Advise Please! What to do after getting fired?

[EKRN2014]

Hi everyone, although this is my first post...I need advise! I was just fired from my first job : ( I know there are various other posts about getting fired from your first job, but I feel that my situation is different. So, here's what happened. Any advice would be very much appreciated!

I started my first RN job five weeks ago and was so excited. It was at a clinic and included assisting the various physicians in surgical procedures. At first, I loved it but then I was paired up with a nurse who seemed annoyed by me. I tried to handle it with grace and stay on her good side, but as time went on, things got worse. I continued to be as nice as possible to her despite the fact that she did things like criticizing me in front of the physicians when I did something just as she had told me to do it. She seemed to not like me questioning her (which I did not to be rude but to make sure when I didn't understand something). Four weeks in, I was called in by the nurse manager who told me she had spoken to the nurse who was training me and that I was behind in the orientation process (BTW, I was told in the interview that I would have three months of training). I desperately wanted to request to paired up with someone else, but the nurse manager seemed angry and this didn't seem like an option.

One week later, I felt that I really was doing better. However, one day when I was with a patient, the nurse manager came in (and the woman that was training me stepped out). I tried to be confident and continue on, but the nurse manager did nothing but criticize everything that I was doing. She was very rude to me. Honestly, I did everything as I was taught and was extra careful not to make any mistake. However, afterwards, she called me into her office and told me that I was way too nervous for having been there for five weeks and that the best thing would be to let me go.

As it was my first job, I was very nervous in the beginning. It had been a while since my clinicals (I was unable to get a job after my ASN and had to do my RN-BSN first). However, after this experience, ironically enough I do have more confidence. I'm worried, though about getting another job.

What do I put on applications? What do I say in interviews? I really want to be a RN and feel humiliated that I terminated from a clinic job...

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Honesty is always the best policy. IMO, that clinic was not really prepared to train a newbie, even if they thought they were. If you are asked about why you left the job, the best response may be "it wasn't a good fit"...if you are asked to elaborate, just say that they did not have the resources available to support new grad training. Anyone with experience in hiring new grads will completely understand the underlying issues and realize that it was a "system problem" not a EKRN2014 problem.

Use this experience as a learning opportunity. With your next job, make sure you are absolutely crystal-clear about all the expectations for orientation. You need to know exactly what is expected: goals, criteria for evaluation and time lines for achievement. Keep copies of everything. Be pro-active and get a progress report/feedback on a regular basis so you aren't caught up in another mess.

[EKRN2014]

Thanks so much for your reply! I really like your explanation for future interviews and will use that.

And, yes, this has been a learning experience. For anyone reading this, what I learned is to be more cautious when accepting a job. I was so worried about not finding my first RN job (the job market here is still extremely tight for new grads) that I didn't question the "red flags" during the interview and just immediately said yes when accepted. Of course, it is true that sometimes we have to make a job work to get experience and that nothing is perfect, but it isn't good to get into something that won't work out either.

Also from now on, I will ask for regular updates from whoever is training me. I'm still not sure how to deal with politics and being stuck between someone who isn't good at training and a not supportive nurse manager, but I guess this is something I will get better at with time.