I finished my ADN in December and received my RN license at the end of March. I worked to support myself while taking my prereq's and all through nursing school as an emergency/critical care vet tech (as I had been doing since 2006.) During the last 3 years, I was also been the primary caregiver for my boyfriend, who had worsening myotonic muscular dystrophy. On top of all of that I have an autoimmune disease myself. Due to these issues I was unable to pursue any externships, and my instructors were less than impressed with me because I was so exhausted from working overnights PRN and dealing with my boyfriend.
Just after I graduated, said boyfriend and I parted ways because he began using elicit drugs to cope with pain and depression, and shortly following that I had a pretty severe exacerbation of dermatomyositis, causing extreme fatigue and muscle weakness, resulting in a move across state to stay with family.
On top of all of that, the primary place where I had recently been working PRN is now administrated by someone who basically told me I could forget about having a reference because he personally doesn't like me. I have the same problem with 2 of the 3 other places that I was employed. I have always been very hard-working and never had any issues with patient care, and all of these places still call me to offer shifts. I feel as though this is largely due to jealousy.
So, my question is... How do I explain any of this to a prospective employer now that I am well enough to apply for my first RN position? Obviously it seems unprofessional to dump all of these personal problems on an interviewer's lap, and I certainly understand that I don't sound like a very good candidate...particularly the fact that I have been too sick to do anything for the last few months.
I have individual veterinarians from each of the places I've worked who have agreed to be references, one that has written me a glowing recommendation (a former RN of 13 years), a letter from a past supervisor of one of the vet hospitals, and 2 from individuals whom I trained.
What's a new nurse to do?
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I finished my ADN in December and received my RN license at the end of March. I worked to support myself while taking my prereq's and all through nursing school as an emergency/critical care vet tech (as I had been doing since 2006.) During the last 3 years, I was also been the primary caregiver for my boyfriend, who had worsening myotonic muscular dystrophy. On top of all of that I have an autoimmune disease myself. Due to these issues I was unable to pursue any externships, and my instructors were less than impressed with me because I was so exhausted from working overnights PRN and dealing with my boyfriend.
Just after I graduated, said boyfriend and I parted ways because he began using elicit drugs to cope with pain and depression, and shortly following that I had a pretty severe exacerbation of dermatomyositis, causing extreme fatigue and muscle weakness, resulting in a move across state to stay with family.
On top of all of that, the primary place where I had recently been working PRN is now administrated by someone who basically told me I could forget about having a reference because he personally doesn't like me. I have the same problem with 2 of the 3 other places that I was employed. I have always been very hard-working and never had any issues with patient care, and all of these places still call me to offer shifts. I feel as though this is largely due to jealousy.
So, my question is... How do I explain any of this to a prospective employer now that I am well enough to apply for my first RN position? Obviously it seems unprofessional to dump all of these personal problems on an interviewer's lap, and I certainly understand that I don't sound like a very good candidate...particularly the fact that I have been too sick to do anything for the last few months.
I have individual veterinarians from each of the places I've worked who have agreed to be references, one that has written me a glowing recommendation (a former RN of 13 years), a letter from a past supervisor of one of the vet hospitals, and 2 from individuals whom I trained.
What's a new nurse to do?