Hi, and welcome to JobSearch Junction's article series on nursing jobs!

This article is about Dallas nursing jobs and how to get them. Dallas is a great town and nursing jobs there are plentiful. Let's take a look at the industry!

As recently as ten years ago, potential new nurses enrolling in training programs were being advised against doing so. They were told that there simply weren't enough jobs to go around, and that the job was extremely challenging and with few rewards.

It's amazing what a difference a decade makes because that sure isn't the case any longer! As we've been hearing from industry watchdogs, there's a change coming. Numerous types of healthcare providers such as nursing homes and hospitals have come to realize how heavily they depend on their nurses, and they've also come to realize that finding nurses to fill these positions is getting harder and harder. This has led to a huge shortage in the number of qualified nurses available to US employers, and the situation continues to worsen. It's not just a problem in our country, either- the nursing shortage is global, meaning that US employers now have to compete in the world market for nurses!

What this means is that there's an upside for nurses. In the future, tough competition for nursing jobs will lead to a better work environment and incentives to work as employers all try to better working conditions to attract good quality nursing candidates. For the time being, though, the shortage is putting a tremendous strain on nurses, patients and health care providers, as it's exacerbating the already difficult position nurses find themselves in. What's worse, it may be causing nurses to leave their jobs and what's even worse than that, it may lead them to discourage others from taking nursing jobs too!

In order for the current crisis to come to an end, employers are going to have to look closely at the twin areas of nursing recruitment and nursing retention..

It's going to be very important to make sure that our current crop of nurses is happy so that they stay in their jobs until this crisis sorts itself out. Between 25 and 40 percent of all nurses are projected to retire over the next decade- it's going to be very important that young nurses stay at their jobs.

A common complaint among nurses is that they don't get enough respect, and that nursing is often looked at as just a job, rather than a professional field. This is no truer anywhere else than it is within the medical community itself- doctors have long dismissed nurses' opinions and advice, perpetuating the notion that nurses are just extensions of the doctor's will, slavishly carrying out their orders. Only now that we are in the midst of a record depletion of the nursing work force, do the public and the medical community recognize how important and vital to the system nurses are- a critical part of the health care system and deserving of the same respect as doctors or any other professionals. The public is coming around too, and is finally starting to recognize how important good nursing professionals are to the medical field.

As the crisis unfolds, people are becoming cognizant of the fact that a nurse undergoes the same amount of training earning their license as a student studying for a BA, BS, or any other undergraduate degree.

Come on back later this week for the other 2 parts of this series on finding Dallas nursing jobs, and we'll see you at the Jay!

Welcome back for the second part of our article series on how to find Los Angeles Entertainment Jobs. In our last installment, we talked a little bit about the more superficial aspects of the LA entertainment jobs search- clothes, car and cell phone. In this second part, we're going to talk a little bit about some of the other aspects of breaking into the "biz".

If you intend to work in front of the camera, you're going to need headshots. A headshot is an actor's resume, on one side is a full-sized (usually black-and-white) picture of the persons' face, or 4 separate body shots of the person in different costumes (if they are a character actor, for example). The other side lists professional accomplishments such as "4 years of tap" or "trained at Juliard" along with a list of credits from commercials, stage work, television or movies. This is helpful on auditions where the producers and casting people will be trying to winnow down thousands of people for one part. You should lay out a bit of cash and get this done professionally, or your headshot might stand out- in a bad way!

If, however, you choose to work behind the camera, you'll need to provide a portfolio or a demo reel of your past work experience. Most television and movie studios are pretty hesitant about hiring someone with zero experience.

Due to tight budgets and schedules, there frequently isn't time to learn on the job in the entertainment industry. So how do you get experience when you're still trying to break in? Heck, just being around a movie or television set is a great way to gain experience. It won't be glamorous; you'll probably be walking the stars' dogs and getting the director's dry cleaning at first.

Still, this is where almost everyone starts- down in the trenches- to get a feel for what working an entertainment gig is really like. After your first few PA gigs, you can move on to working as a Best Boy or Grip- sure, you'll be taping down cords or holding a boom mic all day, but what you're really doing is building up your credits into a valuable commodity. Hope you enjoyed part 2 of our series on how to get Los Angeles entertainment jobs.

Check back here often as we are constantly updating and improving jobsearchjunction.com and we will likely have lots more articles like this one.

Thanks a lot for your time!

Are you trying to get Los Angeles entertainment jobs? Well, it's not really that different from any other type of job, but know this- it's a highly sought-after niche, and looks DO matter. Well, that's probably not news to you, so let's look at something useful- what are some of the practical aspects of looking for an entertainment job in Los Angeles?

If you're like me, raised with the Midwest work attitude of "anything short of coughing up blood and you'd better be in the office" working in California may be a shock to you- most companies are quite relaxed as far as taking time off for illness or your family. Most jobs out here, even part time, come with a substantial amount of PTO (paid time off), and you can find some unique opportunities in the entertainment industry if you look hard and of course, if you have good ideas and a good work ethic.

Traffic is a total pain, I can't gloss over that fact, but the good news about finding entertainment jobs in Los Angeles is that if you get the primo gig you want, you'll probably spend most of your time on location somewhere else and may not even need a car if you live downtown. No joke, even 70 miles away from LA in the bucolic splendor or Orange Count, a 27 mile commute ends up being about 45 minutes in either direction. No fun.

A cell phone is an absolute necessity- everyone will expect you to have one and may look at you funny if you say you don't. In July, a law was passed that bans talking on a cell phone while driving (texting is still legal though) so you are going to want to get a good Bluetooth headset or wired mic/earpiece combo. Don't worry if you think it looks stupid, everyone out here wears them. Once you land that first plum part and hire 3 assistants, you'll need a way to yell at them anyway- right?

Now that you've got the clothes, the phone, and the body, we come to the most important thing- the car! You need a car that broadcasts that you don't NEED parts because you have money already. Be aware that if you don't buy a new car at least every two years your social circle (if it's LA people) will slowly begin to treat you as if you have leprosy.

Okay, clothes, car, cell. That about covers it for this one. Check back often for more in our series on finding entertainment jobs in Los Angeles!

Thanks for reading!