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Nurses General Nursing

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I am a May of 2007 Nursing graduate from a 4 year school. I have a gpa of 3.8, and feel confident in my nursing skills. I took a job as a new graduate on a busy oncology floor with a large health system. As a new graduate, I made the mistake of taking the first job offered without really fielding other offers that would have been a better fit for me. It was a night position, and for personal reasons nights became impossible for me to do. I resigned from the job after my orientation, stating that the night shift I signed on for was no longer an option for me. Even if i could have stayed on days, it was a poor fit for me, as I was very unhappy with both the floor I was on and the hospital system itself. I know for a fact that my superiors were very unhappy with my decision to leave. I certainly made teh right decision for myself, but now im worried that im being blacklisted from getting another nursing job. I have gone on other interviews and have not heard back. I am completely honest about my resigning from my previous nursing job when interviewing. Im just very nervous about not being able to find another nursing job. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you

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Specializes in Med/Surg, psych, 7 yrs EMT.

The job you ultimately choose to prusue must be a good fit for you. If you take a job or stay at a job that you do not feel is right, you would be cheating yourself. Nursing is a wonderful field and there are so many different areas to work in. Keep trying! At a job interveiw when they ask about your former job and why you left, keep it positive... You could say: It was a wonderful expierence and I learned a lot. I just want to expierence different areas and learn different aspects of nursing! They will love the positive comments! Shows them that you value your employer. Good Luck to you! :wink2:

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Specializes in ER/Onc/?.

Hi Vince, I am currently going through a very similar situation so I know how you are feeling! My background: I also graduated May 2007 and took the first job offer for a busy ER with a large health system in the city I was moving to. Had no preceptor fresh out of school, and nobody was willing to correct the situation. Finally transferred to a med/surg/hematology/oncology floor where I went from bad to worse. They stuck me on nights and I too couldn't do them. Anyway, to make a long story short I left them after 8 months and feel like they are doing the same thing to me that you are experiencing. I've been on several interviews as well, and had one job offer. They never called me to come in for new hire paperwork and drug screen, etc. After several calls, I finally got a letter stating they did not have a position for me at this time. The only explanation I could think of was my ex-employer gave me a bad reference.

Like you, I was open and upfront about what happened and the circumstances around why I left. They seemed to understand and were very interested in me, at least that was how I felt leaving the interviews.

Sorry this was so long, but I was relieved (well not exactly relieved) to see your post and know that I'm not alone in what we are experiencing. My advice is keep trying different places. Continue to be honest about what happened and focus on all your positive qualities in the interviews. That is the only thing I know to do, and it is what I am doing right now. Eventually somebody might give us a chance, at least I hope so. I am trying to get into home care because the thought of going back to acute care in a hospital makes me cringe and feel sick. Home care is something I wanted to do before I got into acute care anyway, but was told I needed med/surg experience. Good luck and keep us posted!

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Specializes in ER.

If you're in Texas, you may have ben hit with Group One. If you are, do a search here for how to deal with that. (For those that may ask, Group One is a "credit" reporting agency here that has a very strong influence in regards to hiring in hospitals).

When you signed on, did you sign a contract in exchange for the training? Did you receive a sign on bonus, and if so, did you pay it back if you didn't fufill your contractual obligations?

I don't know about where you are, but around here, hospitals don't look favorably on new grads that bail before even a year after orientation (unless you have no contract).

Without more info, I guess just take the suggestions above about trying to put a positive spin on things. Maybe look into a different field outside of the hospital setting, if you can't get anyone to talk to you. And as with any profession...network, network, network.

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Just very very frustrated that I cant seem to get a call back from an interview or even a call after submitting my resume. Im very scared that hospitals wont ever give me a chance to show them that Im a good nurse:( I hope that my fears are unjustified...and that Im not being blacklisted by my former employee.

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