Nursing position candidates know that there is currently a nursing shortage in the U.S., in an otherwise bleak economy. Job seekers naturally want to take advantage of all resources to capitalize on the situation. The American Journal of Nursing (AJN) is a website targeting such job seekers (http://www.ajnonline.com) with articles on nursing, health and career issues. Many of these articles are available with registration to the site and pay-per-articles or subscription options.

Clicking on the current issue takes the website visitor to the career center. The career center page features several free articles with career advice. For example, "Legal Do's and Don'ts in Job Interviews" offers very relevant and sound information about what employers should know about asking impermissible questions (such as those related to gender or disability) and how prospective employees should not fabricate or exaggerate their backgrounds. In another, "Finding the Job that's Right for You" gives a breakdown of career self-assessment means to figure out your goals and what kind of position that the nursing candidate wants to strive for. The articles are written by nursing professionals and and contain more substantive advice than anonymous cookie-cutter web content articles.

The AJN career center page also offers free newsletters (with registration) on selected topics including nurse practitioners, nursing management, and advances in skin and wound care. There are links to purchase CE materials, links to back issues of the Journal, and a nursing community forum where a member can find a mentor or protege.

The career center page has a link directly to the 2008 Career Guide. Use this database to search for a specific job. Regions of the country can be chosen by clicking on a map, or by state through a drop-down menu with a keyword search option. Choosing a state, e.g. District of Columbia, or a region, e.g. South Atlantic, opens a "box" on the page for each particular facility offering nursing positions. These boxes offer whatever information the facilities have submitted.

Sometimes the information is sparse, merely an address and further link to a facility's webpage. Other boxes are more detailed, giving a list of benefits offered with a position (relocation assistance, critical care differentials, scholarship programs). A search of most regional areas revealed that most of the facilities' information is sparse, meaning the searcher must access the official facility webpage and hunt for more information there. However, the Guide helpfully presents "Featured Facilities" on the search page (from various regions) which are all of the more detailed variety. A facility advertising for nurses in this guide would certainly be much more competitive for candidates by marketing the position's benefits upfront, as these featured facilities have done.

Overall, the AJN career center and career guide is a helpful tool for nurses looking to improve their education, gain more job knowledge, and prepare a plan to take their career to the next level.