Bad Interview - Should I withdraw?

[DowntheRiver]

Hey y'all -

Today I had an interview for a PRN job. I had a previous interview earlier this week with the hiring managers that went well so they advanced me to the next round of interviews. I already work for this hospital just in a different department. As soon as I walked into the interview I felt immediately out of place. It consisted of 9 nurses. The nurses were not prepared with questions and just stared at me to begin with. This is not the norm for our organization, as we do behavioral interviewing organization-wide. The interview started more like a lecture on how I was not qualified for the position. One nurse told me (and I am paraphrasing), "I had x amount of floor nursing experience, and even I struggled, how would you be able to do this?" Then, a question or two was asked about my background, which I explained in detail and which I felt generously highlighted how I have quickly risen to the occasion in the past in a short amount of time with little to no orientation and still done well. I do catch on pretty quick, and have demonstrated this in a current PRN role and two previous full time positions.

I didn't get a great vibe from this interview, and even if they were to offer me a position, I'd turn it down because I can tell this group isn't for me. Would it be wrong to go ahead and email the manager and tell them to withdraw my application? I would not say that it was a bad interview in my withdrawal email. Heck, I wouldn't know what to say, but I'm just not interested in this position anymore. My husband who is not a nurse has told me just to let them reject me but I'd rather not waste anymore of either of our time dragging this out.

As always, thoughts and insight always appreciated.

[Leader25, ASN, BSN, RN]

I would wait for it,to cut the process off at this juncture might be perceived in a negative light proving those that did not like you correct.Thinking in future you might see them again ,better keep your options open.Then turn them down gently.When ever I sat in on interviews ,I was pulled off the floor with no time compensation as in OT since now I will probably be late getting done.

The interview itself sounds ridiculous,like the ones the big honchos are doing lately.I have been the interviewee and when you sense it is not going right you tell them during the interview,"you don't want a PRN,what you want is more correctly described as a temp position."No thank you ,bye.

[DowntheRiver]

Update:

I was offered the position today. I asked the recruiter, who I worked with in the past and have a good relationship, if I could give it a day to think over and he said that's fine. Since it is a specialty clinic, I will actually be making an additional $2/hour, so that is a plus.

I'm an over thinker, so pardon my worry, but I would love any more insight.

My worry:

-That the nurses who were not as friendly during the interview already have a bad opinion of me. I actually already work with a lot of seasoned nurses and look up and respect them as well as try to learn from them, so I hope I'm able to transition that to this department as well.

-It is a specialized department and I won't be able to keep up with my worsening disability. It is not procedural but it is clinic so there is a lot of running around which I think I can do.

-We had a meeting of nurses with my other new PRN position at this facility the other day. One of the nurses I knew from my first nursing job 5 years ago happened to be there. We caught up a little, and another nurse who used to work with her in the department I had an interview in but doesn't anymore began chatting with us and asked, "is the department still crazy and understaffed? That's why I couldn't do it anymore." The nurse I knew responded that it was and that she had been working extra shifts. So, I'm worried that I'm walking into a mess.

So, those are my thoughts - sorry for rambling, any insight is welcome.

[Cowboyardee]

A few thoughts.

The bad:

- $2 extra per hour probably isn't enough to put up with a particularly bad work environment (unless you reeeaaallly need the money).

- It worries me that your future coworkers might have some kind of chip on their shoulders.

- Group interviews are uncomfortable but not completely unreasonable. BUT it was definitely bad form not to tell you in advance that you will have a group interview. I would be a bit wary of your manager based on that.

The good:

- Usually PRN jobs aren't a huge commitment. You might be able to sign up and just kind of fade away if the fit isn't right.

- The fact that they offered you the job should probably indicate that the group interview didn't go super badly from their perspective.

The verdict:

Meh, I don't know. Consider asking to shadow a nurse on the unit for 4 hours before making your final decision. It's a bit unorthodox to ask to shadow at this point, but the unit is being a bit unorthodox in launching a surprise panel interview, so to hell with orthodoxy.

Congrats and good luck.