he labor market may be softening in most sectors, but when Blanca Huerta graduates
as a registered nurse from Carroll College in Wisconsin in May, it’s quite likely
the job offers will be pouring in.
"I’m not too worried about not being able to find a job,"
Huerta says. "I’m sure something will come up."
She has every reason to be confident. Nurses are in high demand,
particularly ones with bilingual skills.
The gap between the number of job vacancies and the scarcity
of registered nurses is wider than ever, says Cheryl Peterson, senior policy analyst
at the American Nurses Association in Washington.
The demand for bilingual and bicultural nurses has skyrocketed
in recent years, propelled by the swelling number of immigrants—especially Hispanics,
who represent about 15 percent of the country’s total population but only 2 percent
of all registered nurses.
Huerta, who was born in Mexico and speaks fluent Spanish,
will have an advantage over many of her classmates when in comes to negotiating
job offers.
"There is no doubt that the scarcity of nursing professionals
is widespread," Peterson notes. "But the shortage of bilingual nurses is one of
the hardest-hit areas."
Fortunately for recruiters, several schools are emphasizing
a need for bilingual nurses. Carroll College, nestled in Waukesha in the heart of
America’s dairy land, created the Hispanic Nursing Project in 2004. The initiative
provides grants and other academic support to students who are bilingual or bicultural,
says Dee Dee Wallace, program coordinator.
Huerta was one of the first students to enroll in the Carroll
program. Similar initiatives have popped up across the country, including at Washington
State University and the University of Texas at El Paso.
It promises not only to ease talent shortages but create more
fertile ground for recruiting. Talent acquisition in the health care industry must
take into account several important considerations.
For one, long-distance recruiting likely won’t pay off, since
nursing graduates are generally not willing to relocate.
"Nurses like to stay local," says Angie Millan, president
of the Los Angeles chapter for the National Association of Hispanic Nurses. "I graduated
in Los Angeles and have been working in the community for more than 20 years."
What’s more, the programs are relatively small, which is not
surprising given the limited pool of qualified students, Millan notes. Against this
backdrop, she stresses the importance for recruiters to develop personal relationships
with the potential candidates.
"Having an understanding who these individuals are and what
their needs are will be critical in recruiting them," she says. Millan recommends
that companies be as generous as possible with flextime benefits.
"Many Hispanic nurses have families and small children to
take care of," she says. "Flexibility may mean more to them than salaries sometimes."
Recruiters should also keep in mind that accessing students
in these programs may require a certain amount of cold-calling and networking.
"The nursing industry does not have many central databanks,"
Peterson says. "Information is often fragmented and won’t necessarily be listed
on the Internet."
A good starting point for recruiters is to call their local
nursing schools to find out whether they offer special initiatives.
Programs like the Hispanic Nursing Project serve several critical
purposes, Peterson notes. For one, they are developing a new generation of nurses
who can meet the health care needs of the country’s growing immigrant population.
Further, they are increasing diversity within the nursing profession, something
that is needed since more than 97 percent of nurses are white females, Peterson
explains.
Another Wisconsin school, Marquette University in Milwaukee,
launched the Beyond Project, which provides financial grants and leadership development
support to individuals from under-represented backgrounds who want to major in nursing.
This means targeting not only Hispanics but also African-American and Asian students,
according to Terrie Garcia, the project’s coordinator. The Beyond Project also offers
mentoring and leadership training to help minority nursing students develop the
skills necessary to become future decision-makers in the health care industry.
For the moment, however, Huerta is focused on completing her
studies. The job hunt is secondary. It’s probably a wise strategy, considering the
Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting that 587,000 new jobs will be added for
registered nurses between 2006 and 2016.
"This is a good time for me to be on this path," she notes.
"I’ll be able to help others and to have a secure professional future."
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