Do Not Rehire?

[Nidgma]

My Mom has recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's and I have chosen to stop my traveling lifestyle and stay close to her at home in Northern MN. I am 52 years old. Finding work has always been difficult here due to being so rural and there being so few nursing opportunities.

At our local hospital I recently applied for three critical care positions, one of ICU's 8 half time positions, one full time cath lab and one half time ER. Being a peds nurse since '82 when hired with this same 'local hospital' in '89 I was introduced and worked successfully for four years in their ER. I have been working in ER ever since. During my employment I do vividly remember having a bully of an ER nurse manager and a vague memory of being written up once for what I remember being some rediculous reason.

I received a rather rapid response to my applications stating: We have completed the initial screening of applications and regret to inform you that you are not among those that we have chosen for further consideration. We were fortunate to receive a large number of candidates whose skills and experience more closely fit our needs.

To my knowledge I am as skilled and experienced as any applicant could be as my record is clean, my references are tight and I interview, accept and complete travel contracts regularly without a hitch. What gives!! Am I on a, Do Not Rehire list, and if so what can I do about it? I feel discriminated against.

Two things of interest; one is that this facility also has their staff wearing tracking devices! Two, what is going on in their relatively small ICU to have 8 positions open?

[stelon]

We wear tracking devices too--nothing unsual there. It enables us to find each other easily and minimizes overhead paging. I actually love the system, though I felt like I wasn't trusted when I first got hired. We call it our lo-jack.

[caliotter3]

I would also wonder about a place having 8 openings at once. I would visit in person to find out an answer to the "no rehire" question, or you can pay about $85 for a reference checking firm to find out for you.

[Baloney Amputation, BSN, LPN, RN]

One thought that came to my head was that you might cost the facility more than a less experienced nurse (because you'd get a higher pay for experience), but I could be totally off my rocker. I'd doubt that you'd be on a no-hire list for so long, especially since you weren't out-and-out fired. Another thought is that being rural community, everyone knows everyone, so applicants may have "connections" from within that you might not.

[caliotter3]

One thought that came to my head was that you might cost the facility more than a less experienced nurse (because you'd get a higher pay for experience), but I could be totally off my rocker. I'd doubt that you'd be on a no-hire list for so long, especially since you weren't out-and-out fired. Another thought is that being rural community, everyone knows everyone, so applicants may have "connections" from within that you might not.

Yes, perhaps they only posted the openings to cover themselves for employment discrimination purposes even though they are in a remote area. They might have already had their hires in mind, but wanted to keep anyone else from having a reason for bringing an action against them.

[Baloney Amputation, BSN, LPN, RN]

Yes, perhaps they only posted the openings to cover themselves for employment discrimination purposes even though they are in a remote area. They might have already had their hires in mind, but wanted to keep anyone else from having a reason for bringing an action against them.

Yup. I know for sure that this happens around here.

[janette87]

to maybe answer your question about the 8 positions open... I work in an ER, staffing was always a bit of an issue but not nearly so bad as it is now. management decided it would be a good idea to hire new grad RNs and train them for the ER using a course they developed instead of requiring the employees to obtain their own ER certification through a school program(how it used to be done). so we had probably 6 new hires, all younger, that came in to work with us. the senior RNs started to get fed up, felt like they were "baby-sitters" and had to monitor the new hires/their patients in addition to their own patient load, without extra compensation. so a few left for positions elsewhere in the hospital and community care. Then some of the new nurses ended up quitting because they were still getting used to the department/routine and now had no one available or willing to mentor them. So things are worse now than they ever were.

[caliotter3]

I have been told outright during an interview no less, that everyone was being interviewed whether they were in serious consideration or not. They wasted my time and effort and were not shy about letting me know that they were doing that.

[tewdles, RN]

It is an employer's market...

[helikias]

They have to tell you the reason, and they have to tell you if you have a Do Not Rehire in your chart. If you really want to know, call and drop vague hints about feeling discriminated against and calling the EOC. They'll get scared and start talking, because although a lot of people talk about the EOC, hardly anyone threatens to contacts them.

Might not be worth it though. They sound a little off.

Yes, people can put those Do Not Rehires in there for really dumb and vindictive reasons. I know a few people this has happened to.

Anyway, good luck. I hope your Mom is OK.

BTW I am sending out tons of resumes and I keep getting responses like yours. I don't think anyone is actually looking at my resume, in fact I know for as a fact that many of them are doing lotteries where they randomly pick resumes for review and the rest go in the trash can unread.

So, they just have a stock response they are sending to everybody; probably Florence Nightengale could apply and she'd get the same response.

[helikias]

I have been told outright during an interview no less, that everyone was being interviewed whether they were in serious consideration or not. They wasted my time and effort and were not shy about letting me know that they were doing that.

That is maddening!! The same thing has happened to me recently, and I was upset. Interviewing costs money, I have to take time off my current job, and it is nerve-wracking. I thnk if an employer is not interested in hiring me, they should not get my hopes up and spend my money by making me come in for an interview.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

"I feel discriminated against." I'm not tracking here....how do you go from a polite "sorry, we're not interested" response to your resume, to discrimination? It's not even as if you've interviewed and had reason to think that they saw/heard/felt something to discriminate against.