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"To find out a may not even be able to get a job after finishing my degree is truly heartbreaking"
I am going into my 3rd years of my integrated masters degree. I have worked part time at McDonald’s since starting university to just be able to get by with basic necessities on top of university costs which my maintenance, and bursary together just barely cover. I work part time during my placements as well often working 7 days a week just to make sure I can survive with travel and food for placement. To find out a may not even be able to get a job after finishing my degree is truly heartbreaking especially with the sacrifices that have been made to complete the degree.
"I do not expect everything to be easy, but I simply want the chance to demonstrate what I can do, continue learning and develop into the nurse I worked so hard to become."
At times, I have started to question my own abilities and wonder whether I am good enough to be a nurse. The constant applications, interviews and rejection have affected my confidence and made me feel isolated and emotionally exhausted. There have been moments when I have felt so discouraged that I have stopped wanting to apply for more positions. What hurts the most is knowing that I have worked so hard throughout my training and gained experience across different clinical settings, yet I am finding it difficult to get someone to give me that first opportunity. I do not expect everything to be easy, but I simply want the chance to demonstrate what I can do, continue learning and develop into the nurse I worked so hard to become.
"To put so much time into it has really put me off with continuing to even want to qualify as a nurse?"
Coming to the end of my nursing journey and knowing I’ve put blood, sweat and tears into this degree to not be able to apply or even have a chance of getting a job at any of my trusts is very disappointing. Nursing degrees consist of 2300 hours of placement hours. To put so much time into it has really put me off with continuing to even want to qualify as a nurse. I’ll be looking into different masters to hopefully get a job.
"Come back in 6 months time"
I have been qualified as a nurse since January 2026 . I got into nursing as previously I have been a support worker and healthcare assistant working in the health and social care industry since I was 16 and nursing seemed like the natural next step in my career. I took every opportunity from international placements and places like Croatia, Fiji and South Africa and going to RCN Congress learning BSL and I'm going to conferences around learning disability nursing. Despite this I have always been told since been looking for my job to come back in 6 months time when I've got more experience or they have too many newly qualified nurses and it's just not what they're looking for.
"Is it really worth becoming a nurse?"
My placements I have experienced as a student nurse have all fallen below the standard I’d expect. Yes we get nursery, but so do a lot of different healthcare degrees that do not require the same amount as physical practice as student nurses. Therefore, I have a part time job alongside full time nursing placements to help me get by. It is stressful, I have caught the flu on every placement I have been on but have still never taken a sick day because I am scared of being behind in hours, this puts both mine and my patients safety at risk. We sacrifice so much during our degrees yet we are left with nothing in the end, no jobs, paying for the NMC, is it really worth becoming a nurse? Quality placements would better prepare us for graduate jobs than the quantity of hours we have to complete.
"It is devastating that our almost unique NHS is failing those wishing to join it"
Having begun my nurse training in 1983 it is so disappointing the way nurse training has changed over the years. Whilst there are such significant needs within the NHS, those who have been trained are not considered to have the skills required. Surely nurse training needs to be addressed, to ensure the skills required have been gained through the process.. I am now retired from the profession that I loved, it is devastating that our almost unique NHS is failing those wishing to join it.
"I feel so discouraged with rate of declined applications"
I am an Adult nursing student and I must say I feel so discouraged with rate of declined applications and also requirements stating 1 year post registration. The NHS do need staffs but still the rate of decline in employment is high. How can safe staffing and patient safety be met when the wards are short staffed and the ratio of patients to nurses are alarming? I hope something can be done.
"It is a disgrace"
I have just finished my nursing degree in paediatrics and have been looking for a job for a long time however there are none, most require at least a years post grad experience and currently where I live they are in an employment freeze. While I was willing to relocate for a job, this is not feasible due to the cost of living crisis so I was looking up to 2 hours away. However no, there are no jobs. I know many nursing students who have not been able to get jobs and many that were applying in different fields such as adult nursing. However in the hospital they applied for they were told just before their interviews that they were getting cancelled as they don’t have the budget to hire anyone. It is a disgrace, for all those who have worked so hard and tirelessly for the NHS yet have no job to show for it.
"This is the worst I have ever known the recruitment of NRNs"
I have been registered for over 30 years and this is the worst I have ever known the recruitment of NRNs. It is a criminal waste of money to train these excellent people who are so vital and needed to the healthcare workforce and then leave them hanging.
"I look on NHS jobs every single day"
I am a student nurse due to qualify within the next 6 months. I am actively seeking jobs outside of nursing in preparation to qualifying as there are no jobs in my area. I look on NHS jobs every single day. I work bank in the local trust to network with wards / units to seek employment when I qualify. I left a government career to become a nurse, I have trained for 4 years with an additional 2 years experience in care to prepare me for my nursing degree, just to be told now that there are no jobs. It’s very disheartening and terrifying to know that all you’ve worked for isn’t enough to be employed. There needs to be a change.
"This cycle of cohorts facing unemployment in nursing has to stop"
I finished my degree in September 2025, having already been job searching for 6 months, I started my job in April 2026 after many rejections on application and interview. The job market is extremely competitive and demoralizing. Now I have a job, the staffing issues are terrible, we desperately need this next cohort to be supported into employment to maintain services but also begin to support the government aims such as prevention and new mental health services. While I couldn't get a nursing job, I really struggled to get a normal job due to my nursing degree, if I had less privilege or more responsibilities, turning my back on nursing would have been the only choice. The whole time I was told things were getting sorted, my region were doing things to help, nothing ever came to fruition, the reality is without funding no one can do anything. This cycle of cohorts facing unemployment in nursing has to stop.
"I can't find a job"
I've been applying for months on end to no avail. Beginning to question whether nursing is really for me.
"Exhaustion is not an educational strategy. Nor should resilience become a euphemism for enduring systemic problems"
Of course nursing requires resilience. But if students are routinely experiencing burnout, financial pressure and exhaustion, the answer cannot simply be to tell them to become more resilient. We need to ask why the system requires so much resilience in the first place. This matters because student experience directly affects workforce retention. We cannot continually talk about recruiting nurses while ignoring what we are asking people to endure before they even qualify. Students are not asking for an easy degree. We are not asking for reduced standards. We are asking to be educated properly. We need meaningful supervision, protected learning opportunities, clinicians who have the capacity to teach, assessment that measures competence rather than administrative compliance, and genuine collaboration between universities and clinical services.
"I'm terrified for the future of nursing"
The NHS is already struggling to function. We don't have enough services to meet the demand, and the services we do have are often understaffed to dangerous levels. Now we have thousands of brilliant student nurses the NHS is crying out for, but can't hire because they have no funding. Instead, they spend over a billion pounds a year on agency staff because it comes from a different budget. Why not save the taxpayer money while improving their services by guaranteeing every student nurse a job?
"I know there is so much good in nursing and so much joy. I don't want to give up on that. Yet it sometimes feels impossible to hold onto."
I've both loved and hated this degree. I've loved the incredible patients I've met and the stories I've been privileged to be invited into. But I'd be lying if I said I hadn't felt crushed by the commute of almost 2 hours each way, either side of a 12.5-hour shift where I feel completely undervalued; by then spending weekends writing application after application at the same rate as the rejections coming in; by checking my bank balance and what I owe to student finance; by hearing the nurses I look up to describe being utterly burnt out and wishing to leave.
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