Below is a selection of the stories shared with us. The full 290 are on our Padlet, where you can also add your own.
Please note: some of the experiences below describe financial hardship, distress and mental ill health.
If you are struggling, Samaritans can be contacted free on 116 123, at any time.
"I qualified in September and am currently on universal credit, having to visit the job centre weekly for work commitments. I have placed myself and my [daughter] in a dire situation financially, and visiting the job centre is soul-destroying."
Newly Qualified Nurse, Mental Health
I left a role working for my local authority where I was employed for 20 years. I’m a single mum of a little girl and wanted to better our lives, and mental health is close to my heart and has always been my passion. I have applied for jobs. I did get an interview, but the job was pulled for redeployment. I applied for 2 more jobs and they were pulled due to organisational changes. I was rejected for another post, as were some of my fellow newly qualified nurses. I am now looking at going back to uni to study a PWP course as a band 4, leaving my nursing behind so I can make a wage instead of being on universal credit. It’s a huge waste financially, physically and mentally. I know the majority of my cohort are in the same position, with just a handful of us lucky enough to get a job.
"The current ward staff will not stay in post as they struggle every shift, new nurses won’t want to be nurses if they can’t get jobs and see other nurses struggling, and senior/specialist nurses won’t stay in post as they are expected to do their role and now work on wards as well. It’s too much."
Registered Nurse
I am deeply concerned about the future of the nursing profession. Our trust are pulling specialist nurses from their roles to cover wards instead of hiring or using NHSP.
"We’re all tired, burnt out, desperate for the weight to be lifted that is sitting a 3-year degree, initially being ‘guaranteed’ a job, to then find you have to fight tooth and nail to even be in with a chance of employment upon qualifying."
Student Nurse
I am one of many student nurses facing the reality that I may be without a job upon qualifying. Nursing has been my passion for years, I’ve worked so hard and it feels like such a huge slap in the face to now be facing potential unemployment in a field that is “crying out for staff”. I’m not alone, though. I’m one of many. It’s a hard job that not everyone can do, and genuinely good people with serious compassion are being rejected for jobs or simply not even being offered them. Something needs to change!
"After nearly 40 years of nursing in an NHS role that I love, it breaks my heart to see how badly the next generation of nurses are treated."
Registered Nurse
When I trained there were nursing homes reducing the need for travel for students and providing them with much-needed peer support. There was a small bursary in payment for working on the wards, but it was manageable because there was no rent, travel or high cost of living. I have watched my daughter with huge pride battle through some frankly terrifying situations and still stay positive and determined. There are so many like her and I cannot understand why we would not want better for them. Nursing is a highly skilled, bloody difficult job to do well. I 100% support this letter and would add: stop charging nurses for a degree which they are effectively paying for in free labour.
"I completed 5 years of education and received my master’s qualification in adult and mental health nursing. I’m 90k in debt, unemployed on universal credit and using foodbanks."
Newly Qualified Nurse, dual-trained
"In 2024 I had a traumatic birth. The only thing that saved mine and my daughter’s life was a newly qualified nurse and a newly qualified midwife who realised the severity of the situation and stepped in."
Patient
Our health service needs newly qualified staff, who have freshly learnt so much to enrich our healthcare system.
"I just want someone to read my application and think, 'She's newly qualified, but she cares, and she can learn. Let's give her a chance.'"
Registered Nurse
I qualified as a nurse in 2025, and I still can’t get my first nursing job. I went to the job fair at my local Trust so proud of myself. Then I found out I’d only been put in an offer reserve pool. That means I’m appointable, but there aren’t enough jobs for everyone who applied. I was working as a Band 2 at the time, and I turned down the chance to apply for a permanent contract because I was so sure I’d get a nursing post. They gave the post to someone else, so I had to leave, and now I’m picking up shifts wherever I can, around my two children. On every shift I pick up, nurses tell me they’re short-staffed on every ward. Then I’m told there’s no job for me. It doesn’t add up. None of us can get experience until someone takes that first chance on us.
"To come out of my training and have to go back to the minimum wage job I had when I started is crushing."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I have spent £60k getting a degree in nursing while looking after my dad, who died a week before I finished my degree. I trained to help people, like my dad and everyone else I have worked with and cared for, and now I can’t even do that? I find it really frustrating, especially as most placements and other healthcare experiences have always been short-staffed and can experience dangerously low staffing levels, but no jobs are available to fill these gaps?
"I have considered leaving healthcare for a secure role elsewhere while I continue to search, but am worried that once I’m out it will be even harder to secure a job or I will lose clinical skills."
Newly Qualified Nurse
There are limited jobs available in my area. I have remained working as a bank HCA, which has left me financially insecure. Christmas is approaching and I feel like I need to make a decision either way.
"I'm an MSc ACP with 20 years experience. Struggling to find full time permanent employment."
Registered Nurse
"I have been in hospital on multiple occasions and every time I felt my level of care compromised by a lack of nursing staff availability."
Patient
There’s an obvious need to improve this and the answer is right there. It’s a criminal oversight costing lives when the solution is right in front of the decision makers.
"We must look after these nurses or they will leave."
Registered Nurse
We have had newly qualified nurses on our ward who have gone off with stress after being on the ward for a year. They are not supported properly due to short staffing. We need more nurses on the wards to reduce nurses’ stress. This will aid retention.
"It is incredibly difficult - feeling ready and willing to work as a registered nurse, yet struggling to find an opportunity to do so."
Newly Qualified Nurse, Mental Health
Repeatedly applying for positions, attending interviews and being left waiting without clear communication has started to affect my confidence and motivation. I am finding myself losing hope and questioning how I will be able to begin my career, despite having achieved the qualification and PIN I worked so hard for. I have invested so much time, effort and dedication into becoming a nurse, and I do not want to lose the hope and enthusiasm I had when I first entered the profession.
"I was told in first year to look in America and Australia for nursing jobs."
Student Nurse
Reading job descriptions for band 5 nurses in the UK, they do not welcome entry-level graduates. Most of them require past experience as a band 5 for a certain number of months.
"I have a mortgage, 4 kids and I’m juggling full-time uni and placements as well as work in order to finish this degree! I want reassurance that there will be a job there for me this time next year."
Student Nurse, final-year
"Getting rejections every day due to not enough experience is heartbreaking after working so long to gain skills I may never get to use."
Newly Qualified Nurse, Paediatrics
I have applied to around 40+ jobs, spending hours adapting my personal statement to the non-ending person specification list after being told by my trust there are no jobs.
"I am a mother of two children, trying to show them that you can achieve your dream no matter what... it appears I have failed. I am £90,000 in student loan debt, unemployed and claiming universal credit."
Newly Qualified Nurse
It has taken me four years to qualify as a nurse, 2,305.5 unpaid hours working for the NHS. There is a recruitment freeze in my local hospital trust, meaning I am having to apply for jobs up to an hour away — two hours extra added onto what will already be 13-hour shifts, and added expense. Yet I'm so passionate and absolutely love nursing. I want to make a difference to the NHS, I am full of ideas, and I thrive off making patients smile while in some of the hardest times of their lives. I want to work. I want to be the nurse I trained so hard to become, and I want to make my children proud. But this government doesn't seem to want that. The band 5 roles are too far out of reach because I do not have 'nurse' experience, only 'student nurse' experience.
"As a newly qualified nurse I faced many barriers to starting as a nurse, applying to over 50 jobs with EVERY rejection stating a lack of experience."
Newly Qualified Nurse
"No opportunity to gain preceptorship and no jobs. Is this the future of nursing in Britain?"
Parent of a Newly Qualified Nurse
My daughter has completed her degree this year, completing all the hours on placement, with the added hours of travel, all the university hours and study hours. We are so proud of her. And we are now asking 'for what?'
"How are we going to pay student finance? How are we going to feed our families?"
Newly Qualified Nurse
I qualified September 2025 and have been searching for work since. No luck. Most jobs are looking for experienced nurses, and my question is how are we going to get experience without employment. I have experience in placement for three years. I'm staying home without a job and losing my skills. What's the point of training nurses if you can't give them jobs?
"Watching my sister study for 4 years to be a mental health nurse just to watch her worry that there’s not jobs like she was promised is scary."
Relative of a Student Nurse
I sympathise with everyone else they’re pushing to study nursing to treat them like they do. We need these people. Thank you to everyone that signed.
"I had such passion and excitement going into third year; still the same passion, far less excitement."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I have finished my training, got my PIN, and yet have no prospects of a nursing job. Most of my cohort is in the same position. There is a general feeling of hopelessness within NQNs.
"I have witnessed the devastation of a high quality NHS... I am concerned about what care will be available for me in my later years."
Registered Nurse, 43 years of service
The damage to the infrastructure has been perpetuated by successive governments. They have all contributed. For decades, nursing has been taken away from learning both on the wards and in nursing education. For the last 15 years it has been made clear that, due to the reduction of the numbers actually training and gaining experience, there was going to be a huge loss of trained, experienced nurses to retirement. Nothing has been done to prevent this. We are now feeling that loss. I am still working after 43 years, with no current plans to retire. It is shameful.
"I am due to lose my NMC registration because I will be unable to revalidate."
Registered Nurse, Paediatrics
I have been unable to secure a newly qualified nurse role since qualifying in 2024 due to lack of vacancies, or vacancies needing experience and evidence of recent professional development. Many vacancies, including those in the private sector, have also required the nurse preceptorship to be completed, which I have not had the opportunity to start. I have also found many vacancies have been listed for internal applicants only. I feel lied to. I was promised a role as a student upon completion of my studies. I have over £50,000 student debt and a shattered dream of becoming a nurse.
"I was lucky enough to qualify with bursary support. This should never have been removed and is frankly yet another insult to our profession."
Advanced Nurse Practitioner
Nurses have been under-appreciated, under-supported and underpaid for too long. Understaffed wards, bursting A&E departments, and GP surgeries whose triage lists are literally never-ending with no clinical appointments to allocate to patients. This is not safe and it is not fair, especially when we have qualified nurses unemployed due to recruitment freezes. I fully support the next generation of nurses. I am very proud that they have taken action, and I stand shoulder to shoulder with them.
"Pay attention. The experienced nurses & midwives are leaving & retiring. There are no jobs for newly qualified. How big does the gap have to get?"
Registered Nurse
"In a drive to save money, cash-strapped trusts are advertising posts that would previously have been band 6 as a band 5."
Registered Nurse
This is part of a far bigger story. Highly experienced nurses are consistently working above their pay grade, with no sign of career progression in the foreseeable future. There is discontent, demotivation and burnout throughout the nursing community.
"Despite working in my area over 10 years and now taking the apprenticeship route to top up to registered nurse, I face not having a job at the end."
Nursing Apprenticeship Student
This route was taken to maintain financial security being a mature student, but the current freeze and lack of vacancies means potentially losing my job. This should not be happening, especially after the trust have also funded my training.
"I qualified in November 2024 with a first-class honours degree in mental health nursing and struggled to get a job for almost a year."
Registered Mental Health Nurse
I managed to get a fixed-term contract for one year, which ended this August. I am back in the job market looking for a job. There are hardly any band 5 vacancies ever advertised, and often they require more experience than a newly qualified nurse has.
"There are no jobs available to even apply for in my area. Every advertised band 5 job asks for experience or completed preceptorship. Three years of debt, dedication, 2,300 hours of unpaid placement hours and no job."
Student Nurse, final-year
Once I have my PIN I can no longer work as a healthcare assistant, which leaves me in a predicament as a mature person with no employment.
"I'm unqualified for band 5 roles as they require one year post-grad experience, but too overqualified for other healthcare positions."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I took much longer than normal to get my degree, through lack of placements, bullying in the workplace, lack of support, no peers to turn to, and hardship and mental health decline through Covid. But I persisted to get the degree, for the job I'm passionate about. However, I've struggled to even get my foot in the doorway, struggling to get employment in the career I worked so hard to succeed in. I just need to be given a chance, but there are just no vacancies, or none that I can apply to because of the need for that one year's experience. It's time for change. No newly qualified nurse should be unable to get employment.
"I am struggling to understand how newly qualified nurses are expected to obtain that experience when opportunities to enter the profession are so limited."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I have recently completed my BSc Adult Nursing degree at a UK university and am now a Registered Nurse with current NMC registration. I also have around two to three years' experience working within the NHS as a healthcare assistant. Despite this, I am finding it extremely difficult to secure my first Registered Nurse position, particularly a role offering visa sponsorship. My student visa is due to expire soon, which has made the situation increasingly stressful and urgent. I recently attended an interview and was unsuccessful because the employer chose a nurse who was already working in a registered nursing role.
"Every day, I search Trac, the NHS website, Indeed and individual trusts. Some days there are no jobs at all, and some days one or two jobs are available."
Registered Nurse
I have been looking for a nurse role since August 2024. I notice that job vacancies close really early, sometimes within one to three days. This means I miss deadlines through no fault of my own. This really knocks my confidence, and I get really anxious and stressed. I suffer from ADHD, and this affects me more than people who have no disabilities.
"I have worked hard during placements for free, often being used as an extra staff member rather than being given learning opportunities as a student."
Student Nurse
When I applied for nursing, I was told that it was a guaranteed job. I have got myself into a copious amount of debt in order to work as a nurse. Now, when I graduate, I will likely not even be able to find a nursing job. It is not just disappointing but completely unfair and misleading.
"I work with many student nurses who are in their final placements and have not been able to secure their first qualified role due to all the recruitment freezes many trusts are currently having."
Registered Nurse, Paediatrics
"I was awarded the NHS England Chief Nursing Officer Award for Excellence and Innovation 2026. I was told this would be an amazing award to have on my CV, yet the job vacancies don't exist for us to apply for."
Newly Qualified Nurse
The government have already invested £15,000 in Learning Support Fund into my nursing career. It's in their best financial interests for me to work for the NHS.
"It's soul destroying, going through all the training, hardship, tears and family strain, and then to be told it's still not enough is madness."
Newly Qualified Nurse
"I should be excited to qualify, however I'm currently nervous due to the lack of NQN jobs."
Student Nurse, final-year
I have worked in a variety of clinical roles in the NHS for the last 10 years and studied to be a dual-qualified nurse for the last four. After three to four years of hard work and endless unpaid placement hours, this should not be a concern for student nurses and NQNs.
"My local trust has suspended hiring of all newly qualified nurses now and for the foreseeable."
Student Nurse, final-year
Every band 5 job I was looking at applying for was asking for experienced nurses or six months' post-qualification experience. There were no jobs available to me within a 60-mile radius. This means that once I qualify, I won't be able to get a job or experience... After three years, giving 2,300 hours of essentially free work to the NHS and paying for it through course fees, I will be in debt, unemployed, unemployable, and completely demoralised. And yet, they are still taking new students through the universities.
"After four years of giving up so much to train as a nurse, I now find myself as a cleaner to pay my bills."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I am a newly qualified nurse who's just graduated my Integrated Masters in Adult Nursing with a First Class degree, and since then have struggled to find employment. It's so incredibly heartbreaking and insulting. I miss nursing, I miss my patients, and this whole situation just feels like it's out of a nightmare.
"I can think of many ways to save money, and Band 5 jobs would never feature."
Advanced Nurse Practitioner
Fully supporting the students and newly qualified nurses who are the future of this noble profession. Those of us with many years under our belts owe the younger generation our loyalty and support in these tragic times of short-sightedness. Hands-on clinicians should never be the targets for cost-saving initiatives.
"We need these newly qualified nurses... they need to get into post and gain experience to fill the roles as we retire."
Registered Nurse
I trained in 1999 on Project 2000. It was hard then even with the bursary as a mature student, but now I simply wouldn't be able to afford the training period and the debt afterwards. It's very shortsighted and such a waste, as well as being heartbreaking for the newly qualified nurses.
"The recent so-called 'Jobs Fair' had no jobs..."
Newly Qualified Nurse
Or they want at least two years' experience. How are you going to get the experience if you can't get a job? There are hardly any band 5 roles available.
"It’s truly devastating to hear that newly qualified nurses cannot get jobs."
Registered Nurse
21 years ago when I qualified almost every graduate got a job in their chosen trust. Preceptorship was a new concept back then but we learned quickly from our mentors and other staff on the ward. It’s truly devastating to hear that newly qualified nurses cannot get jobs to consolidate their skills and assist those further ahead in their careers.
"Four years of extremely hard work to push through unpaid hours - 3,111 to graduate... What was the point of it all if I can't progress?"
Student Nurse, final-year
I'm so scared that after four years of extremely hard work I won't even be granted the basic access to a job, having sacrificed a lot in my life to do this. Absolutely a waste of time and money — and we are paying for our degree.
"I am full of dread over whether I will find a job once I'm qualified."
Student Nurse, final-year
I have just gone into my third year as a student nurse. When I started my degree I would be asked what I wanted to do once I qualified and I would respond with the areas I'm interested in. Now when I'm asked I just say I'll take whatever I can find. I have friends who qualified four months ago who have applied for 20+ roles, with considerable travelling distances, only to be unemployed still. I know of others who have gone straight onto the bank, as the only role being offered to newly qualified nurses in my local trust. It's shocking that universities are still able to enrol in the same numbers whilst the job roles simply aren't there to be filled upon completion.
"We are desperately short of new nurses, and it's impossible to believe they have put everything into training and are then out of work... This needs an inquiry, and now."
Registered Nurse
I have been trained for 41 years. Whoever is in charge now has lost their way. We are desperately short of new nurses, and it's impossible to believe they have put everything into training and are then out of work. Patients need good staffing. Nurses are entering training and getting into debt, completing study with shifts at the same time. Is there no one counting need and enrolment and balancing that? Is cutting staff about money?
"I have been offered 2 guaranteed graduate jobs but both were rescinded due to unforeseen circumstances."
Newly Qualified Nurse, Mental Health
I recently qualified as a mental health nurse, three years later than I should have. We were guaranteed jobs upon completion. Now I'm qualified, there are no preceptorship roles. Trusts are also not taking bank staff on. And God knows where these support worker jobs are that are supposed to now be nursing jobs.
"I have a friend who has spent the last few years retaking O Levels, getting on a nursing degree course, working so hard at her studies and going above and beyond in her practical placements, and is now unemployed having qualified earlier this year."
Retired Nurse
Such a sad state of affairs when there is such a shortage of nurses and so many unfilled vacancies, but the NHS doesn't have the money to match these nurses with jobs.
"It's a disgrace that we expect people to pay £9,000 a year and work for nothing, then offer them nothing on completion. The Department of Health should hang their head in shame."
Retired Nurse
I'm a retired RGN, having been a ward sister for 20 years. I trained in the days when you were paid whilst on placement. Due to numerous conditions, I am now on the other side as a patient. It is heartbreaking to see the stress nurses are under, and the large number of patients each is responsible for. Many are going without breaks in order to keep their patients safe. At a time when they are badly needed to give hands-on care, they are pulled away by numerous managers all asking the same questions as they desperately seek beds. Junior matron, senior matron, bed manager, business manager, and sometimes the hospital manager, all asking the same thing. Open all the cottage hospitals you closed, to free acute beds, and give every newly qualified nurse a guarantee of a job on completion. It's the least you can do.
"My daughter qualified 3 years ago and could not get employment with a 1st degree from a Russell Group uni."
Registered Nurse and parent to a Registered Nurse
She now works in the Prison Service. I am registered with 40 years' experience but have left the profession as it has worn me down. I am fortunate enough to be able to walk away, but feel the nurse's guilt of deserting the sinking ship.
"The constant pity when people ask if you've got a job, as if you must be really bad, because 'the NHS is screaming for nurses'... I love nursing, but it currently is my biggest regret."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I started my nursing journey in 2016. In my third year, family circumstances meant I was burning out, and I took the heartbreaking decision to take time out of my course. Covid hit, the NMC changed the course requirements, and I was told I could not go back just to do my dissertation. I fought and fought, even getting my MP involved, and in the end I had to start over. By the time I returned it was 2024. Blood, sweat and tears to keep up after five years out, still a single parent to three girls, with my closest placement 17 miles from home. My kids missed out on me, but I did it. I've applied for everything I can, and always get told it came down to experience. I'm now working as a healthcare assistant, losing my clinical skills. Why did I lose that precious time with my children? I love nursing, but it currently is my biggest regret.
"Many NQNs are having to look elsewhere, beyond their qualifications and profession, just to be able to pay their bills."
Registered Nurse
In a time where we need more and more nurses, it is imperative that newly qualified nurses are offered a job. There are many student nurses and NQNs who are ready, enthusiastic and qualified to do such an important job as a registered nurse. However, this just is not the case. Something needs to change as a matter of urgency.
"Every day I’m losing more hope as to whether I will ever get a job that will allow me to do [nursing]."
Student Nurse, final-year
I’m 11 months out from qualifying and I’m terrified of what the future will look like. I’m so passionate to pursue my career in nursing, actively make a difference and care for my patients, but every day I’m losing more hope as to whether I will ever get a job that will allow me to do this.
"They work tirelessly despite understaffing and absent doctors... We must protect the future of nurses."
Patient
I have been in hospital with sepsis, pneumonia and, on another occasion, post-operative complications with an internal bleed. I also live with long-term health conditions. The care and diligence of the nurses who looked after me was wonderful. The good nurses stick in your mind. They reassured me, were really helpful in the little things, accommodating and patient when I was at my worst, the most ill I've ever been. It makes all the difference when you are taken care of by nurses who fulfil their role and then go the extra mile, because they are committed to their patients, their colleagues and to the profession, the vocation they have trained and studied hard for. They work tirelessly in an organisation that doesn't always give them the support and facilities they need to do the wonderful job they are doing.
"I am dropping my hours to three days a week, and instead of recruiting they have frozen the post."
Registered Nurse
I have been a nurse for 30 years and an MS nurse for the last 12 years. We are getting more and more patients on our caseloads and no extra support, despite asking management on numerous occasions. I am now deciding to drop my hours to three days a week to help my stress levels, but instead of recruiting a nurse for the other days that we can train up, they have frozen the post. This will lead to our team becoming overworked, yet we are still expected to provide the same service.
When we have complaints from patients that we are not responding to them in time, we are investigated and told it’s not good enough. I feel very demoralised and fear for the future of nursing, for our patients and for the mental health of the nurses who are in post. Government must listen if they want to see their loved ones looked after in a safe and compassionate manner.
"No interview calls, and this is after 10+ years of bedside nursing experience."
Registered Nurse
I was diagnosed with blood cancer. I have bills to pay and am wanting to work.
"Students shouldn't be graduating with a nursing degree and finding themselves unemployed. It's unacceptable."
Student Nurse
Having previously studied paramedic science, I decided to go on to adult nursing as the job prospects were better and more secure. During my interviews for nursing it was constantly reiterated to me how great nursing was because it almost guaranteed a job. Two years later and I'm seeing peers graduate without jobs waiting for them. There are no band 5 nursing jobs available.
"It is outrageous that [graduate nurses] have been pushed into debt and left with such limited career opportunities."
Registered Nurse, 40 years of service
I was lucky enough to train as a nurse in 1985, with employment status, terms and conditions from day one. I have subsequently spent all my working life working in the NHS, in a wide range of roles, and still believe it is an important institution to the nation. We can and should provide opportunities and support to this generation of nurses to be able to contribute to the health of the nation, when staffing levels and basic patient care are so substandard in so many places.
"In our community team we almost exclusively take on newly qualified nurses. We would have failed, due to chronic staffing, if not for them."
Community Nurse
Newly qualified nurses are well trained and keen to start the rest of their career. I value them highly. I feel for anyone starting out now. It saddens me that the career I have loved is now so difficult for the next generation to start in.
"I find it preposterous that you are not a first choice."
Member of the public
I fully support your fight to be employed in the NHS. Funding must be made available.
"The new nurses’ dilemma needs urgent addressing. Fully qualified yet can’t get a job in NHS nursing when there's a shortfall of 30,000 staff?"
Retired Nurse
"We need newly qualified nurses to be learning from experienced nurses before they leave or retire. How are we succession planning for our NHS?"
Registered Nurse
I hear daily, from patients across the UK, how they can't get hold of a nurse to help them, and they struggle to get the care, information and support they need. Newly qualified nurses will ease the huge burden of staff shortages and strain our NHS is under. More staff keeps patients safe. I am only 50 years old and very worried about what state the NHS will be in if I need medical care in the future. They need opportunities to open up so they can get experience and mentorship. Having no job openings will mean other potential student nurses won't train and we'll have a huge deficit in the near future.
"When we need these nurses they will have taken different career pathways, or lost the confidence that we helped them develop."
Manager, Paediatric Nursing
It is so wrong that the students we have spent hours training haven't got jobs to go to. They have been failed by the system. Why are you training so many students? So sad.
"2300 practice hours and 2300 academic hours. All that, for potentially nothing."
Student Nurse, final-year
This is my second degree, my second shot at a career, and I am being constantly told there are no jobs for NQNs. To have done all this work, all the free labour, all the stress it's put myself and my family through, all the debt I have wracked up, and find out it might be for nothing is absolutely demoralising. Stop giving us false hope. Stop pushing us into mountains of unpayable student debt to not even hire us in our field at the end of it. Stop taking our free labour while we train. We deserve better than this. We have worked so hard.
"Leaving my children in school clubs, for what? To be jobless and with a massive debt after 3 years of hard work?"
Student Nurse, final-year
In my third year as a student and already getting anxious about not being able to find a job, as seen in previous cohorts. I have a family, bills to pay, and I left my job to pursue my dream, which is nursing. I feel so deflated to see this situation now. It feels like what's the point of doing all this? All the hard work put into this degree, the early and late hours of placement, basically working for free. I honestly don't know if this is worth it anymore. The government must act now before it is too late, because like myself there are plenty of students out there who feel exactly the same.
"Nurses are exhausted, often with no time to nurse."
Occupational Therapist
NHS staff generally are exhausted, there are not enough of any of us on shift, our health and wellbeing is at risk and patients' lives are at risk.
"Those who make it to the end of their studies are having to take up retail, travel, domestic or market research work instead of the profession they trained in."
Lead Student Nurse Facilitator
It's heartbreaking. Some are deferring their registration for more than 12 months before they can get a job.
"It's a travesty that new nurses can't get jobs."
Senior Sister
We are seeing cost cutting all over the NHS, and patient care is compromised due to lack of nurses. Don't allow people to train if there aren't going to be sufficient jobs.
"The establishment takes their lives, their time, their money, and then says 'no thank you'."
Parent of a Newly Qualified Nurse
My daughter qualified in March 2026. She was faced with the prospect of no job, after leaving a highly qualified position in the science industry to train to become a nurse. Gathering more student debt along the way, working long hours for the NHS as a student. After a protest by her cohort, bringing attention to the situation through the media and the RCN, NHS establishments were forced to find positions for some, but not all. My daughter got a position she had no choice in, and is meant to be grateful for it. She now works in a position that gives little joy and much upset. Newly qualified nurses are not treated well and it is a disgrace.
"I never thought I'd leave the NHS. I'm on the brink of packing it all in."
Registered Nurse
Year upon year it gets more and more stressful, the endless responsibilities of two, three, four people's jobs put on top of your own. The lack of respect and consistent gaslighting when you raise concerns about patient safety and how you're not coping. It's burning me out and making me sick. I have plans to leave the NHS, as some of my friends and colleagues already have done.
"[Newly qualified nurses] are postponing applying to go on the register for a year while they build up funds to live off and repay debt."
Ward Sister
When I qualified 30 years ago the situation was similar. As newly qualified nurses we were only offered 3 month temporary contracts. Speaking to newly qualified nurses now, they are postponing applying to go on the register while they build up funds and repay debts, as there are no vacancies in our local area. Plus, due to ongoing staff shortages and overcrowded hospital wards, the "junior" members of the team are constantly being moved, causing them to lose confidence in their skills, become disheartened, and eventually leave.
"NHS Trusts should have a clear recruitment process for newly qualified nurses."
Senior Lecturer and Programme Lead
All newly qualified nurses should have a clear pathway into the NHS, to support and help end the NHS staffing crisis. The present system is not working and is harmful for workforce planning. Newly qualified nurses are trained to a high standard and ready to join the workforce with practice experience as a student.
"I passed the interview, but the Trust said there is no guarantee of a job because there are no Band 5 posts available."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I just qualified as a registered nurse after working as a nursing associate for six years. During my training I was allocated by the university to a host Trust for my clinical skills practice, and at the end of my training I attended the Trust interview and successfully passed it. I don't have any income and I already owe more than £35k. During my placement, on almost every day, there has been short staffing. Why is it not possible to recruit to cover this shortage instead of putting patients at risk?
"We were told we'd have a field of jobs to cherry pick. Now it feels like we're just getting by on rejection after rejection."
Newly Qualified Nurse
When I first applied, I had a deep sense of security with the idea of the healthcare workforce wanting myself and my cohort as future nurses. Was I so wrong. It feels like now we're scraping the edges of the application system to get a job, some of us are even looking far outside our locality and risking hours of driving to maintain a job so we can keep our pins. It's a sad mix of infuriating, disappointment and upset. I went through years of education to secure my place at university to train to be a nurse, and now I feel that has gone to waste with the lack of job prospects and false hope. It's disturbing the future for nurses looks bleak. I've seen that barely anyone wants to apply due to the fear of no job prospect, and rightfully so.
"If the bottom is eroded, it will collapse, and the top will go down with it."
Registered Nurse
The NHS workforce needs to be completely restructured. Money is not going where it should be. It is in the interest of every band 7+ manager to ensure the workforce is secure on the frontline and that patient care is a priority.
"My trust said 'we used to hire all our nursing students... we don't anymore'."
Student Nurse
My entire life I have aspired to become a nurse. I decided to take a leap of faith at 28 to change my career into nursing, which is something I have truly wanted my whole life. I love nursing, I am a passionate student who embodies what it is to be a nurse. I am terrified of the prospect of being unemployed when I graduate. My first day of nursing, during the onboarding day, my trust said "we used to hire all our nursing students... we don't anymore". That was so disheartening to hear. On placement, I'm working for free with limited guidance. I think I would truly be a wonderful nurse, and as I approach my final year I should be excited, but I'm terrified. I cannot believe all my hard work might be for nothing.
"We have some of the worst staffing ratios in the developed world."
Clinical Trainer
The staffing shortages are disgraceful. Nurses are under increasing stress, working with such dreadful staffing levels. Nurses who raise concerns about safety due to such low numbers are then bullied by hospital managers. These problems can be solved easily by opening up recruitment of newly qualified nurses and reopening sponsorships for international nurses. We have a health service that is failing in so many areas.
"If we are unable to employ our student nurses, we will be unable to future proof our profession for the healthcare needs of tomorrow."
Advanced Nurse Practitioner
Student nurses are the future of our profession. It is imperative that we harness their skills, expertise and energy as soon as they qualify, to enable them to consolidate their practice and progress their professional journeys.
"Not one of my group left nursing school without a job offer. That was simply unheard of... The way the current student body is being treated is appalling."
Retired Nurse, 40 years of service
Since my group qualified I've had to upgrade over the years and gain my diploma and then my degree. Some of the changes during my career have been positive, some not so much. Nursing as a profession is stressful enough without the extra concerns of student debt and the possibility of unemployment at the end of the training. Becoming a nurse was the best decision I ever made. I've had a lovely career. Please can we at least allow the next generation of nurses coming through to have the same experience? Also, we really need them!
"Without their hard work, skills and dedication, the NHS would simply not exist."
Student Paramedic
I have always been passionate and an advocate for healthcare and the NHS, and how vital the roles within the service are to us. Not only studying to work within the sector but having used the services. Nurses especially are so important in ensuring that everyone receives the correct and appropriate treatment. I am so appalled to hear that more and more nurses are not being employed or supported despite how necessary they are for us. I really hope that something changes soon for the better.
"We cannot call for more nurses while allowing those we have already trained to become unemployed, disillusioned or lost to the profession."
Senior Lecturer and Programme Lead
This requires urgent action from the Government, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the DHSC. It is simply unacceptable that we have trained, qualified nurses holding an NMC PIN who cannot secure employment while our health and care system continues to face significant workforce pressures. We urgently need protected opportunities for newly qualified nurses and midwives, proper investment in education and clinical placements, and the restoration of meaningful financial support, including bringing back the nursing bursary. Government must act now.
"Possessing a BSc, MSc or even a PhD in nursing no longer provides job security or an interview offer."
Senior Lecturer
More than ever we are seeing our future nursing professionals struggling to obtain nursing posts that are usually promised by healthcare organisations. They are faced with the challenge of not being shortlisted locally and advised posts are 'frozen', casting doubt on the future of nursing in the UK. Over the past few years academics have also faced challenges surrounding the stability of roles in higher education and are at risk of being without a job or clinical post. More needs to be done by nursing regulators, and government funding needs scrutiny, in particular surrounding integrated care service approaches.
"I have applied to almost 35 jobs and all rejections. Right now I don't even think I am keen on going back to nursing."
Registered Nurse
I am still yet to get a job role. It is really devastating. As a single mum who has bills and responsibilities, I was in a dark place. I had to start working for schools as a learning support worker. Even community roles are hard to secure.
"I don't think I've ever worked a shift where the nurses aren't under huge pressure from understaffing."
Doctor
Simultaneously, my friends graduating from nursing at university are seriously struggling for jobs or are unemployed. It is quite frankly disgusting that it has got to this point and the government is doing seemingly nothing about it. For the good of all patients, staff and the public, action MUST be taken.
"Traded in a career in economics to train as a nurse for a career as... a retail worker?"
Newly Qualified Nurse
I was studying a degree in economics and politics when Covid-19 hit and lost the job I was working at the time due to the Covid recession, but picked up work in the NHS. There, I came to love what I did, and decided to pursue it wholeheartedly. I relocated to study adult nursing, and would work 60 hour work weeks, 7 day work weeks, going straight to retail shifts from 12.5 hour night shifts. I gave it so much. I've now finished the course, and there's no job for me. After all this, I now work full time in retail as a fully trained and ready to go nurse.
"I'm out of pocket, in debt, with no prospect of a job any time soon."
Newly Qualified Nurse, Paediatrics
I was a mature student and am a mum of 2. After a career change, it's so disheartening after all the hard work, and seeing how in need of more staff wards are.
"The wards cannot function without nurses."
Medical Student
"Out of over 120 applications I got one chance."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I submitted over 70 applications on Trac and another 50 on different platforms. I'm one of the lucky ones - I secured a private job. My training hospital rejected my applications with no feedback.
"You cannot fix a system if you do not adequately staff it."
Student Nurse, final-year
Entering my third and final year of training should be something to celebrate, and yet I am instead worried about what the future looks like post-graduating. I am a mature student and mother of three young children. Taking the leap to become a nurse was not something I did lightly. I was assured that this career path would give me and my family the job security and stability that we needed. Instead I am placed in thousands of pounds of debt, having worked unpaid for the NHS, to graduate with no job security at all. This degree has been emotionally and financially taxing, there have been countless times when I have questioned if this was all a mistake and yet I continue. The NHS is understaffed, underfunded, and under-appreciated.
"It is a real concern being so heavily in debt for the first time, with the prospect of not having a job available when I qualify."
Student Nurse
"I saw the Trust go from giving every student nurse a job in 2021 to no jobs for newly qualified nurses in 2025."
Development Nurse and University Lecturer
I have worked as a development nurse since 2021. In 2022 I was seconded part-time to a local university, so I was in a dual role, both focused on supporting student nurses. In my role as a lecturer, I have heard multiple stories of students struggling to find jobs, not only locally to London but in the wider UK. They are resorting to bank HCA at band 3, or mental health wellbeing worker roles, or other unrelated positions that do not allow them to use their talents and qualifications, nor begin to earn a wage that will help them pay the massive student loans they have had to borrow to gain a qualification they cannot use.
"There are so many qualified people sitting at home, and all they long for is the job they have studied for."
Registered Nursing Associate
We were told there would be jobs. But there are still RNAs from 2023 working as HCAs or working elsewhere because there are no jobs. I completed mine a few months ago and since then it has been the same. There are no jobs for anyone unless you want to relocate, which isn't an option for most people. There should be more done not just for Band 5 roles but for Band 4 registered roles, because we too are health professionals with a pin. We have worked so hard to get to this point, it is so disappointing that you cannot use your pin or qualification. If I had to sign this a thousand times I would, because I feel very upset and disappointed with the government. Long waiting lists, long waiting hours in A&E, shortage of staff, and all because there are not enough jobs.
"We should not be stressing about homelessness and cost of living... to have worked this hard to have zero security or hope is making a lot of us question whether we even carry on."
Student Nurse
My trust issued letters early in the degree and said jobs would be offered upon completion of the course. Now there are no band 5 jobs coming up here. My whole life is here. I don't have a guarantor and I found a flat a few years ago that was happy to take me. It is my only security. I cannot afford to leave... I have no security and now no job, after being unpaid and working for three or four years. It's absolutely devastating. I've been so loyal to the trust and the NHS, like we all have. We feel unappreciated, betrayed, lied to, and let down.
"It has been a year since she graduated and she is still looking."
Relative of a Newly Qualified Nurse
My sister graduated in nursing and has struggled finding a job related to her degree. It is true we are all told the same thing that the NHS are in need of staff however, that is not what it seems.
"How are newly qualified nurses expected to gain post-registration experience if we are systematically shut out from entry-level Band 5 positions?"
Student Nurse, Mental Health
Despite completing three years of intensive academic study and thousands of hours of rigorous clinical placements, we are being met with job listings that almost exclusively demand Band 6 status, prior post-registration experience, or pre-existing preceptorships. It is disheartening to see passionate, fully trained nurses trapped in Healthcare Assistant roles simply because trusts have frozen Band 5 preceptorship pipelines. This sends a discouraging message to anyone considering a career in healthcare: you can dedicate three years to serving the public, only to be left without a job. The government and NHS leadership must address this bottleneck urgently. Creating dedicated, funded Band 5 preceptorship pathways is essential for protecting the future of the workforce and ensuring mental health and other nursing services have the safe staffing levels they need.
"I'm working as a Level 2 teaching assistant because I can't find any nursing role which offers preceptorship."
Newly Qualified Nurse
Qualified October 2025. I have been shortlisted for over 10 interviews, before qualifying and after. I was told I was not selected because of the lack of preceptorship completed, and they don't offer preceptorships. Or that my lack of post-registration nursing experience means I am unsuitable. I cannot work as an agency nurse either, because I do not have the six months post-registration experience.
"I've applied for 87+ jobs as far as 200 miles away and graduated with £80K debt. My PIN is a paperweight."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I graduated last summer and have spent 11 months job-hunting. Nothing in my three nearest cities. I contacted my local hospital and was blamed for not applying. I had - alongside 200+ other applicants, with the number of vacancies going down. I'm stuck on bank work. My university won't offer me any support. They told me to sign up for care work and they will offer great references. I used to work for my hospital and 4+ years later I am let down. I'm told the Trust has no money. I spent £1.5k on driving lessons in hopes to apply for community jobs. I got interviews, scored high, but the jobs were given to someone with experience. Or there was no money to offer preceptorship. I have had a lot of rejections or no updates, all with the same generic responses. I'm stuck paying for a PIN I cannot use. I've experienced mental health decline and burnout from job hunting and working bank when wards are stretched. I've seen colleagues and staff working short staffed to the point of long term sick leave, or worse.
"I've sacrificed so much during this challenging three-year training journey, and I'm afraid it might all go to waste."
Student Nurse, final-year
I'm finishing my studies next year, and I'm really worried about whether I'll secure a permanent nursing post.
"We thought we had it tough... but really it was a comparative bed of roses."
Retired Nurse
Trained when nursing was an apprenticeship role. Fully qualified with no debt, though obviously no degree. Small earnings and long hours, but to my surprise those years actually counted towards my NHS pension. Why does it have to be so hard for students now? We thought we had it tough with long hours and strict ward sisters.
"All employers are asking for experience that no workplace is willing to give."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I have been unemployed since qualifying in 2025. I'm having to take on caring roles to keep my clinical skills up.
"We are running wards understaffed while newly qualified nurses are unable to find posts."
Ward Sister
As a ward sister, I see every day the operational challenge of trying to manage increasing patient acuity within severe financial constraints. I see staff being asked to run demanding shifts without enough nurses because services must remain within budget. I also see the consequences: exhaustion, frustration, burnout, reduced access to professional development and, ultimately, experienced nurses questioning whether they can remain in the profession. At the same time, we have exceptional student nurses completing placements on our wards. They contribute meaningfully to patient care, become valued members of our teams and finish their management placements more knowledgeable, capable and confident. Yet many approach qualification with no certainty that a job will be available. Instead of moving directly into supportive preceptorship programmes while their skills and confidence are fresh, they may wait months for an opportunity, accept work outside nursing or leave the profession before their careers have properly begun. We are training talented people and then failing to create opportunities for them to use what they have learned. When financial targets repeatedly take priority over investment in the workforce delivering care, the whole health service pays the price. Nurses are not simply a staffing cost to be contained.
"Three years passionately learning about a profession I love, now told there's no room at the inn."
Newly Qualified Nurse
As a mature NQN I am lucky enough to be able to relocate. However, there is still no opportunity out there, especially with the "previous experience required" gatekeeping opportunities from potential NQNs who could excel in that speciality. It's leaving the new wave of nurses high, dry and saddled with debt and doubt.
"I've found myself lying awake at 4am worrying about not getting a job when I graduate."
Student Nurse, final-year
I've spent 20 years working in healthcare both private and NHS. I'm now entering my last year of university and should be concentrating on completing my final studies and excited to begin my nursing career. However I've actually found myself consumed by anxiety, worrying about whether I'll be able to pay all the bills, and if all this has really been worth it.
"I have had to apply for care work outside of my registered nursing role simply so that I can continue working and earning an income."
Newly Qualified Nurse, Paediatrics
I have recently completed my Children's Nursing degree after three years of training and clinical placements but I am now struggling to find a job within the profession I have worked so hard to qualify for. There are very few Children's Nursing positions available in my area, and the roles that are advertised often receive such a high number of applications that it is extremely difficult for newly qualified nurses to even be considered. It is incredibly disheartening to complete a professional nursing degree, gain extensive clinical experience and be ready to begin my career, only to find that there are not enough opportunities available for newly qualified nurses.
"I have been qualified for 16yrs. I never thought my vocation would be at risk."
Registered Nurse
Fully appreciate and respect the national need to save money but horrified that this is at the cost of holistic care, safe staffing ratios and complete disregard for staff wellbeing... Feeling desperately sad for the current qualifying generation of nurses who do not have jobs to go to. Not only is this disheartening for them after their long and hard efforts during their studies it’s also a financial burden as fees etc. have been paid for these years. It also does not allow for the condensation of essential knowledge at the peak of their completion of higher education which will in turn create less confident practitioners in the future if they are able to secure employment.
"After every shift I am looking for a way out."
Registered Nurse
I decided to train as a nurse after making it through Covid-19 as an HCA on an end of life ward. I've carried trauma with me ever since but used it to become a 'resilient' and 'reflective' practitioner, which is pushed as so important on us by university. I've been qualified a year and a half now and after every shift I am looking for a way out, a way to retrain, a way to use my degree in another sector, anything to get me out of being a nurse. Constant pressure from higher managers, never ending documentation, worrying that you have made a mistake or missed something, worrying what the next day will hold. I know I am not alone in these feelings.
"Sometimes I wonder if I have made a mistake pursuing nursing as a career."
Student Nurse, third-year
I always hear about how the NHS need more nurses, more midwives, more front line staff. So to be starting my third year at university hearing stories of how students from previous cohorts weren't able to secure jobs upon graduating due to there not being any available is terrifying. The debt I've racked up, and the sacrifices I've made to work 37.5-hour weeks for free, could potentially be for nothing. And yet, every placement I have worked in as a student, it has been devastatingly clear how under staffed our wards are.
"I was proud to be a nurse - now I fear for their future, and mine as a patient."
Retired Nurse and Midwife, 50 years in practice
"Does 2,300 hours worked for free over a 3 year degree programme not class as experience?"
Student Nurse
The job situation for newly qualified nurses needs addressing urgently. We invest a lot of time and money paying for our degree only to hear of stories that there are no jobs for us when we qualify. NHS trusts are advertising most band 5 positions requiring post registration experience. How are we supposed to get this experience if you won't give us our first band 5 job? The Government and the NHS are investing heavily in our training but then face losing us to the private sector because we can't secure our first band 5 jobs!
"Look after nurses because they look after you, and your loved ones."
Registered Nurse
I struggled to get a job after graduation in 2008 due to the financial crisis and despite vacancies available, I was told that I would not be considered due to lack of experience. I am not sure how that is a valid reason to refuse a new graduate a job. Nurses should look after their young nurses and provide them with every chance possible for growth and learning. I have never been offered that throughout my entire career, and now that I am in a place to help other young nurses, I will do all I can to make it possible for them to get jobs and prosper. You can't pour from an empty cup, and if they are not cared for and valued how can you expect them to give that back? This issue of young nurses unable to find jobs should not exist. They should all be offered jobs tailored for their strengths and interests.
"Heartbroken. Spent years of my life training in something I’m passionate about and I have put myself in debt to become a Nurse. Yet there are no jobs available."
Newly Qualified Nurse
They all want post-qualifying experience. It’s so sad!
"Every student has worked hard for their registration yet many leave the profession within the first 5 years."
Matron
We see more and more cutbacks and are still expected to deliver high quality care with fewer staff. All newly qualified nurses deserve a job with ongoing access to training and support rather than being declined access to preceptorship due to low staffing levels.
"I lost my flat, ran up loads of debt and had severe depression, suicidal thoughts and anxiety which I am still struggling with. The past couple of years have been hell."
Registered Nurse
I have been qualified for 8 years. I was very happy in my senior role equivalent to Band 7... a large proportion of funding from the NHS [was] suddenly withdrawn. I was made redundant. I spent 13 months applying for posts until accepting a Band 5 role in my local NHS Trust. I have taken a huge blow to my confidence and feel like I am starting my career all over again.... There are so few jobs available and despite my experience I am not even getting to interview stage.
"It took me 6 months to get a job as a newly qualified nurse, and that was 100 miles away from where I live."
Newly Qualified Nurse
The Trust that I trained for 3 years with did not offer to interview me. No-one in this part of the country was interested in or financially able to hire a nurse with no post-qualification experience.
"My heart shatters knowing that I qualify in less than 2 weeks with no job offers."
Student Nurse
Everyone keeps saying there are no jobs for nurses, and hospitals are looking for years of experience.
"I have been looking for a nursing role for over a year and a half and just have AI bots telling me I haven't been successful and no feedback will be given."
Registered Nurse
I have been for minimal interviews compared to the jobs I have applied for. When I started the 3 year long degree the NHS was shouting out for nurses, only to qualify find there are few and far between jobs to apply for - let alone get a response for an interview. I'm sure plenty of NQNs are in the same boat. I feel like I wasted years of my life when all I want to do is help people.
"I came back to university as a mature student after finally figuring out what I want to be when I grow up. Now I worry I won't actually get to be it."
Student Nurse
"It took a lot of courage to stop my full time role in order to become a nurse. There should not be a worry about no jobs on top of an already stressful degree."
Student Nurse, final-year
I'm just starting year 3 of my degree and I'm so anxious that there will be no job for me to support my family. As a mature student with 4 children and a mortgage it took a lot of courage for me to stop my full time role as a healthcare assistant in the local hospital in order to become a nurse.
"When I enquired into this profession a few years back there was plenty of vacancies and roles available."
Student Nurse, final-year
I returned to start my degree at 39, leaving a well paid, respected job which I loved. I wanted to reach my potential and be there for people in some of the darkest hours. I am now a 3rd year student with the prospect of no job at the end of my training. Not working won't be an option for me, I am a single mum of 2 children with a mortgage and life costs to navigate. Working within an NHS trust for the last 2 years, the same problem pops up every time regardless of the ward or team: they are understaffed and at real risk of burnout. I plea to the government that they seriously consider their actions, not only for my sake, but for the sake of staff burnout, and most importantly the risks that introduces to patient safety.
"Eight available nursing positions for approximately 200 students."
Student Nurse, final-year
Throughout our placements, we repeatedly hear about the shortage of nurses and the pressures faced by healthcare services. We work alongside staff, gain practical experience, develop our skills and contribute to patient care. Yet, when it comes time to transition from student nurses into qualified professionals, we are being told that there are not enough jobs for us. There is a painful contradiction in being told that the NHS needs more nurses while hundreds of newly trained nurses are struggling to find opportunities to begin their careers.
"Students who qualified in 2025 are still searching for nursing roles, but there are simply no vacancies for them to apply to."
Newly Qualified Nurse
It is very disheartening to see the current lack of job certainty for student nurses and newly qualified nurses in the UK. The previous UK government actively encouraged people to study nursing with promises of guaranteed job opportunities upon graduation. However, many UK-qualified nurses now find themselves without employment options while trying to enter the workforce. I wanted to raise this issue to highlight the urgent need for support and clear employment pathways for recent nursing graduates.
"I'm actively looking at leaving the UK."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I was extremely lucky to find the job that I have. It's not in a unit I want to work in, but I'm not in a position to turn anything down. When I searched for jobs in the area I studied in there were only six Band 5 roles available and only one was taking NQNs. It expands to existing nurses as well: on one of my final year placements there was an existing Band 5 who applied for 70 jobs before finding an equivalent role in a new trust. It doesn't fill me with hope for progressing in my career and I'm actively looking at leaving the UK to somewhere there will be funding for me to do postgrad diplomas and advance to a masters so I can become an ACP.
"The situation forces a move to look beyond the NHS, ultimately meaning not servicing the greatest need."
Newly Qualified Nurse, Mental Health
I retrained as an RMN as a mature adult, in a field that was stated three years ago as a large need. Only to find at this stage of completion very very little available jobs for entry level mental health nurses. Combine that with the difficulty of competing with students from previous cohorts and there is very little hope for a newly qualified role. I am now focusing on private organisations who may recruit. The irony is these very companies are contracted by local authority and NHS contracts. My debt forces the need to find a role regardless of the pitfalls that come with it.
"I'm happy to forget about my nursing qualification."
Registered Nurse, aged 43
I went back to uni because of nursing shortages on my ward. Now I'm thousands of pounds in debt and not a job in sight. Student finance will never get their money if I remain unemployed and I have discouraged my children against going to university because it's not worth the debt. Universities will soon close as long as we don't have any jobs. I was planning on going back to do a masters but not anymore.
"I have wasted my strength, energy, time and years going through nursing training only to come back home with no hope of any job in sight."
Newly Qualified Nurse
"I'm a dual qualified Child and Adult Nurse with a Masters. I took a few months off but have now been looking for a job for 7 months with no luck."
Newly Qualified Nurse
"I find it appalling that newly qualified nurses cannot find work and gain the experience that they need."
Retired Nurse, 37 years in the NHS
The only way to have an experienced and skilled nursing work force is for them to be given a chance. I honed my career by working with experienced staff - I was given a chance. Then I was able to pass on that knowledge and skill set. For the best public health we need an experienced nursing workforce - you need time and guidance to attain that. GIVE THEM A CHANCE.
"I might as well just give up wanting to be a nurse for my own country and go abroad to help another country that will support my nursing career."
Newly Qualified Nurse
Still no jobs available for newly qualified posts. All band 5 posts say post-registration experience is needed.
"We should not have to question whether there will be a place for us in the NHS after investing so much into becoming qualified professionals."
Newly Qualified Nurse and Student Midwife
I am now an NQN but am continuing my journey in midwifery as a student. I have worked hard to qualify as a nurse, completing extensive clinical placement hours alongside the financial and personal demands of healthcare education. It is deeply concerning to see nurses and other healthcare professionals qualify after years of study, sacrifice and unpaid clinical placements, only to face uncertainty about employment. At a time when the NHS continues to need skilled staff, it is difficult to understand how newly qualified nurses can find themselves without opportunities to use the skills they have worked so hard to develop.
"There is an extreme shortage of Band 5 roles, yet there are so many Band 6 roles."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I have been looking for a band 5 role with preceptorship. Even the roles out there which I applied for outside London I have not got a reply to my application. It's absolutely shocking and demotivating for a person who has so much passion to become a nurse, and now that I am, I can't find a job.
"How can they gain experience without someone giving them the opportunity in a job role to learn under supervision?"
Newly Qualified Nurse
It is unfair for newly qualified nurses to have gone through their studies and various placements, where they learned the clinical skills required, and then to have no job opportunities, especially preceptorship opportunities. It is unfair that years of experience are being asked of newly qualified nurses, knowing full well that they have only recently qualified. Please, the NHS and the Chief Nurse for England, address this as a matter of urgent importance.
"Patients have been disgusted to learn that although wards are short staffed, there are no positions available for myself and my colleagues."
Student Nurse, final-year
I have applied for the little available posts but have been unsuccessful due to having no post-qualification experience. I am not in a position to relocate due to having a young family and a husband with a stable job that leaves no option but to stay where we are. I have accumulated over £80k student debt whilst completing my degree, and now face unemployment which will put further financial strain on my family. I have had many conversations with patients who have asked where I'm going to be working when I'm finished.
"I feel I have little choice but to pursue opportunities further afield in order to begin my career."
Newly Qualified Nurse, Mental Health
Having recently completed my MSc Mental Health Nursing, I have found the lack of Band 5 opportunities extremely disappointing. I have applied for numerous newly qualified mental health nursing roles and, despite having experience across a range of mental health services and already working within the NHS as a Band 3 Nursing Assistant, I have received only one interview. That interview is for a position some distance from where I live. After investing significant time, effort and commitment into qualifying as a mental health nurse, I did not expect securing my first post to be this challenging. It is concerning that newly qualified nurses who are trained, motivated and ready to work are struggling to access opportunities to begin their careers and complete their preceptorship.
"My fiancé has finished uni with a 1st and hasn't been able to get a job for 3 months - it’s shocking."
Relative of a Newly Qualified Nurse
"I am beyond broke. Bailiffs after bailiffs due to funding running out at my university."
Student Nurse, final-year
Why aren't we being reimbursed or helped? We have to make up hours and are now on placement until the end of November, with promised jobs no longer promised and a job freeze for over 9 months we were not made aware of.
"It is so unfair what we all face at the moment - studying and making sacrifices just to be jobless. It's unbelievable."
Newly Qualified Nurse
"After investing years of my life into becoming a children's nurse, it is incredibly frightening to face the possibility of qualifying and having nowhere to go."
Student Nurse, Paediatrics
I will have completed a minimum of 2,300 hours of clinical placement by the end of my degree, alongside years of intense academic study, exams, assignments and clinical assessments. Nursing is an incredibly demanding degree, and many students do not make it to the end of the course. Those of us who do have worked exceptionally hard to reach the point of qualification. Throughout my training, I have completed placements on extremely understaffed wards, seeing first-hand how desperately nurses are needed and how hard existing staff work to provide safe care... I am finding there are very few paediatric nursing jobs to even apply for. Worse still, many of the positions that are advertised require a minimum of one year's post-registration experience. This creates an impossible situation for newly qualified nurses: how are we expected to gain that experience if we are not given the opportunity to get our first job? There is something fundamentally wrong when newly qualified nurses are ready and willing to work, while the same system that trained us tells the public it desperately needs more nurses.
"I have decided that I need to have a plan B which could include doing something else entirely."
Student Nurse
I am currently thinking about what I should do after nursing. I cannot afford to just not work - I have a family. I have done HCA work for years and dont want to do a full time role in that. This has made me very distressed. Many of the other students in my cohort feel the same and a lot have children.
"We have worked so hard for 3 years and can't even get a full time nursing jobs it's so sad."
Student Nurse
"All I saw was no response, or rejection because they needed experienced nurses."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I woke up every day as I finished my studies and sent out application after application, hoping to begin the career I had worked towards and to deliver the high quality care I committed to under the NMC code.
"I am here, I am present and I want to help."
Student Nurse, Mental Health
I am a mental health nursing student who is loving my experience. I believe I have achieved my purpose in life and can now finally be happy by helping others. However, it is a scary situation that I will not be able to share my knowledge, passion and eventual experience. I have devoted time and effort for this career but I am worried that I will have nothing in return. We were told that by being nurses we will have jobs for life. The importance of mental health has been emphasised, with often long waiting lists, but there are many of us soon to be qualified nurses out there, ready to help and support those in need.
"How are we supposed to get experienced if nowhere will take us on?"
Student Nurse, final-year
Due to qualify in January 2027, and now face the chance of not getting a job at the end of my degree. The NHS is crying out for nurses. Why aren't we getting the support and chances to gain a job? Newly qualified cannot get job roles as they want 'experienced' nurses.
"After so much effort, can I get a job after I get my PIN?"
Student Nurse, Learning Disabilities
During my fourth placement I started to look for newly qualified Learning Disability Nurse jobs, to see what is opened and where they have more jobs for us. Honestly, only few trusts offered jobs for newly qualified nurses, and I am wondering after so much effort (studying for good grades, unpaid work, or weekend shifts during my placement), can I get a job after I get my PIN? Many nurses are struggling to find a job. Am I successful or unsuccessful in the end?
"I'm scared that when I graduate in less than a year that I will have no job to support me and my family."
Student Nurse
"The NHS is understaffed yet there are so many of us giving our all to help but not being allowed to."
Student Nurse
Training as a CYP nurse has required me to give so much of myself towards this degree. I've "worked" full time at a hospital then do my actual job on my days off in order to live. I've missed out on many things due to the unsocial hours and have already seen things that people shouldn't have to see.
"It is imperative that nursing students have a clear pathway in to employment."
Student Nurse
If there is not this in place then people will stop studying to become the much needed health professionals.
"Two friends in my cohort couldn't get jobs. They have chosen not to go into nursing now."
Registered Mental Health Nurse and MSc Adult Nursing student
I qualified as a Mental Health Nurse September 2025. I went straight into an MSc Adult programme as I'm desperate to use my skills and get into nursing. I'm about to start my final year and I don't see any change to finding a job at this stage. It's very worrying.
"I am left sad and frustrated to not be able to secure employment after qualifying in October 2024."
Registered Nurse
"We spend 3 years studying and end up without jobs. That's not fair."
Newly Qualified Nurse
"I think it's appalling that students spend 3 years training and then can't get jobs."
Registered Nurse
All hospitals are struggling to cover shifts but won't open up vacancies. Nurses are going off sick because of burnout. Something needs to be done.
"Not only is this dreadful for nurses, but it will significantly affect patient care."
Senior Lecturer, Adult Nursing
It is very hard to motivate young people to work extremely hard to achieve their degree when there are no jobs available upon qualification... Experienced nurses are being made redundant in the local area as the NHS trusts can no longer afford to employ them.
"They are told the NHS needs nurses but are left to find no jobs."
Student Nurse
I have a friend who qualified last year and is still facing unemployment. There is a lot of uncertainty amongst students feeling as if they won't get a job. It's getting harder and harder, but I understand that it's not the hospital, it's the money they get given. We need safe staffing and we need staff to feel confident at work, not scared or anxious to go to work in a morning. It's not fair on anyone.
"For many of us, the finish line was the promise of a job we loved. We were told to work hard, qualify and become the nurses our NHS needs. To reach that finish line and then have the opportunity taken away is devastating."
Student Nurse
We work hard. Very hard. We spend years studying, completing placements, working unpaid hours, and putting parts of our lives on hold because we believe in this profession. ... Throughout our placements, we have witnessed first-hand how short-staffed our services are. ... We were told to work hard, qualify and become the nurses our NHS needs. To reach that finish line and then have the opportunity taken away is devastating. ... We want to help. We have trained to help. We have seen where the gaps are, and we want to be part of filling them. Please let us.
"I did my 3 years of clinical placements with my training trust. I have now been told that there is no employment available for me."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I began my nursing degree in 2023 and completed my training in 2026. Despite the investment in my development, this is extremely concerning. How can we progress into our new role when trusts are unable to offer roles after completing training?
"I now have approximately £75,000 of student debt, on which I am being charged interest, and yet I am unable to secure employment within the NHS in the profession I have spent years training for. This is soul-destroying."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I returned to education as a solo parent to a three-year-old, undertaking significant additional education and training to qualify as a registered adult nurse. Prior to this, I completed GCSEs in Mathematics and Biology, an Access course in Biochemistry, and ultimately a degree in Adult Nursing... Since qualifying, I have applied for numerous nursing positions. I have repeatedly been told either that I do not have the specialist experience required, or that the department does not have the staffing capacity to accommodate a newly qualified nurse... I am now left with a professional qualification that I have worked extremely hard to obtain, significant student debt, and no employment.
"I am really saddened by this crisis and feel hopeless... I might as well go and look for a cleaning job."
Newly Qualified Nurse, aged 60
I am really frustrated and stressed out as there is no work for me. Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing. It's really sad because the hospitals know that they are short staffed and patients are at risk, but a number of us have graduated and there are no jobs for us... Every job we apply for we need to have half a year's experience. Even the nursing homes need that. They told us not to work lower than our band but we have no choice. We've got bills to pay.
"I attended a recruitment day and had been told I was successful in the interview process, but there weren't any jobs."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I was added to a talent pool where they told me they "hoped" a job would come up. Fortunately, one did come up but not until 5 months later. Many of my fellow students weren't so lucky.
"I’ve worked in my trust for 15 years as an HCA and now, almost qualified as a newly registered nurse through the apprenticeship route, I'm told there won’t be a vacancy available at the end of my degree."
Nursing Apprenticeship Student
I will still have to work as a band 4 or look somewhere else for a band 5 post... I've given 15 years to the NHS - even through COVID risking my life, but I'm second in line to international recruitment. It's very saddening. Something needs to change.
"As an adult learner, I have often questioned whether this was the right career route for me - taking on thousands of pounds in debt only to face the prospect of no guaranteed jobs at the end."
Student Nurse
Within a trust that desperately needs staff—it is disheartening. Learning that this isn't isolated to the North West, but is happening nationwide, makes it clear that something urgent must change. We are doing this to treat and care for the public, not to become rich, and it is unreasonable that we have to pay so heavily for the privilege to do so.
"I have been registered with NMC for over a year now but am still working as a support worker."
Registered Nurse, qualified 2025
All employers are asking for 6 months to 1 year experience which I can not get from the support work am doing.
"Sometimes I ask myself, why did I do this?"
Newly Qualified Nurse
In 2022 when I joined the university, we were told that jobs would be there for us when the course was completed. Now some employers are asking for 1-2 years experience. Was placement not experience? l am currently looking for a job that offers preceptorship. I have been searching for months and found nothing. It's really sad and stressful.
"There are experienced nurses leaving the profession because of the situation and they are not being replaced."
Registered Nurse
When I qualified eight years ago there were hundreds of vacancies. Newly qualified nurses were guaranteed a job, you could choose which speciality you wanted to work in. Now there are thousands of newly qualified nurses and students with no jobs available to go into. It is shocking that all their hard work training and unpaid placements do not lead to a job now. There are many qualified nurses applying for the same jobs and the odds are very slim for very few nursing positions. Something needs to change.
"There's no jobs in the trust I've given 2,300 hours to."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I applied for jobs which I was supposedly unsuccessful for. Turns out they had been pulled for pool jobs, which I also missed out on as I was removed from the email list due to being on maternity leave the year prior. There's no jobs for NQNs within my region.
"This degree will leave me in around £50,000 worth of debt for a job I am so passionate about but might never have the opportunity to have a full time role in."
Student Nurse
I have met so many students from all healthcare backgrounds struggling for newly qualified roles. You sign up for a degree knowing you’ll get a job but that’s just not the case anymore.
"To be without a job at the end of 3 years is reprehensible given the nursing shortage."
Registered Nurse, trained under the bursary
Our current nursing students go through so much - then add their student debt. The government must do so much more to support nurses and the health care sector.
"To find out I may not even be able to get a job after finishing my degree is truly heartbreaking."
Student Nurse, third-year
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.
"This month our off-duty literally had at least fifty shifts unfilled."
Registered Nurse
These shifts went out to bank. I also was moved off my ward regularly to fill other wards. Nursing in a familiar environment is less stressful and obviously you're continuing care. However, you can be moved to specialised areas like A&E respiratory that you're not trained for - it doesn't make sense.
"It is disappointing that in 2026 students are having to write this letter."
Registered Nurse
Nursing has not been supported by successive governments and the issues facing nursing and healthcare are not new but need immediate action. I have firsthand experience of deterioration in nursing capacity and poor staffing conditions on acute wards, that are leading to nursing staff burnout and standards of care being below what nurses want to achieve. Staff need support across their lifespan and account needs to be taken of educating the next generation of nurses... There is what seems to be an acceptance of lack of staff in nursing environments and that it is ok for staff to miss breaks on a regular basis. This is completely unacceptable in a modern country when so much research underpins the effectiveness of nursing to patients outcomes.
"What are those 2,300 hours for?"
Student Nurse, final-year
I feel already demotivated as a final year student because most of my friends who graduated before me are yet to get jobs.
"Between 300 and 400 applicants apply for one position."
Newly Qualified Nurse
"If the NHS needs more nurses, why are future nurses becoming increasingly uncertain about whether employment will be available to them when they qualify?"
Student Nurse, final-year
We have spent years developing our knowledge, clinical skills and professional identity. We have cared for patients and families, worked alongside multidisciplinary teams and experienced the realities of healthcare through our placements. We are not expecting a job to simply be handed to us. We are asking for the opportunity to put the knowledge, skills and experience we have worked so hard to develop into practice. As I enter my final year, I am incredibly proud of how far I have come. However, alongside that pride is uncertainty about what happens next. I know I am not alone in asking: Where will I work? Will I be able to secure a Band 5 position? Will there be opportunities available when I qualify?... We have worked incredibly hard to become nurses. We simply want the opportunity to begin our careers.
"No student should have to endure such a difficult degree and then face no job prospects at the end."
Student Nurse
Years of university administration errors, and having to navigate my way through a degree where the system feels designed to make anything and everything a challenge. Then no promise of a band 5 preceptorship position upon graduating. It has certainly made nursing difficult.
"It is truly disheartening working 2300 hours of placement and putting your heart and soul into the degree, and then paying for the PIN to be unable to get any form of nursing job."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I was fortunately one of the lucky few who got a preceptorship job offer out of my 2025 cohort. Unfortunately, there are still people in my cohort who are unable to get a nursing job role. We were promised access to jobs in our trust and this was then scrapped in 2024.
"I have been looking for employment since November 2025."
Registered Nurse
I still haven't secured employment due to recruitment freeze in South Yorkshire.
"It is appalling that NQNs are precluded from entry positions through perceived lack of experience!"
Retired Nurse
When I trained under the GNC, but qualified under UKCC all nurses were guaranteed a job at their training hospital or group. Those with dual qualifications often put at a higher band on 2nd registration.
"I really feel for all those who have put in 3 years of unpaid work to get their degree only to be told there's no vacancies for them."
Registered Nurse
I qualified in 2023 just before the job situation got this bad.
"If you don't want us, then we will chase jobs in Australia, New Zealand and Canada!"
Student Nurse
NHS England, do your duty and support student and newly qualified nurses, if you don't want us then we will follow the newly qualified paramedics from the Welsh universities and chase jobs in Australia, New Zealand and Canada!
"I entered this programme expecting to train for a career where I would be valued and needed"
Student Nurse
I left a full-time Band 3 Clinical Support Worker role to enrol on a three-year degree programme, believing that the sacrifice, hard work and commitment would ultimately lead to a Band 5 role within the NHS. However, I’m now facing a completely different reality. Not only am I unable to secure a bank role through NHSP due to the current job freeze, but I’m also increasingly worried about what the job market will look like when I finally complete my degree. After committing three years of my life to studying, working hard and investing in my future career within the NHS, it is incredibly unsettling to now be questioning whether there will even be a role waiting for me at the end of it. The ongoing job cuts and uncertainty are causing huge anxiety for myself and many of my peers. We are now left worrying about our own futures and, perhaps more importantly, the future of the NHS itself.
"I am facing repeated rejections of applications."
Newly Qualified Nurse
Most employers prefer candidates with one to two years of post-registration experience, with some requiring at least six months. As a new graduate, I struggle to find opportunities to gain experience, especially when preceptorships that facilitate a smooth transition into the workforce are not available. This situation is both frustrating and exhausting. Universities, the NHS, and the Government urgently need to hold a summit to tackle this issue and establish a nursing job guarantee scheme to create roles for newly qualified nurses.
"Nursing students are being taken advantage of, expected to work for free, pay fees and then struggle to find jobs."
Student Nurse
"The public demand consistently high quality care, but this cannot be delivered by a skeleton staff of nurses."
Nursing Educator
I spent 25 years in clinical practice and 20 years educating pre-registration student nurses and am fully aware of the on going constraints on the NHS. The public demand consistently high quality care, but this cannot be delivered by a skeleton staff of nurses. Research based evidence consistently demonstrates that high quality nursing care delivers improved patient outcomes. As Chief Nurse, you and your team need to fight for release of nursing posts to newly qualified nurses and career progression. There needs to be proactive planning regarding recruitment to university courses that will meet the required future demands.
"Many nurses during my placements have asked either why I am doing this or if I am sure I want to be doing this."
Student Nurse
A full time mom working bank shifts as a senior carer studying a masters degree in adult nursing. Living paycheck to paycheck and may not even get a job at the end of it. It's rather concerning.
"Sometimes they are used to fill the shortage in healthcare assistant numbers."
Registered Nurse
I have witnessed nursing students receiving poor quality training on placements.
"Where’s the clapping now on the door step?"
Registered Nurse
The lack of nursing vacancies across the board for all banding is at an all time low as a result there is no opportunities for progression and there is total lack of investment in nursing. This needs to change, or as the experienced nurse I am, along with others, I will get burnt out and leave for reasons of ill management and governance, and lack of investment. It's a sad state of affairs - how has this country let this happen? Don't forget we are a generation that have been through this and this a resilient lot, but taking advantage of this is sickening now. Like the doctors, we are training them to go abroad for work after qualifying - all of which is non sensical and short sighted.
"I have applied for every job that has been posted and have remained unsuccessful."
Newly Qualified Nurse, age 55
I graduated Sep 2025. I feel so lost without purpose.
"What is it going to take for employment to happen? Deaths?"
Student Nurse, Paediatrics
I’ve basically qualified as a child nurse now, but guess what? There’s no jobs. The hospital that’s meant to help children and give them a chance to heal is understaffed. These are children. It’s ridiculous that funding cannot be put aside to give NQNs jobs. Registered nurses are tired, most band 6 are leaving due to the lack of support and fatigue.
"Experienced nurses are retiring, we need the next generation to be nurtured and supported in becoming experienced and confident."
Retired Nurse, 30 years of service
Why are our home trained nurses being shut out and denied this right of passage? What on earth is happening to our nursing profession, and how short sighted by the people responsible. I can look back over the 30 years of my career and see how valuable our student nurses and newly qualified nurses have been. If they are denied employment due to lack of experience then what comes first the chicken or the egg?
"I have been qualified almost a year and yet to find employment as a band 5 nurse."
Newly Qualified Nurse
I graduated with first class honours, the Golding award and still haven’t secured my first position.
""Considering the number of placement hours required over the three years of study, it's sad to see so many students struggling to find employment, especially within the trusts where they completed most of their placements."
Student Nurse
"It's unfair and a betrayal to deny them the chance to consolidate and move through preceptorship."
Registered Nurse and Practice Mentor
Students I have mentored over the last 3 years are without jobs. Many were mature students. They have already sacrificed so much to train, putting social lives, financial security and struggles to balance family lives in order to reach this point.
"The vacancy would close almost a week before deadline... It made me lose hope and feel like 3 years of hard work was all for nothing."
Registered Mental Health Nurse
I qualified as a mental health nurse last year with no jobs to apply for as they all required "at least 6 months of experience", leaving me unemployed for months. I was even willing to move cities or commute over an hour to a job that would provide me the opportunity to start my career. On the rare occasion I did eventually find a vacancy for a newly qualified nurse, the vacancy would close almost a week before deadline causing a lot of distress, frustration and upset feeling like I was back to square one again. Other jobs I had the opportunity to apply for would instantly decline my application, not even offering an opportunity for an interview.
"I travelled 100 mile round trips as a newly qualified, just to secure a post."
Registered Nurse
This is NOT a new issue and we deserve better.
"She worked so hard to achieve her nursing degree, but has been made to feel like she's irrelevant."
Registered Nurse
I graduated with my mom (yes we both trained together the full 4 years). I’m so lucky to have walked straight into my role as an ICU nurse but I had the advantage of spending my full last year as an ICU nurse student. My mom on the otherhand, has remained unemployed since graduating Sep 2025. She’s applied for every job in our area, had multiple interviews and keeps being passed over. It’s disgusting actually.
"Myself and others are having to apply to cafes or shops just to earn some money and are not utilising our nursing degree."
Newly Qualified Nurse, awaiting PIN
There are no nursing jobs or opportunities for newly qualified nurses, and if there are they all close early because of the high volume of applicants, they cap they’re applicants to a low number or they require 1 years minimum experience. How can someone who has never worked independently as a registered nurse before have 1 years experience. It is totally unfair. People go into this degree with hopes to be able to financially support their family better or have more money, they are unable to to this leaving them jobless.
"Knowing that I may pay for a whole degree including countless hours of placement without a job at the end is scary and disappointing."
Student Nurse
Have been looking at jobs available for the past 6 months and there is almost no Band 5 and preceptor jobs, vast majority are Band 6. Or the Band 5 jobs available are in completely different areas of the country and likely to be extremely competitive. It adds a lot of anxiety.
"There is a shortage of nurses and making cutback after cutback is impacting both our patients and the morale of existing staff."
Registered Nurse
I have mentored so many dedicated and very enthusiastic students who work so hard throughout their training and then can't find employment. This is so wrong, particularly when they are paying university fees and working full time on placements.
"I was unemployed for 6 months then had to work a year in a job I hated before finally finding my current job."
Registered Nurse
The search for nursing roles was so demoralising.
"How are we to support our own families? And what is the future going to look like for the next generation?"
Student Nurse, final-year
I am coming to the end of my 3 year journey to become a nurse. Like everyone else in the same boat. I can't get a job. I have applied for 8 - not getting short listed. Had one interview saying I need more experience - how much can students give, the only experience we have is placements. The cuts back are completely crazy, yes I understand the NHS need to save money but at the sometime it needs more nurses to run well. To support the RNs, the student nurse are there in the background.
"All those skills they have honed, their motivation and dedication to the nursing code and they are having to stack shelves for a living."
Registered Nurse
The future of nursing will be impacted immensely without the development of future nurses, we were all student nurses at one point in our career, we were always guaranteed a career for life. The thought of students who have dedicated three years of their life, blood sweat and tears, financial sacrifices, impact on mental health, being an absolute fundamental part of the nursing workforce with the crucial contribution students bring, to not be able to find a job is almost unbearable to think of. This situation is unfathomable. How will we nurse our aging population, how will we care for any individual in need, how will the NHS continue to stand without new nurses? Nurses are preparing for retirement throughout the country, jobs need to be made available for our student nurses immediately.
"I have started to question my own abilities and wonder whether I am good enough to be a nurse."
Newly Qualified 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."
Student Nurse, final-year
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. I’ll be looking into different masters to hopefully get a job.
"Come back in 6 months time."
Newly Qualified Learning Disability Nurse
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?"
Student Nurse
My placements I have experienced have all fallen below the standard I’d expect. Yes we get a bursary, 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. 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."
Retired Nurse
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.
"How can safe staffing and patient safety be met when the wards are short staffed?"
Student Nurse
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. The ratio of patients to nurses are alarming. I hope something can be done.
"They were told just before their interviews that they were getting cancelled as they don't have the budget to hire anyone."
Newly Qualified Nurse
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. 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."
Registered Nurse, 30 years registered
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."
Student Nurse, final-year
I am 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 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."
Registered Nurse
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.
"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."
Newly Qualified Nurse
"Exhaustion is not an educational strategy. Nor should resilience become a euphemism for enduring systemic problems."
Student Nurse
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."
Student Nurse
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."
Student Nurse
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.
"It makes me feel deflated because something that I have been so passionate about for so long and was told we would be guaranteed a job when we qualify, couldn’t be further from the truth."
Student Nurse, Learning Disabilities
I am a final year student nurse who is from London. Almost 3 years ago, I moved to Bristol to do my nurse training specialising in learning disabilities. At the end of my studies, I moved back home to live with my parents so that I could start my nursing career. My friends from Bristol all told me the same thing: “I’m sure there are lots of nursing jobs in London”. That’s what I also thought, until I started applying for a few jobs. My applications were rejected and I didn’t even get any feedback either. As the only person in my family to have gone to university and is from an ethnic minority background, there is a lot of expectation and a lot riding on my shoulders that I will secure a job... I’ve even had to look for other roles within healthcare such as a care assistant or support worker role as I still want to put my degree to use, even if it’s not directly nursing.
