I'm on a SLippery Reference SLope. Dense reading.

[zephyr9]

I could use some advice!

I accepted an offer from a great system last week. This job took a long time to get. I first applied two years ago, finally got a call in Jan, interviewed twice and waited a month for the offer. I have positive references from my last several employers.

NOW, I get two worrisome emails, four days before orientation starts.

1. An email from the Reference Checking Company that they are "having trouble getting a reference from "Former Employer Hospital", and they need me to fill in the attached release form and fax it to them, pronto. The form has checkboxes for me, the former employee, to specify whether I resigned in good standing, was terminated, resigned in lieu of termination, or was laid off. Then there is a section for the previous employer to confirm or deny what I stated.

Backstory: This was my first job out of school. I was there a year and I stopped working there a little more than a year ago. I resigned from full time and I do recall getting a letter of acceptance for per diem. However, at the time I resigned from FT, I was taking a LOA to have a surgery. My recovery time was longer than expected. I was depressed and just, never went back. I never went to Occ Health to be cleared to return to work. I didin't formally resign. I didn't receive notice of termination either. I wish I had handled it differently.

2. I also got an email from HR of the new job, asking for me to call her tomorrow. That she has to put me in the system, but first, she needs to know if, by any chancem I ever did an internship at their Main Hospital.

Backstory: No, I never did an internship in the main hospital but I did do one in one of the other facilities in the system and it was a total fail. It is not on my resume. I answered "No," that I have never been employed in that system, because it was an unpaid internship, not a job. It was a fail because I did not perform well, e.g, lateness, and just not fitting in, d/t overwork and lack of life balance. This was four years ago. If asked, it is likely that the person in charge of that internship would give a very poor reference.

Other than those two things, my other work references are strong. I have one year at my current job and got a good reference, as well as two other agency jobs prior to this.

I should have managed things much differently for the internship and leaving that first job. Oh well, live and learn.

So now what?

Whan I call HR tomorrow, should I tell her about the internship, AND fully disclose that I unprofessionally flaked off from aforementioned job? Should I say I was terminated on the form?

Of course I must be honest. Just, HOW to. It is a slippery slope. I don't want to lose the offer!

Thanks.

[Cat365]

Call your previous employer and see what they consider your status to be. Go from there, but don't lie.

[kp2016]

Before returning her call I would call HR at the first hospital and check your rehire status. As you abandoned the job with no notice I have a feeling you will be flagged as not for rehire. She already knows about the unpaid internship, that's why it came up. She is giving you an opportunity to explain. You need to be ready to own it and explain how you have changed and will now be a model employee.

For future reference I would leave both of these jobs off future applications, they both really hurt your chances of being hired. Sadly this means not applying at any hospital that is affiliated with them, HR can see the records across all of their facilities. Good luck.

[TomDicknHarry]

Good luck with that. I did something similar. Long story shprt I still got the job. So all is not lost.

[caliotter3]

For the future, always resign in writing and get a return receipt for the certified copy of your resignation letter that you send through the mail. That way you have proof that you gave notice. It is not far fetched that an employer can "lose" a resignation letter, intentionally or otherwise. Ask the HR person if they want the information about the internship. You can't be blamed for your interpretation of the question, but if you try to keep that experience a secret now that it appears you have been "found" in the system, it could work against you.

[zephyr9]

Yeah, good advice. Looks like it might be allright. Turns out it wasn't the internship they got a hit on, it was when I was a student nurse at the hospital in 2011. Turns out the other facility I did the internship at wasn't yet in their network, so the internship is therefore none of their concern.

I spoke to HR at the old job. She was very nice and although she didn't directly answer my question about my eligibility for rehire, I hope that our short conversation will prompt her memory that I am a pretty nice person...fwiw. She said she hopes I am doing better now and that she will take care of the form as soon as she gets it. In the form, I just stated the truth, that I did not appropriately resign from the position, therefore may not be eligible for rehire, and that at the time of my LOA, I was in good standing to my knowledge.

So fingers crossed, looks like it might turn out allright. Valuable learning experience either way.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

Whatever you do, don't lie. It's a lot worse trying to recover from a lie that trying to recover from a bad reference.

I know that OP can't change the past, but let this be a lesson for students and new nurses. Nursing is a small world. You never know if that job you left of less than pleasant terms will come back to haunt you. The world may never know how poor that internship or clinical rotation went 10 years ago, but it might be the piece that holds you back. For better or worse, people are constantly judging students, and you never know when a negative judgment will make its way into the hands of someone with hiring powers.

[RockinNurse2018]

Whatever you do, don't lie. It's a lot worse trying to recover from a lie that trying to recover from a bad reference.

I know that OP can't change the past, but let this be a lesson for students and new nurses. Nursing is a small world. You never know if that job you left of less than pleasant terms will come back to haunt you. The world may never know how poor that internship or clinical rotation went 10 years ago, but it might be the piece that holds you back. For better or worse, people are constantly judging students, and you never know when a negative judgment will make its way into the hands of someone with hiring powers.

Good point. Sometimes I wonder if I am still being held back because of something that happened years ago. Good luck to OP though.