Need advice about dealing with an undeserved bad rap

llg, PhD, RN · Nov 17, 2003

I think you are going to have to deal with it "head on." In other words, you are going to have to acknowledge that there is something obout you (past job performance, interview skills, etc.) that is "turning off" the people making the hiring decisions. Is there someone (such as a Nurse Recruiter, unit manager, etc.) who can confirm this for you?

If, in fact, there is some "negative story" that is circulating about you, then you are going to have to be the first person to bring it up during your next interview. If it is totally untrue, then you will have to say that you don't know exactly how that rumor started ... that you realize that such behavior would be inappropriate at work ... and that in an effort to build a good reputation, you will be particularly careful to avoid such behavior. If you can understand how the rumor got started (Perhaps there is a little bit of truth in it.), then you have to admit to that -- again emphasizing that you understand that such behavior is wrong and that you very much want to improve your reputation.

Unfortunately, you have run into a situation that can happen to anyone. Your reputation has been tarnished, fairly or unfairly. It takes a while to rebuild a reputation, but the first step is to get the facts out in the open and declare your intention to improve your reputation by being an outstanding employee. Then, you have to deliver on those intention -- and give people time to see that you really are as good as you say you are.

That may not be the answer you want to hear. But there are usually no "quick fixes" for a damaged reputation.

Good luck,

llg

Agnus · Nov 17, 2003

sadly no employer has to tell you why you were not hired. And as long as you are an at will employee they do not need a reason to let you go.

I would ask what the problem is, polightly. If they decline to tell you you may ask what you could have done to make yourself more competative. However, they do not have to tell you.

I have seen this type of thing. Usually what happens is the person is unaware how they come across or is unaware that something in their past, their qualifications or the way they interviewed lost them the job. Often they are unaware that the other person had qualifications that exceeded theirs.

The truth is we do not know everything that qualifies our competition.

If this was a group interview maybe it was one individual in that group that vetoed you. Sometime reference checks and backgroud checks bring up things.

Mostly it is the competition was just a bit better in some way. Or at least was preceived to be a bit better. :kiss

chris_at_lucas_RN, RN · Nov 17, 2003

Thank you both--and I hope to hear more!

Actually, I am already an employee of the hospital, so it's not a matter of not being hired.

And I haven't been let go, so that's not it either.

I am an employee with no assignment!

The interviews go wonderfully. I am about as qualified a nurse extern as one could imagine--already have a BA and a master's in a related field, have already worked successfully for 7 months at this employer. I continue to take nursing CE's in addition to school work--my most recent four courses were preceptorship, intro EKG interp, EKG interp for RN's and wound care protocols.

I'm sorry, but it don't get any better than this.

I think you are absolutely right: there is something going on and I do need to tackle it head on.

Soon as I get up my nerve.

Love you both! Thanks!!!

PMHNP10 · Nov 17, 2003

Originally posted by chris_at_lucas
I was in an interview a couple of weeks ago and heard the guy who was interviewing me tell another mgr, "yeah, so and so's okay, he knows his job, but he would disappear sometimes. Always playing games at the computer. So if you can't find him, that's where he is."
I can't get anyone to tell me anything, but there are some serious missing pieces to the puzzle here. If I didn't get along with everyone, if I didn't do a good job, if my 2 mgrs hadn't all but begged me to stay on their units, I'd say maybe somebody had a legitimate beef. But this is not the case at all.

I'm missing some details in what you are sharing. Why are you certain you have a bad rap? First, is it possible you are the aforementioned "'so and so'"? I understand you are an employee with no assignment, but what does this mean? I'm not real clear on why you are trying to get to another unit. Are you an employee who doesn't get put on the schedule to work? Are you trying to get a different experience? Do you no longer enjoy your current unit? Perhaps the manager of your unit is not wanting to depart with your services because of whatever reasons, so perhaps doesn't give you such a glowing recommendation--anything is possible.

Agnus · Nov 17, 2003

Originally posted by chris_at_lucas
Thank you both--and I hope to hear more!

Actually, I am already an employee of the hospital, so it's not a matter of not being hired.

And I haven't been let go, so that's not it either.

I am an employee with no assignment!

The interviews go wonderfully. I am about as qualified a nurse extern as one could imagine--already have a BA and a master's in a related field, have already worked successfully for 7 months at this employer. I continue to take nursing CE's in addition to school work--my most recent four courses were preceptorship, intro EKG interp, EKG interp for RN's and wound care protocols.

I'm sorry, but it don't get any better than this.

I think you are absolutely right: there is something going on and I do need to tackle it head on.

Soon as I get up my nerve.

Love you both! Thanks!!!

Thanks this clears some things up for me. I was really confused as to what your situation was. That sheds a different light on things.

So I understand that you have been working for some time and have been interviewing on onther units. Is that right?

And now they are hiring Student nurses and they are given assignment right away? And you are wondering about your assignment, as in, what happened to it?

You are a nursing student but they are just starting school and you have been in the nursing program for a while (i got it that they do not even have prereques done)

Well it sounds like you have been temporairly displaced. I hope it is temporary. And you want to know what is going on. Ask.

But first, did I get it right this time?

PMHNP10 · Nov 17, 2003

Originally posted by Agnus
But first, did I get it right this time?

Ok, so I wasn't the only one. Tis a curious situation for sure. One I might have had a parallel experience with--if I had a better understanding of what is actually going on.

sjoe · Nov 17, 2003

If you think you are getting a "bad rap," hire a reference-checking company to check this out for you. They pretend to be a potential employer and are checking references when they contact past or current employers. Here are a few links:

http://www.e-proreference.com

http://www.jobreference.com

http://www.references-etc.com

I used the third one above and was satisfied.

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Nov 18, 2003

I wonder if it is really a bad wrap, or are they playing the passify game. You stated they were in dire need of nurses. They already have you, not in a permanent assignment but on payroll non the less. They are looking to get new nurses in there and they wont get them unless they have positions to give them as they are hired. Unfortunately, maybe you got in at the wrong time, they are using you to fill schedules that have holes and as long as you do it they will continue to let you. They have no reason to put you in a permanent position at this point because you have let them schedule you when they wanted and where they wanted.

They know giving these students tuition and a position almost guarentees they will be there after graduation. They will continue to put you into the pool of interviewees to passify you and keep you on the string until they have filled what they want.

Maybe the "head on" approach is the way to go. Until they understand that you wont be used for their stop gap approach you will continue to practice the interview process. They have obviously let it be known they have numerous vacancies. Straight up, if they dont give you a permanent position id move on.

chris_at_lucas_RN, RN · Nov 18, 2003

What a lucky woman I am to have such good friends, sight unseen no less!

Okay, I actually can't even get shifts assigned. I haven't worked in about 5 weeks. So I am not actually on the payroll in that they are not paying me (on account of my not having worked).

There is that outside shot that they do have me so they can look elsewhere for nurses, except for one thing, I am not obligated to stay with them once I get my RN. They, however, are presently obligated to reimburse my tuition which might be a way of goosing them into giving me shifts.

Let us hear about your parallel experience please.

And I love that there are reference checking services!!! I WILL INDEED use one!

Thank you all so much! And please keep the ideas and suggestions coming. It feels so much better to have some support and not to be alone in this.

(Only get as much crap as we will take is absolutely right.....)

PMHNP10 · Nov 18, 2003

This is all the more puzzling for me now. Your managers basically begged you to stay, but won't give you shifts? That is a bit weird.

As for my experience, I started on an ortho/neuro floor upon graduation. My charge was Atilla the Hun...some say she is a spitting image of Conway Twitty. I've heard the name and kindly know who he is, but have never seen a pic. It's a funny match nonetheless.

Anywho, (I'll condense this as much as possible) I got into nursing to be a psych RN--never had any interest in floor nursing. After much careful thought I decided to go against my better judgement and get a bit of m/s experience.

After a few months, a psych position came open , so I started to pursue another attempt to transfer ( I made a 1st attempt after 3 months but didn't get it because another RN from my floor got it, who had been a nurse for 20 + years) This time when I tried, my manager had a meeting with me. All of the sudden there were all of these complaints against me by my "charge nurses", as well as one by a pt from a couple days prior. So she denied my transfer request.

As for the family complaint, they were not pleased with my response to why I was giving their mom librium. I was the first to admit I was uncomfortable giving the reason because there were a couple children in the room and I didn't believe it was such a good idea to let them know granny was a lush, so to speak. They said I seemed too standoffish or something like that. they also complained about how the staff in general was rough when we moved her--she was hospitalized for a broken arm, hip, and pelvis because she was good and liquored up and playing in the street with moving traffic. Of course this was/is the only negative comment a pt or family has ever made of me to management.

As for the "charge nurses", the ones I asked swore up and down they had no problems with my work. Coincidentally, though, just before my meeting with the manager I started hearing from other employees I had never met before that they knew of me because of Atilla. She spoke of me, and not in any flatterring ways. She also made a very offensive remark about me to some of my coworkers on my floor when I wasn't there (offensive to the extent of being blatant sexual harassment). So I kinda knew that when my manager used the term "charge nurses" she was referring to 1 in particular. This pretty much was the final of the final straws--time for me to expedite my transfer to psych nursing.

Here was my first mistake. I didn't immediately take the sexual harrassment stuff to my manager before that conversation with her because I didn't really want to stir up any trouble, thinking I'd be leaving soon anyways. Also I didn't think she was going to complain to the manager. On several occassions I asked her (since she was my preceptor) if there was anything I needed to improve specifically, and she always said I was doing fine. So unfortunately I waited until after the meeting where I found out about my charge complaining about me. A couple days after I filed my official complaint and she did her "investigation" (which was a joke in and of itself) I had another meeting with my manager. I can remember to this day my manager asking me..."What do you want?" as though she were trying to bribe or plea bargain with me. Here is my second mistake...I said I wasn't going to bring a lawyer into the mix, I just want to transfer to the psych hospital, or move to nights she was scheduled off, or move to another floor until there is a psych position.

Back to the complaints against me...Bottom line, they resulted in me being followed on the floor one night by the educator (which gave a good report), and the day charge another time (again no significant problems).

So a couple weeks after my first meeting in which I found out I was a horrible nurse--per my charge; and after I filed my sexual harassment complaint against her; and after being followed on 2 separate shifts without any significant problems, I had yet another meeting with my manager. Still, she would not allow me to transfer to the psych hospital because she didn't think I could handle it. In addition, she wouldn't let me switch my nights to work, nor transfer to another unit. I couldn't help but wonder...If I'm such a liability, why keep me around? After all, it is my license, not hers.

During this meeting she told me she was going to keep me for a few more months until she felt I was ready to move elsewhere. Then she'd see about letting me transfer. ooOSo gracious of her.Ooo It was all I could do to not laugh in her face. This was not a very wise decision on her part because I was (and still am) young and very mobile. And there are waaaaaaaaaay too many jobs out there to settle for one, especially if it is a bad situation to begin with. No way was I going to stick around until she saw fit to let me go.

Needless to say, shortly thereafter I found my current job and with great satisfaction gave her my notice. Amazingly, I have been able to become a competent psych RN in spite of some people's beliefs to the contrary.

Sorry this is sooooo long. I only hope it's coherent.

chris_at_lucas_RN, RN · Nov 18, 2003

Not only were you coherent, you sound like you have a lot on the ball!

I'm in a position to recognize a competent psych RN in that I am an LMFT and have worked in all different settings (public, private, IP, OP and residential) with all age groups (children, adolescents and adults).

I didn't pick up on the reason for the harassment being sexual, but that may not be necessary for me to fully grasp (and I feel I do) the situation you were in.

You certainly sound a lot brighter than the bunch you were working with.

Thank you especially for pointing out your "mistakes." I'm inclined to see my own decisions that way when they don't work out well, but I'm convinced "mistakes" are those decisions made in error.... Sounds like you made good solid decisions based on doing the next right thing. When the people around you are sickos, then no matter what you do it won't be the right thing.

Sounds like you came out a winner--good for you! And thanks for sharing so openly.

I continue to be blessed with all these friends who care about me, sight unseen.