Aim. The aim of this paper is to examine inactive nurses’ job-searching behaviours to return to healthcare workplace at where serious difficulty of meeting demand and supply of nurses exist. Design and methods. To clarify the factors that would make their attempts easy or difficult, successful or not, we employed econometric method to analyse the probability of job finding in terms of both the length of duration and the quality of consequence in job-seeking behaviour by using microdata pooled on Japan Nursing Association Computer System (NCCS), in which inactive nurses’ individual attributes (gender, age, academic background, the types of qualifications, the number of preschool aged children, etc) are stated. Results. From the estimations, we found that (i) having preschool children is one of the factors of delaying job finding, and failing to obtain desired workplace and working style; (ii) nurses with higher educational backgrounds tend to spend a longer time in finding jobs and (iii) training programme for the returners may not work well in case of shorter career blank, while may support for those who have longer one. Relevance to clinical practice. To meet the desired demand for qualified nurses in healthcare facilities, we should (i) develop more supportive working environment for nurses with preschool children, such as more flexible working time and shifts; (ii) encourage the employment of higher educated nurses by reforming compensation scheme, as well as reconsidering of the standard of skill-mix; and (iii) redevelop training programme for returners with more practical contents.