should I mention this in an interview?

[iHeartNICU]

Hello all, thanks for any input in advance.

I have one year left in my RN program and so I am starting to think about when I apply for RN positions. One of the standard interview questions that I have heard is "Why nursing?" Well, when I was 5 y/o I had a kidney transplant and basically spent a ton of time in the hospital. I kinda got hooked on anything medical and the patient care aspect. Also, I loved my nurses....they were so awesome. This is my honest answer of why I chose nursing. However, I'm wondering if this is something I should even mention in an interview. Obviously, if I'm interviewing I want the job, and the last thing I want is to be turned away from a position I want because of mentioning this. If I were to get the job I would for sure let the nurse manager know about it but am just not sure if I should mention it in an interview or not if that question comes up. What do you think?

[SeanyRN]

I would mention it, be proud of it. It made you who you are.

[TrudyRN]

Don't disclose any more about your personal life to anyone than you absolutely have to.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

As a nurse manager who interviewed a lot of people for nursing positions I would recommend that you say nothing about having a kidney transplant at an employment interview. I think that to do so would be tremendously prejudicial to getting hired. I have several reasons for saying this. It calls attention to your physical status and you are there to be interviewed for your job suitability as a nurse. The primary focus of a job interview from the manager's point of view is the need of the hospital and their unit. The last thing a manager wants to hear from a potential employee is that they might have a medical condition that might result in potential medical problems resulting in attendance problems down the road. Those are the last kinds of thoughts you want to put into the mind of the person making the decision to hire you. I'm not going to hire someone that is a potential attendance problem (in my mind) before they even start work! I might also make the leap of thinking you are looking for special treatment. I'm very suspicious of anyone who might be inclined to use something like this an a manipulative ploy to play on my sympathy in hopes it might work to get them hired. The appropriate time to reveal this information is to the doctor when you have your pre-employment physical. If it even gets reported back to the nurse manager, they have, at least, seen your application, been through an interview with you, formed an opinion about your potential as an employee and given you a job offer already. They would have to be read cads to withdraw an offer of employment based on a history of a kidney transplant that is being successfully medically managed.

[kukukajoo, LPN]

I used to do the hiring for a home health agency and I feel you should tell them about the hospitalizations, etc. but leave out the transplant.

What I tell people is that I was a very sick child and really got to love my doctor's nurse- I thought she was my nurse and mine only!! The treatment I received in my hospital stays was amazing and the nurses made me feel at ease and loved and cared for through some long hospitalizations and that really affected me my entire life. I want to be able to make that kind of a difference in someone elses life.

I didn't have a kidney transplant but was very sick with kidney probs as kid. They don't need to know the reason why but being honest is the best policy and I can tell you from experience and with talking with other recruiters that people with reasons like you make the best nurses and we all know that so please do share!