A hospital got my hopes up just to smash them......

[Queen2u]

Hello out there. I just wanted to release some steam that has been building up in my mind. So, I had this interview with a hospital in another state. I had an assessment test (which was given to a number of other people as well and I was the only one to pass it). I had a phone interview which went well and they said they would arrange for me to fly out to their state to visit the hospital! For a week no one called! I was calling them and getting voice mail! Anyway, I finally caught up with someone who said: "let me check with someone who can tell me if you're among the first batch of people to be coming out to visit; we are doing a lot of interviews......" I was ready to pack and go, now this? What now?

[llg, PhD, RN]

Actually, that sounds pretty normal to me. They probably have a lot of applicants and it is taking time to process all of them. It's not reasonable to expect a quick answer when there is so much competition for the jobs that are available. Hospitals are doing more in-depth interviews and screening procedures before investing much money into new employees.

Keep the lines of communication open with them ... the door open for them to invite you for a face-to-face interview. But don't "count your chickens before they are hatched." Continue to search as you wait on this hospital to complete its process.

Remember: If they are so desparate for nurses in this economy that they are flying people out to interview ... there must be something unattractive about working there. If not, then they would have plenty of nurses from their own region applying for the available jobs.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

Yep, llg is right. Next time you talk to them ask how many nurses they are inviting, and how many will finally be hired.

[elkpark]

I agree that this scenario doesn't seen out of the ordinary to me. Stay in touch and stay professional -- don't do or say anything that would "burn bridges" with this organization. A week is not long in the HR world -- I've had organizations take weeks or even months to communicate with me about interviews and job offers (with a positive outcome in the end). So you may end up not being in the "first batch" of applicants -- you don't know how long they've been interviewing, how many serious candidates they have, etc.

I also agree with llg -- if they are flying people from other states for ordinary staff nurses positions (rather than a highly specialized advanced practice or executive job -- you didn't say what type of position this is for), I would consider that a big red flag to be cautious about this facility. That most likely means that local nurses have figured out they don't want to work for them.

Best wishes!

[llg, PhD, RN]

elkpark brought up a point I hadn't considered. Is this for a staff nurse position -- or for some advanced position? That makes a difference. It would be normal for them to fly you in for an interview for an advanced position -- but highly unusual if it were just for a staff nurse position. Even for an advanced position, they would probably prefer to save money by hiring someone local if they can. So they may not fly you in unless the local applicants don't work out. The local applicants may be getting the first interview slots -- with them planning to fly in non-local applicants only if they have to.

[caliotter3]

Agree with the previous interpretations. If I were you I would concentrate my efforts on finding other prospective employers. Don't count on this one.