OMG! phone interview

Equinox_93 · Feb 18, 2009

Well- if you were applying to med-surg, they probably wanted to see how well you could think on your feet- thus the unexpected call and no time to prepare. Consider it a learning experience, be prepared to interview anywhere at any time- and next time you'll be prepared even if you aren't expecting it :) You're brave going med-surg right out of the gate...

Good luck!

CNAMichelle · Feb 18, 2009

thanks for responding so quickly and with honest answers;) but ok,what did you mean by the med-surg comment? IS it like really hard or something? LOL should I maybe be happy:D I bombed the phone interview?:yeah:forgive me ,I am very new to all this.....is it "harder" than an NH? thanks again,Michelle

Equinox_93 · Feb 18, 2009

thanks for responding so quickly and with honest answers;) but ok,what did you mean by the med-surg comment? IS it like really hard or something? LOL should I maybe be happy:D I bombed the phone interview?:yeah:forgive me ,I am very new to all this.....is it "harder" than an NH? thanks again,Michelle

From what I hear from others, any hospital position is harder- and usually hospitals require a CNA to have a 6mo-year or more experience first. The general feeling I get from those I've talked with and reading around here seems to be that LTCs offer a bit mellower experience- more condusive to learning on the job... (NOT that it's easy- just that it's a very different experience.)

Katie89 · Feb 18, 2009

I totally bombed the phone inteview I had, too...but I still got called in for a face-to-face and I actually got the job, which I still have. :) So maybe your chances aren't blown. Maybe you're just hard on yourself and it went better than you thought. If it helps, I was really prepared, had practiced my answers and everything, and I was still caught off guard by some unexpected questions (and I was really nervous, it was my first interview of any sort) so I still did terribly.

Re: the difficulty level, I think hospitals tend to be more challenging in the sort of things they have you do-tasks you wouldn't learn in a nursing home- but I think nursing homes have a reputation of giving you a bigger work load. At least it seems that nursing homes are usually not as well-staffed, most CNAs have a worse CNA to patient ratio in LTC than in a hospital.

But I'm sure you can handle either one! It's good to push yourself and learn. I was terrified about starting at a hospital but now that I'm comfortable there, I'm so glad I made myself do it. Whatever happens, that's what was meant to be, so don't worry and just do your best.

Good luck and keep us posted!

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Feb 18, 2009

Yeah, I always heard that if you can work LTC you can work anywhere, which is why hospitals usually don't even look at you unless you have a year's experience in LTC. You learn more skills and see all kinds of things in a hospital, whereas in LTC you're mostly dealing with dementia, strokes, and rehab, but at the same time you have a lot more people to take care of.

CNAMichelle · Feb 19, 2009

thanks everyone for the replies! as far as needing experience first,around here the hospitals dont require that,the lady even actually said they would rather train ya their way instead of you picking up"some bad habits" at an nh.(whatever that means) so I dont see the lack of experience being a problem.

now the phone interview is a whole other story:rolleyes: although my husband and a friend said,it sounded like I gave good answers......~shrugs~ who knows?

Equinox_93 · Feb 19, 2009

Well- good luck! Let us know how it turns out! :)