Recruiting Scam?

[justme1972]

Ok..I'll warn in advance...this is a vent! :angryfire

There was a nurse recruiter that came to our school (I'm a first-year student), and was trying to recruit us for scholarships (with a 3-year contract agreement), and externships for next summer (which would be hard to do b/c we have a required class that we can only take in the summer).

She said, "About the only students that don't get offered an externship are b/c we have too many that apply for NICU, PICU and OB."

She also said that they had an ABUNDANCE of student nurse positions, that was a step-up from a PCT, available for ALL departments.

Anyone that has seen me post knows that I want to do NICU. So I thought this would be a good way to work part-time, and may help me get a job as a new grad later.

I e-mailed the nurse recruiter two weeks ago and reminded her of who I was, and she said there were student nurse positions available in the NICU.

Two weeks...no response.

I e-mailed the nurse recruiter and said, "I just thought I would let you know that I had not yet heard from anyone, I wasn't sure how long the process took, but I wanted you to know."

That was yesterday...the Nurse Manager e-mailed me TODAY and gave me her number.

So, very excited, I called her, and she said, "I am very confused on why the nurse recruiter wanted you to contact me."

I explained that she was at our school, blah blah blah. The NM said, "We don't hire student nurses for anything here, and we currently only have ONE Externship student and she is the only student we have had working with us in I couldn't tell you how long."

My question is this: If your job was the nurse recruiter for a major hospital system, wouldn't part of your job be to know what positions are available in the various departments?

This is what I think...the NM was VERY insistent that I take a job in med-surg (which I have zero desire to do...too many hospitals will hire new grads in NICU, and I will be free to move anywhere I choose when I graduate), and then "work my way in".

Sound like a recruiting scam? I think so!

Thank GOD for this message board...I've been reading it alot longer than I have been posting, and I know that you can get stuck in a department you dont want to be in if you accept scholarships or if they promise to 'work you into' another department later.

[WDWpixieRN, RN]

I think as with all industries, you will find some employers/nurse recruiters much more capable at their jobs than others. In addition, there's lots of miscommunication that occurs in all businesses. That's not to say that they're not doing the ol' bait and switch tactic, but I wouldn't put it off to that too quickly.

I applied for internships this summer at two different facilities, but they are the same hospital system. At one, the gal handling the internships could not have been more communicative with all of us, letting us know what was happening at each step of the way via e-mail and being terrific about returning phones calls. At the sister hospital, I never heard a word after I submitted the paperwork they had sent me and requested I fill out after the initial application was submitted to them -- NOT ONE WORD. I was doing clinicals there during this time and on our last day the gal handling their internships came in and gave us the ol' sales pitch about their internships and that they still had openings. I asked what happened to my app? "Oh, your name sounds familiar, but I'll have to go check." Somewhere I got lost in the shuffle which was neither here nor there to me by that time as I had already been offered a position in the sister facility where I really wanted to be, but it was a HUGE head's up as to which HR was probably run a bit tighter. I had enjoyed my clinicals there, but most probably won't try to get employed there if these same folks are still running their show.

I think it's just a fact in larger organizations that sometimes the left hand just doesn't have a clue what the right is doing.

I wish you the best!!

[justme1972]

I appreciate you taking the time to read my post..it was long!

I was really hoping that it would be an opportunity to get my foot in the door.

[CritterLover, BSN, RN]

i think what you experienced is fairly common.

the recruiter's job is to get the hospital nurses, not to find you the job you want.

of course, most of us realize that an unhappy nurse isn't likely to stay long, where a happy, satisfied nurse is likely to earn them a big return on their time investment.

but, just like the seemlingly common-sense notion that a nurse with fewer patients is better able to give good, quality care to patients gets lost on administrators; it seems as though this simple reality isn't foremost in their minds, either.

something similar happened to me as a new grad. i applied to a large hospital system, stating that i wanted a job in icu. the recruiter set me up interviews with 6 units -- two different step-down units of the suburban hospital, and four different icus in the downtown hospital. i interviewed at the suburban hospital first, and was offered jobs in both of the stepdown units. when the recruiter told me this, she told me she was cancelling my interviews at the downtown hospital, because she "just knew" i'd love working in one of the stepdown units at the suburban hospital.

wrong, wrong, wrong. lie, lie, lie.

the stepdown unit of the suburban hospital was a horrible place to work, mostly staffed with agency, and they needed all the nurses they could get.

know what? they really lost out in the end. that stepdown unit was so awful that i only lasted 6 months. long enough to "pay back" the relocation reimbursement, and i left to work at a different hospital in the same city, in the icu. a big waste of money on their part.

sorry i don't have anything much to offer, other than keep your eyes wide open -- i'm betting you'll encounter this kind of thing again.

[fins]

The thing that I always try to tell people, is never assume malice when simple incompetence is a sufficient explanation. Truly malicious people are not nearly as common as many people seem to think. On the other hand, you can't swing a cat without hitting at least three idiots on a typical day. I doubt that the recruiter was trying to con you, but try to think about it from her point of view.

Hospital nurse recruiters are doing a volume business. Their job is to get as many mirror foggers in the door as they can. Their managers don't evaluate them on how happy you are with your position, or what the average retention rate at the hospital is. They are evaluated based on how quickly they fill open positions. And guess what? It's a whole lot easier to fill NICU positions than med-surg positions, so she's not going to waste a lot of time and effort on someone (like you) who is trying to get a position that basically fills itself (NICU.) If you told her that you really, really wanted to be a med-surg nurse, she'd probably be on you like stink on sh*t, because you'd be helping her with the hard part of her job, which is finding bodies to take the jobs that nobody else wants.

[justme1972]

Thank you for your input as well. The issue is that I have to have two years of work experience in a NICU before I can apply for a grad program for an NNP....I'm in my late-30's and I really don't have the luxury of playing the corporate games to work my way in...I need that first job to be in the NICU, which I could probably get, but not necessarily in this area, unless I already have my foot in the door somehow.

One of the bigger hospitals (1 1/2 hours away) constantly has positions open in the NICU (which can be a good thing, or a bad thing)..but no PCT positions. Plus, with the high cost of gas, it would cost me more to drive there than I would make in any day.

What I was hoping for, is to give the hospital a "trial run" and if I liked it there, then I could probably apply for one of the nursing scholarships, and get my school paid for (I don't qualify for grants and we have made the choice not to take out loans)...I wouldn't mind signing a contract if I knew where I was going to be...but the "catch" is that you don't get to decide where you work...but if you are already working in a department, they are very likely to keep you there.

So, I sent the nurse recruiter a very nice e-mail stating that I had spoken with the nurse manager, and she said that the NICU didn't hire student nurse positions in her department unless they were externs, but I appreciated her forwarding my name along anyway.

We'll see where it goes from there, but I don't if it will go anywhere.

[Jules A, MSN]

Before you get your hopes up I'd call some of the other hospitals you are considering. In my area there are always NICU jobs advertised but none of the hospitals will hire new grads for them because of the intensity of the job.

[justme1972]

Before you get your hopes up I'd call some of the other hospitals you are considering. In my area there are always NICU jobs advertised but none of the hospitals will hire new grads for them because of the intensity of the job.

I appreciate the advice on this one...both of the local hospitals do hire new grads for NICU. Which was a good thing to learn. I am relocatable in the event there are not positions available when I graduate.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

I've never heard of student nurse positions.