Do employers have such a surplus of applicants that Respect goes out the window?

Nurses General Nursing

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It seems that in this economy, since there is such a surplus of nurses and a limited number of jobs, that many employers have forgotten about Respect and Common Courtesy for applicants and people in general.

For example, I went to one interview at a Home Health agency called Americare. Everything seemed to go well, the hiring manager then gave me his card and said give him a call in a few days to find out whether or not I've been hired (the card had two phone numbers on it).... So a few days later I called to find out the status of my application and the man said he can't accept phone calls on his cell phone while at work, then hung up the phone on me. I then called the second number on the card to find out my status. I introduced myself again, explained why I was calling ,but again he hung up the phone. So I stopped calling, a week later I sent an email to find out my status,but I never got a return email, and months later I still haven't gotten even a letter in the mail.

I understand that employers have many applicants, but for goodness sake, whatever happened to manners and just plain old repect for other people. Applicants too invest time and resources to go on an interview, we deserve some basic Respect, regardless of how many applications an employer has before them.

Has anyone else had similar experiences lately?

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Specializes in Psych, Geriatrics.

Most of my experiences is that they don't respond at all when they're not going to hire you. I've had equal experiences trying to contact people to get my preceptorship. I guess they don't even bother taking the time to hit the "reply" button on the email to say NO. :(

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Specializes in Home health was tops, 2nd was L&D.

Yes, I am appalled at the lack of professionalism. I took off one yr to care for family and have been applying for RN jobs since last Nov. I have 23 yrs experience.. now I know quitting 2 good jobs to take this time off was not beneficial to my career but it was for my LIFE. I have had 2 interviews, basically overqualified for both..I have gotten 2 emails telling me the position was closed but please fell free to re-apply for anything else. First interview they finally called after a month of waiting to offer me staff weekend work in LTC and seemed very confused when I said no.. Man actually said well don't you need a job? 2nd interview was yesterday for PRN HH job and they have 2 more interviews, and will let me know.. With gas prices I am not so sure about going back to HH even though 19 of my yrs is in HH. And the reason I got the interview is the executive Director found my resume online and called me... I had applied but she says she never got that.

The area I live in was not hit hard by the recession and has tons of new business growth (not in healthcare). I understand they may have many applicants though Career builder says few applied for most jobs I applied for. Maybe that is just the posted answer. I just feel if you send a resume and I do get automated emails saying Thanks for sending application.. they could just hit another button to say no thanks we don't want you.

But I guess I am just getting old and out of touch with reality. Manners seem to be out of style now.

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After job searching for a while I also had many rejections in the process. I must say though, the way they reject you says a lot about the facility. I took a flight to a different state to interview, flew home, then flew back out to interview again that same week and NEVER got a rejection call from the manager. However, I wasted lots of money and time flying back and fourth just to interview. The facilities that have managers that take time to call you and thank you for interviewing and let you know that they have made a decision to go with someone else usually means they have something good going on at their facility and I would definitely apply to another unit there. The ones that don't act professional make you question what else could be wrong with the facility. Don't get down. Keep trucking. And remain confident in the midst of rejections. It is just the economy right now. Do not take anything personally. Good luck!!

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Specializes in ICU, ED, Trauma, Transplant.

I had relocated to my current city 5 years ago. Before I moved, I applied at every hospital in town, and only two hospitals expressed interest because I had only had two years of experience at that point. I was pretty certain that I wanted to work in the larger university hospital (they hadn't yet officially hired me at the time of this incident), but the other, smaller hospital had the hours I wanted, on the type of unit I wanted to work on.

The smaller hospital offered the job to me, sight unseen, after a 20 minute phone interview with two managers and a charge nurse. The larger hospital seemed excited about me, but wanted a face to face interview first. I made arrangements come into town, and interview at the larger, and then tour the smaller. I wasn't so sure about accepting the smaller hospital job (hiring me before they made sure I didn't look like freakazoid bothered me a little), so I thought seeing the unit and meeting people there would help with my decision. And boy, I was right.

I made arrangements with one of the managers to come tour the smaller hospital before I was to interview at the larger hospital. I arrived to the unit and the unit secretary handed off to the charge nurse. The charge said she had no idea who I was or what I was doing there, so I explained I had made an appointment with one of the managers for a tour of the unit. She said, "Oh, good. I'll give you to them. As if I had time for this sort of thing right now!" It's not really up to the charge nurse at the time to show potential new hires around, but still.

I followed her into an office and a woman was sitting in there at a computer. The charge explained it all to her and that woman said, "I made no appointment with anyone.", then turned back around to her computer screen! I said (to the back of her head) that the person who made arrangements was a male manager. The female manager said, "Oh, leave it to him to do something like this! He's not even here today. He's always making appointments for whatever, but never writes them down!" Lovely.

The two women get into an argument right in front of me over who was going to have to show me around. If I hadn't been unsure about the other job, I'd have just said forget it and walked out, but instead, I stayed. The charge nurse won the argument and left the room without even saying anything to me. Not, "Have a good day" or "Look forward to maybe working with you" or anything. The manager showed me around, but it was really rushed and made me feel very uncomfortable. I was polite and left quickly, then went to the larger hospital where I had a really warm reception and the nurse manager took about 45 minutes with me to interview me and to show me the unit and introduce me to all the really nice nurses there. I was hired later that day and accepted.

After that, the male manager whom I had scheduled with at the smaller hopsital, called me to ask if I was going to accept the job or not and still seemed excited about me working there. It seemed so weird that he was the only one who seemed really excited.

Judging by how desperate the smaller hospital seemed for nursing staff over the phone, I was very shocked at how I was treated when I went there. I understand the people I met could have been having a bad day, but you have to be cordial and professional no matter what. Because, seriously, who would work with people like that, who acted like that?

This incident happened to me five years ago, when finding a job was relatively easy, so I don't know what it would be like if I was a new grad at this time. I just told you my (too long) story to show that apparently some people are disrespectful even if they're hurting for staff and there isn't a surplus of applicants. Some people are jerks no matter what. I'm sorry about what happened to you. Here I am complaining about how I was treated, but I think your experience takes the cake. His behavior was abhorrent. Don't give up! I highly doubt you'll come across another person like that in your job search.

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Specializes in Home health was tops, 2nd was L&D.

Amazing.. totally amazing!

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Specializes in Med surg, Telemetry,OBS.

If you get a interview, the least they could do is let you know the outcome. I can tell you from personal experience in the Dc area, they do not call you to let you know, good or bad. You would think least the HR department would send you a letter, NOT!

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After job searching for a while I also had many rejections in the process. I must say though, the way they reject you says a lot about the facility. I took a flight to a different state to interview, flew home, then flew back out to interview again that same week and NEVER got a rejection call from the manager. However, I wasted lots of money and time flying back and fourth just to interview. The facilities that have managers that take time to call you and thank you for interviewing and let you know that they have made a decision to go with someone else usually means they have something good going on at their facility and I would definitely apply to another unit there. The ones that don't act professional make you question what else could be wrong with the facility. Don't get down. Keep trucking. And remain confident in the midst of rejections. It is just the economy right now. Do not take anything personally. Good luck!!

Oh my, I've thought about interviewing in other states, but wow I can't even imagine going across states and then possibly not getting the job or not hearing back from them. That is such an investment.... I agree, the way a company handles the applicants they've chosen not to hire says a great deal about the company!

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Short answer to the original question: yes.

I have never seen the job market for nurses so bad, and if I hear one more comment by an ignorant lay person along the lines of "You're an RN, why can't you find a job... perhaps in a nice doctor's office"? - well, no telling what I might do :rolleyes:

DeLana

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Man, this is so ridiculous that everyone is experiencing this kind of treatment. I was treated horribly when trying to find a job but I thought that was because I was a new grad. Most of the hospitals I applied to never called me, left several messages with all kinds of nurse managers and was never ever contacted. I ended up taking the job at the only hospital that ever called me back and even then they waited about 3 weeks to call me to tell me I got the job and when they called they acted like they were doing me a huge favor (which I guess they were, but still). I just can't believe how unappreciated and rude people are to us nurses.

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This lack of respect is not only while job hunting.it is while employed also.

I am a nurse with Many years of experience. I do some travel and agency work. I do NOT get the respect a professional deserves.

Many factors involved, not the least of ...is it is a female profession.

Best of luck in your search.

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Specializes in SNF, Med Surg.

I have to say that I feel very lucky after reading some of these responder's experiences. The economy is very difficult and it is no excuse for poor behavior. Nursing is a second career for me and I have to say honestly that I never had such a difficult time securing employment - my ego definitely took a blow while searching for a nursing position. With that said, while I was going through my nursing job search, I did the internet thing; filling out applications on hospital's websites responding to postings and I only got one nibble from that. I had the most luck and best experiences contacting people directly. I worked first in a skilled nursing facility and am now working (starting) a dream job at a dream facility. I feel very fortunate.

I can totally relate to SHHHH with walking away from an opportinity where the facility wasn't welcoming and didn't behave professionally regardeless of them being busy and that the person who made the appointment wasn't even there: all of what you experienced there is indicative of the culture of that facility and I would bet that if you took that position it would have sucked the life out of you.

Lastly, knowing that there may be jobs out there that aren't your ideal positions, I still maintain that it is easier to find a job when you already have a job (disclaimer: as long as you are able to practice safely and your license is never in jeopardy because of practices of the facility).

Best of luck in your search

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