First RN job hunting-My story

[SquirrelRN304, BSN]

Just wanted to share my story with everyone here since reading so many stories from all of you had given the strength to cope with this stressful situation.

I am an ADN-BSN student. Finished my ADN in 2012 and decided to go straight for my BSN at a state university in CA. Now I am graduating with my BSN in a few months, I have been applying everywhere, filling any applications that I come across. No responses from anywhere since last October. I have always thought myself as a competitive nursing student. I have everything a new grad can put on the resume (leadership, gpa, awards, honors, volunteers), with the exception of nursing experience. I have one previous sales job for 1 yr and half.

Just when I was getting really depressed and discouraged, I received a call for interview with a very large plastic surgery, dermatology and laser clinic for a RN position. I will be mainly responsible for seeing pt for post-op follow-up and administer aesthetic injections (Botox, fillers, etc). I was offered the job on the spot due to my bilingual ability (they have a very large asian pt population). I started the job 3 weeks ago. Full time position: 9-6 and 5 days a week. Training was really interesting and challenging with injections and all the docs and nurses are nice. I was so grateful for this opportunity because I had a lot of financial pressure to start working.

Last Thursday, when I was at work, I received a missed call from a very strange number. The clinical director of the Maternal/Baby unit from the best hospital in my community left me a message in regards to my application for their new grad program and wanted to schedule an interview with me. Needless to say I was literally JUMPING UP AND DOWN after I heard the message. My mother worked in LD and Postpartum all her life as a RN and it seems like a dream come true.

However, things didn't happen as smoothly as I had hoped. I have been calling her like a maniac last Friday and this Monday but only reaching her voicemail. I left one message each day telling her I would love to schedule an interview with her. When she didn't call back Monday night, I completely broke down in my car. I was crying uncontrollably and I was sure I missed my chance of a lifetime. Overly dramatic, I know, but I prob applied for every single position available at this hospital for about 3 months and didn't even get one rejection letter. I felt a significant rush of sadness and depression, and I was so angry with myself for missing the call.

On Tuesday, I decided to take a risk and called the unit to see if she has been out of the office for a few days (desperate, right?) I was able to speak to the assistant clinical director, who was such an angel, and I explained my situation to her and sounded just like a desperate new grad. She really resonated with my story and told me that she will give my information to the director in 10 minutes when they attend a meeting. This was 12pm. I waited by my phone for the next 5 hours and I kept telling myself to not hold my breath because surely she has already crossed my name off the interview list. 5:30pm, the director called me back and we had a great conversation over the phone (mainly me apologizing for spamming her with messages and thanking her over and over again for calling me back). She was very pleasant and said that she remember how it was like to be a new grad. Not surprisingly, she said that she had about 15 interview scheduled for 3 position and that's why she have not been checking her messages. However, she graciously offered me an opportunity to interview with her the following morning at 9:30am.

Needlessly to say, I was beyond excited and scared out of my mind because I only have a few hours to prepare. I pulled out my best suit and prepared for the interview to the best of my ability. I showed up at her office at 8:30am expecting to wait since she told me she will be in a meeting till 9:30am. However, she was available in her office and we began the interview right after I arrived. I felt awkward for arriving so early and I joked with her that I was going to use the time to prepare for questions but obviously that is not going to happen now. During the interview, she told me that she already made 2 offers and there is only 1 position available now and she has another interview the next day. They have a huge need for nurses who speak a particular language which I believe is why my application was selected. At the end of the interview, she called in another nurse who pretend to converse with me as the patient in a different language just to ensure I can speak it fluently. I felt that the interview went very well and she said I should expect a response within one week.

Now it's day 2 after the interview and I found it soooo difficult to contain my anxiety. This moment happened when I least expected and it seems like a dream to me how I finally got the interview after I already given up hope. Just wanted to share with everyone who is going through the same process. Be persistent, take risks and don't lose faith! There is hope for all of us =)

[Barbara H.]

Congrats...being bilingual is a good thing!! Keep us updated...