As 34 graduates of Connors State College nursing department walked off the Muskogee Civic Center stage last week, most could have walked straight to their new jobs.

“I’m at McAlester Regional Health Center,” Ragan Reann Birckel said after Connors’ Pinning Ceremony.

“The Eufaula hospital,” said Frederick Francis.

“St. Francis,” said Dana Smith Hawkins.

The graduates’ easy access to jobs comes as no surprise to Connors Director of Nursing Glenda Shockley.

“As far I know, they do have jobs already unless they don’t want one yet,” she said. “There are lots of jobs out there. It’s definitely easy for nurses to get jobs.”

Graduates of other nursing programs have it easy.

“I only had one student graduating this year who did not have a job already, and it was her choice,” said Paula Netherton, interim director of nursing at Bacone College. “Nursing graduates don’t need to find jobs. Jobs find them.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says employment of registered nurses is expected to grow 23 percent from 2006 to 2016, much faster than the average for all occupations.

The bureau’s 2008-09 Occupational Outlook Handbook says growth will be driven by technological advances, increasing emphasis on preventive care and an aging population. The handbook says registered nurses are projected to generate 587,000 new jobs by 2016.

“Additionally, hundreds of thousands of job openings will result from the need to replace experienced nurses who leave the occupation,” the handbook said.

Birckel and Francis said they have been working at their hospitals for a while.

Birckel, who lives in Quinton, said she has been working at McAlester for two years.

“I think many of us will have already found jobs,” she said.