I bummed my interview...just wanna vent!

Specialties Correctional

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Yep! I think I bummed my interview today.... I had a panel interview today and had about 10 questions....Come to think of it, the questions were easy and it's something I deal with at work...but I got brain fart, big time! My tounge tied! Why can't they just do a clinical type (hands on ) type interview instead of verbal....Gessssssshhhhhhh. so embarrassing..made me question my competency after.....Oh well, at least I still have my full time job! So much for working for the :uhoh21:State!

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Specializes in ER, PACU, CORRECTIONAL HEALTH, FLIGHT.

what state? panel interview? sheesh! most correctional facilities just want to make sure you have a pulse and are breathing!

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what state? panel interview? sheesh! most correctional facilities just want to make sure you have a pulse and are breathing!

CA!!!!! yep, panel interview.....I've never experienced a panel interview before....made me really nervous..I thought nurses are so in demand that all they wanna know is if your have your license...guess not!!!!

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Specializes in ER, PACU, CORRECTIONAL HEALTH, FLIGHT.

wow...shocked. the only time i have ever experienced that is with the Federal Bureau of Prisons...where they even have you do a psych eval with a psychiatrist! is this a state or federal job?

CA!!!!! yep, panel interview.....I've never experienced a panel interview before....made me really nervous..I thought nurses are so in demand that all they wanna know is if your have your license...guess not!!!!
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wow...shocked. the only time i have ever experienced that is with the Federal Bureau of Prisons...where they even have you do a psych eval with a psychiatrist! is this a state or federal job?

this is a State Prison....I'm pretty sure that I didn't g et selected...'was not prepared for that type of interview....now I know next time (if it'll ever come)...Shucks! I was so confident going in, I left smaller than an ant!

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Please don't take the whole thing too seriously. I've been on the panel in those interviews....and there are several points of view there. A lot of times, the best candidate doesn't get the job. A lot of facilities don't want to "ruffle the feathers" of longtime staff, and so they look for someone who will mix with the staff - and the staff can be quite dysfunctional! You might find yourself in the midst of a group that "eats their young"....and you need to have your wits about you to work among career criminals. Remember, it has little to do with your ability. You will find something else and then you can try again later. A few months down the line, you might wonder why you ever applied at all. You may have saved yourself a big headache.

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You will get a second shot...Keep your resume in the dbase for state employment.

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Don't feel bad. I was convinced I blew my CDC interview. In fact, I know I did. At one point one of the panel members even scolded me: "You should know this since you're fresh out of nursing school."

But, I was hired anyway. Why? Probably because I already worked at a prison and, there wasn't as much competition for jobs as there is now. And, because this facility was on a hiring spree at the time ... they had about a dozen RN positions back then. That's your best shot: when they're expanding and there's lots of openings, not just one or two positions where there's dozens of applicants competing for one or two slots.

I have friends who weren't hired either. One who interviewed twice with two different facilities and still didn't get hired. So ... both of my friends are moving out to the rural areas where there isn't as much competition. One is going to Avenal, the other to Blythe. They got hired there very quickly and are hoping to transfer closer to home down the line after they make probation.

The problem is in the metro areas, there's just too many RN's competing for these jobs. It used to be that anyone with a pulse would get hired but with these pay raises, that just isn't the case anymore ... word has gotten around that this is a pretty good job. Lots of people said they wouldn't ever work in a prison, even with the pay raises but, as their friends tried it and talked about how they liked it, how safe it was, etc ... more and more people applied. Now ... they've got waiting lists of up to 200 RN's for some facilities .... but not out in the rural areas.

However, CDC will be expanding ... they're talking about building a hospital somewhere in southern California ... probably either Bakersfield, Lancaster or San Bernardino/Riverside County and ... San Quentin is getting a major hospital also. 20 or so new prisons are going to be built and the existing prisons are going to get money to expand also ... I believe Lancaster is going to get $120 million. I'm not sure how many new RN positions will be created from all of this but, eventually there will be more openings ... it's just a question of when.

Although part of the problem is that they like to hire more LVN's than RN's because ... LVN's are cheaper. I'd say there's probably double the amount of LVN's for every RN in my facility. The reason is they're paid half of what we make. They do have a lot of trouble keeping the LVN's because their pay is so low but, that's what the federal receiver wants since it saves the state more money.

So ... as you can see, none of this really isn't your fault. And believe me ... there's no way to anticipate what questions they are going to ask. They change the questions all the time and it can literally be about anything. People have told me about questions that have nothing to do with what we deal with in the prison at all ... so it's totally unpredictable.

It's just that with CDC ... there really is no nursing shortage ... with these pay raises, they have a nursing surplus. And there can be any number of arbitrary reasons why people do or do not get hired. The person who interviews you today may be a completely different person who interviews people tomorrow so, there's no way to figure out what the determining factor is a lot of the time.

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Specializes in ER, PACU, CORRECTIONAL HEALTH, FLIGHT.

oh heck....why not just consider relocating to a different state? correctional health RN positions are very hard to fill in probably any other state. California is the ONLY one where i have heard that there is competition.

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oh heck....why not just consider relocating to a different state? correctional health RN positions are very hard to fill in probably any other state. California is the ONLY one where i have heard that there is competition.

Because I seriously doubt you could make $100K base salary ... with great retirement and other benefits ... in other states.

The money is the reason there's so much competition in California.

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Specializes in most anything's in corrections.
what state? panel interview? sheesh! most correctional facilities just want to make sure you have a pulse and are breathing!

Excuse me? And what state correctional facility did You apply to?:angryfire

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Specializes in ER, PACU, CORRECTIONAL HEALTH, FLIGHT.

i have worked in both Texas and Georgia. i have been a fulltime ER RN for the past 5 years however i did do independent contracting for multiple GA DOC facilities, primarily the penitentiary...of course, i had more qualifications than just a pulse and patent airway, but those two qualifications, with a license in good standing would have been adequate

Excuse me? And what state correctional facility did You apply to?:angryfire
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