Hello everyone!
After waiting 2 1/2 months of passing my NCLEX, I finally received a phone call from a Pediatric Rehabilitation Center who is interested in interviewing me. I am ecstatic, I love working with children and I was looking forward to learning more about their facility as well. I scheduled my interview with the HR receptionist who sounded really sweet on the phone. I spent the next four days reviewing possible questions and even did a few mock interviews with my friends. Interview day arrived and I felt ready and confident! I showed up 25 minutes early and waited, for what seemed to be forever, in the lobby to be escorted to the room for my interview.
I then meet with the director of nursing who is going to interview me. She sits down and looks at my resume and sees that I have done a preceptorship at a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at a local hospital nearby. She then says to me, "Oh, I see you have PICU experience, why didn't you apply to this hospital?" I responded, " I did not see any openings but I am here and interested in learning more about your facility." She then asks, "Oh, so they're not hiring or they're hiring new grads?" I then answer, "I guess it's both?" (Maybe I shouldn't have said that?) She then goes into a tangent for about five minutes on how she is not really looking to hire any new graduates and that only a few will be hired because many of her nurses in the past has used their facility as a stepping stone to get into bigger hospitals. She also emphasized that she has to be really careful of who she hires (this facility is fairly new and will have its one year anniversary of opening next month). After hearing all this, I am just sitting there SHOCKED and feeling slightly angry thinking (okay, my resume clearly says I'm a new graduate, if you aren't interesting in hiring me, why bring me here in the first place and waste my time and your time?!) The rest of the interview went downhill. I just lost my concentration. I couldn't answer her other questions to the best of my ability and even froze during some points (think deer with headlights, haha).
As a new grad, I would like to be in a setting that is supportive and offers mentorship and guidance. I just felt like the nursing director judged me for being a new graduate who just wanted use them as a stepping stone after seeing my PICU experience. I mean ultimately I would like to work at a hospital but that doesn't mean I would leave that facility ASAP after 'gaining my year of experience.' Her attitude just set a negative atmosphere for the interview. I am also disappointed in myself for becoming rattled, not saying focused and not making myself seem like a decent candidate. The interview ended quite abruptly, I felt rushed and didn't even have much time to ask her my questions.
Thank you so much for listening to me vent!!! Has anyone had an experience similar to mine? I am just traumatized and afraid for my next interview, this experience has definitely shaken my confidence. I guess it's tough love in the world on nursing today, huh..