Wonder no longer.  I suspect that you probably asked yourself this question long before choosing to enroll in a program: when I graduate, will I be able to secure a job?

In most places, the process used to go something like this.  Go to school.  Pass.  Take your NRBC credentialing exam.  Pick from the jobs being held out before you.    Pick several jobs if you'd like. 

Today, healthcare has changed drastically.  You know that already.  As money becomes more scarce for complicated reasons (including an insurance system that is hobbling along, tighter reimbursements to hospitals, and more), hospitals are making cuts wherever they can.  Respiratory Therapy departments are cutting costs, freezing positions, and making do with less.  In addition, the role of the Respiratory Therapist is changing from technician (requires lots of people to do manual-style labor), to physician-extender (requires many less people to think critically, while nurses adopt such roles as nebulizers, MDI's, Incentive Spirometers, and more). 

Here is the answer.  It is a question.  How badly do you want it? How hard are you willing to work? If you want to barely pass classes, do the minimum in clinical experiences, and then secure a job where you can get paid as much as possible to do as little as possible, you are going to have a tough time finding a job in today's healthcare climate.  However, if you are willing to do whatever it takes, sacrificing every free moment and ounce of energy you have to get through school; if you're ready to squeeze the learning out of every clinical experience - even if that means staying late or researching on day's off; if you're constantly applying critical thinking scenarios . . . you'll have no problem finding a job . . . ever. 

You have to think of school more as an abbreviated medical school.  People who become doctors sacrifice their free lives in order to achieve doctordom.  We are today's physician extenders.  Hospitals want therapists (yes, even new grads) who show passion, promise and the ability to think critically.

Are you up to the challenge?

Today you may be lucky enough to graduate in an area where there are more jobs than people looking for them.  However, for the vast majority of graduates, finding a position is certainly not automatic.  

So here are my tips from years of interviewing and hiring (including new graduates):  

1. You are no longer going to "Clinicals" but you are each and every day going to a "Job Interview."  Really, I want you to tell yourself that every day you walk in to each hospital.  People are watching you - not for perfection as we expect you to have to learn along the way - but for your ability to learn and your ability to work with others. Most hospitals want smart people (grades do matter) but they also want people who are going to get along well with patients, families, nurses, physicians, co-workers!  One woman came to clinicals with a constant question, "can we go home early today?"  There was always a reason and I am sure some of them were good reasons, but it left the wrong lasting impression on the interview team.  She did not get hired.  
2. The Attitude of Grattitude:  Yes, you may end up with some