In an effort to service its membership and attend to the demands of the current nursing shortage, the MNA has created a job-search database on its web site.  Open to all visitors to the web site, the MNA job-search database will provide nurses with the opportunity to search for a new job, online, 24-hours a day, with a quick and easy click of the mouse in the comfort of their own home. 

According to Donna Mae Donahue, staff liaison to the MNA's newly created Nurse Shortage Task Force, the time for this service is now.  "The nurse shortage and its critical need for skilled nurses has created a shift in the traditional supply vs. demand nursing employment marketplace and put nurses in the driver's seat.  The advent of the Internet puts a steering wheel in each nurse's hand and the MNA wants to provide its technology to its members so they can chart their own course in today's job market." 

The MNA job-search database, located at www.massnurses.org, will enable nurses to search for their ideal job using a variety of search options.  Nurses can search by specialty, by location, and even by work-schedule (per diem, temporary, full-time).  Links will be provided that allow job-seekers to click and link to the web site of a job-posting company to obtain more detailed information on that company such as, location, benefits, senior management and company philosophy, or other pertinent information.  The database will list jobs offered in Massachusetts and throughout New England.  Best of all, the job-search database on the MNA web site is completely confidential. Thanks to the anonymity of the Internet, visitors can probe web sites and explore information on their own without anyone knowing who they are, where they came from, what they looked at, or what other job/company's web sites they linked-to and reviewed.

The job-search database also provides employers with the opportunity to post job openings.  It's a self-maintaining database that enables employers to go directly to the web site, input their own data, and review their material online, without having to contact the MNA.  This mechanism provides greater access and simplicity, which leads to a greater number of job postings than traditional employment listing venues.

"We're please to be able to offer this leading-edge technology to our members," said Mary Manning, Executive Director of the MNA. "We believe we are the only state nurses association that offers such a service and we feel we're leading the charge in addressing the issues currently plaguing Massachusetts nursing by providing a vehicle that may shorten or help to lessen the pain of the industry."

Internet job searching is not a new technology, but rather a rapidly-growing technology as a recent article in a special "Kaplan" issue of Newsweek magazine states, "In 1995, when Microsoft began its efforts at online  recruiting, about 5% of the 8,000 resumes it received monthly were sent electronically.  Last year, more than half were (and the number of job seekers had increased to 10,000 a month)."  The article continues to illustrate the rapid growth and effect of online job-searching with a statement from Mark Minichiello, director of North American recruiting at Nortel Networks, "On average, it used to take 60 days to fill an opening.  Now, the average is 30 days."

 A February 1999 AONE survey of 338 acute care hospitals brings this employment turnover home to the nursing industry, "Hospitals say it takes 90 days to fill a vacancy for clinical care and operating room nurses, and nurse managers.  For experienced nurses in all categories, the average is 45 days.  These shortages contribute to difficult, dissatisfying work environments for nurses, patients and physicians."  Therefore, the speed and efficiency of job-search databases could have a positive impact on the delivery of care.

Karen Higgins, Chair of the MNA Labor Cabinet feels the greatest feature of this database's technical ability is its specificity to our association. "Hospitals with MNA collective bargaining units will be identified, so MNA members will feel the presence and immediate benefit of their MNA membership working for them."

The database will be unveiled at the MNA Nursing Job Fair held at Lombardo's function hall in Randolph on Monday, April 24th.    Members who do not plan on attending the job fair can access and use the database on or after April 24th by simply going to the MNA web site at www.massnurses.org   The database is simple to use and many individuals will not need instruction.  However, MNA's Associate Director of Marketing Communications, Maggie Wilson will be offering instruction for the database as part of an Internet Job Search seminar presented at the job fair.  For more information on the job fair and the job-search database, please call Maggie at 781-830-5781 or email at mwilson@mnarn.org
 

Back to Strike Page