Recruitment and Retention of Novice Faculty

Abstract

As nursing faculty members younger than 35, we consider ourselves to be in the minority. Our concern about the future of nursing education has driven us to consider ways to recruit and retain new, young faculty. To stimulate discussion, 10 suggestions for schools of nursing in the recruitment and retention of new faculty are presented: provide guidance, foster socialization, encourage flexibility, conduct orientation, provide support, facilitate collaboration, allow for mistakes, coordinate teaching assignments, grow your own, and offer rewards. While this list is far from complete, we believe it is a starting point from which schools could develop individual strategies for recruitment and retention of faculty members in nursing academia. The nursing shortage continues to intensify the lack of nursing faculty members. As a result, strategies to recruit and retain young faculty members only gain importance. Generations are changing, and it is important that schools of nursing are aware that recruitment and retention strategies that may have been successful in the past, may now be obsolete.