Oregon
New! Click to view featured jobs on the next page, then filter results by your custom criteria and click "Schedule Saved Search to instantly schedule job alert e-mails to be sent to you whenever a new job match is added.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Graduation day is not desperation day.
This year's college graduates are entering the toughest job market in a quarter-century. Oregon's unemployment rate is 12.4 percent. Campus recruitment is down. And many doors to traditional career paths are closed for now.
That doesn't mean all graduates have to give up all hope of putting their new degrees to work. But career counselors say it might take more time, creativity and persistence to get hired.
More new graduates are turning to other ways to gain work experience and, if all goes well, make a living. They are taking internships, joining service organizations and even starting their own businesses.
"A college-educated person is still a lot better off in the work place than a lot of people who are struggling with employment and have lost their jobs," said Deb Chereck, director of the University of Oregon's career center. "What I'm worried about are those who are putting their heads in the sand and giving up."
Ngan Nguyen, a recent Oregon State University graduate, sees the recession as an opportunity.
The biochemistry, biophysics and bioengineering major is collaborating with friends on two startup companies: a biodiesel manufacturer and eco-friendly, all-natural cosmetics lines. She turned down a job offer in San Diego and a chance to go to graduate school at MIT.
"It's an ideal time to be an entrepreneur because the big companies are getting hit harder by the economy," Nguyen, 22, said. "It's a good chance because people are open to new opportunities."
Nguyen emigrated from Vietnam with her family at age 7, dropped out of high school at 16, got a night-school diploma at 17 and went to Linn-Benton Community College before transferring to Oregon State.
She thought she was really bad at science and math until she took them in college and excelled. She had grants and a lab job lined up at MIT but decided to stay in Corvallis instead.
"I'm really eager to really apply the knowledge I learned in school," she said. "I don't want to go to school for five more years before I try."
She's not typical. Nationally, about 20 percent of this year's college graduates who applied for jobs got one, according to a spring survey of seniors by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. That's down from 51 percent in 2007 and 26 percent last year.
The survey also showed more graduating seniors this year put off their job searches than in the past two years.
Accounting, computer science and economics majors are the most likely to have job offers by graduation, although the numbers in those fields are down this year, according to the survey.
"A lot of people are hiring, but they are hiring less," University of Oregon's Chereck said.
Dee Thompson, director of Portland State University's career center, said she urges students who are anxious about the job market to look at alternatives, such as internships, that improve their chances of permanent employment when the economy improves.
"Maybe their first job out of college isn't the exact job they wanted, but how can they get the skills to enhance that goal?" Thompson said.
And students seem to be doing just that.
Justin Tandingan, a 22-year-old graduate from the University of Oregon, is one of 4,100 new teachers chosen from a record 35,000 applications for Teach for America.
He will teach at a charter elementary school in San Jose, Calif., with the goal of helping low-income students. He hopes teaching will be "a good break from school that will still be productive."
A lot of his friends also are doing volunteer, nonprofit or activist work instead of finding a traditional job or going straight to graduate school.
Minda Heyman, director of Lewis & Clark College's Center for Career and Community Engagement, said the challenge for new graduates is to focus on a particular area and make connections with alumni and others in the field.
Lewis & Clark graduates "tend to take some time to figure out where they are going and what they are doing." A lot of them want to stay in Portland but that might not be realistic in this job market, Heyman said.
"We try to be very honest with them," Heyman said.
Euphrates Dahout, a dance and theater major who graduated from Reed College in May, will start a one-year internship at Berkeley Repertory Theater in July that pays $400 a month, plus free housing and classes and opportunities to understudy.
Dahout, 22, said she wants to learn the administrative side of running a theater in hopes of directing her own company someday. She will get the added perspective of how to survive a recession.
"For artists, it's always been hard," she said. "It just changes how hard."
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On the Net:
National Association of Colleges and Employers: http://www.naceweb.org/
Teach For America: http://www.teachforamerica.org/
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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com
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Important Announcement to Our Job Tools Users In June 2009, IMDiversity.com moved to a new jobs database and tools format, providing expanded job opportunity listings and streamlined jobseeker tools, at http://jobsearch.imdiversity.com. For the convenience of our users with existing accounts on our old database at http://jobs.imdiversity.com, we are still making your previous Job Tools Accounts available during the brief transition period. However, we urge all users to visit our new extended jobs network, and to create a new Job Tools account today, with expanded searchable resume posting options, and new, simplified tools for managing custom saved searches and email job alert agents. |
View IMDiversity's Featured Jobs
New weekly listing of open
positions of special note for a variety of industries, position
types and experience levels
QuickSearch: $100K-plus Jobs
Select jobs offering pay rates
over $100,000 a year or their hourly-rates equivalent
MADISONVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Endia Shepherd carefully used a pencil to push the Christmas light base into place.
The plastic pieces kept wires from moving as the 13-year-old and other members of her group at the Governor's Minority Student College Preparation Program built a traffic light at the Brown Badgett Sr. Energy and Advanced Technology Center. They used red, green and yellow Christmas lights and other materials.
Putting together the electrical components was easy "after (the instructor) showed us," said 11-year-old William Rorer.
The students first built a control logic board for the traffic light, said instructor Joey Jones, coordinator of Madisonville Community College's advanced industrial integrated technology program.
"The car pulls up, the green light comes on, then sequences through," Jones said.
The camp, which is in about its 10th year here, has 21 participants. They are enrolled in middle school or fifth grade.
At the start of the two-week camp, 10 local participants spent two days at Murray State University with children from other locations. The camp then spent three days focused on crime scene investigation, before switching to building a traffic light.
"Of course, its focus is on STEM -- science, technology, engineering and math," said MCC Director of Cultural Diversity James Bowles said. "We're trying to prepare them for possible careers in those areas. ... We do not have enough people focusing on those kinds of careers."
For the crime scene investigation, students were given a list of six missing persons. They then used the length of a humerus bone -- the upper arm -- to identify whose bone had been found in the MCC woods.
"They had to collect the evidence," Bowles said. "You do scientific observation. You have to write things down.
"They really got into it. They were really excited."
The project is a collaboration among the Council on Postsecondary Education, Kentucky Community and Technical College System, and the James Larmouth and Jesse Stuart Family Resource Youth Service Centers in the Hopkins County Schools.
"We're just trying to keep them on the college preparation track," Bowles said. "We're trying to get them interested in college at an early age."
Rorer is already convinced.
"I'm hoping to be a doctor," he said.
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Information from: The Messenger, http://www.the-messenger.com
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