Take Classes, Do Research, and Above All Be Honest

I searched for three months (two of which were prior to my even graduating). At the time, I was doing my last term of nursing school in a neonatal intensive care unit (not something your average nursing student can do in this area) surrounded by nurses that had worked with me for almost seven years. You see, the hospital I was doing my all of my clinical rotations in was the very same hospital that I worked as a phlebotomist, and had for almost seven years. I never worked less than 32 hours a week (until that last term) and I always had at least 12 credit hours of college-going in the background. Many coworkers and peers cheered my drive and dedication.

That is until the economy took the job market away.

So I was forced to look for work wherever it came available. I finally got a callback and an interview at one of the community-based care facilities in my area. It was owned and run by a very well known (nationally) geriatric nurse practitioner. I did some research, asked around, and the general consensus was that I would learn a lot from this woman and from working in her facility. Even though this isn't the norm for a new grad in this area (most of us start in hospitals and then work our way outward), I went with it. My hire date was 7/27/09.

The first day on the job, I was asked not to wear my name badge because the nurse I was replacing had not been fired yet. I lost around a week's worth of pay because of a "scheduling snafu" with the orientation classes (I dutifully showed up, and then was asked to go home because my manager was supposed to tell me and didn't...so sorry). On 8/26/09, one of the residents literally busted through one of the security gates and proceeded to do over $7,000 worth of damage to a car I had only owned for (not quite) two months because he was trying to get home to see his wife. After about two and a half months on the job, my position was changed to that of a shift supervisor. This job required that I supervise the entire campus (as opposed to one home with five residents) of ten homes.

I would like someone to tell me they are surprised I didn't do well. Not only had a been a nurse for less than three months, but I had also never been a manager or a supervisor. I understand that nursing school attempts to prepare you for the management of staff that potentially work under you (CNA's and such), but this wasn't even within a stone's throw of the same. The 15-18 employees I supervised were there from off the street with on-the-job-training and no certifications what-so-ever. I was expected to oversee delegations of duties (such as insulin administration, CBG testing, and various training on lift machines), monitor staff performance, and assist with direct patient care where needed.

Now I would like to back up a step to the day I came in for the interview. You see, I am a very honest and direct person. I really do feel like honesty is the best policy, even if it doesn't benefit me at the time. I didn't change my resume to reflect how much I would "love" to work at a geriatric facility. Not only was that not even my seventh choice of places to work, I never thought I would work in that type of facility at all during my career. I had worked in a hospital for the past seven years and had loved every minute of it. I saw no reason to change.

That being said, I am also realistic and practical. I told them that my becoming a phlebotomist was the same kind of situation. I had just moved back to my home state after a divorce that was more of a teenage tragic romance than an exercise in marriage. I was in dire need of a job and the market was slim for someone without skills and big bills. I discovered phlebotomy from a relative. I never looked back. So with the same enthusiasm, I said that I may not have thought I would work in a place like this, but I am willing to do my best as I do with anything else I put my mind to. I also made sure they understood that I had ZERO experience (outside of schooling) as a registered nurse.

Let's fast forward back to the present. Last week, on day two of that rotation, when I came into work, my manager asked me (in short) what I did all shift (previous day). I tried to tell her, but her tone and inflection made me nervous and the past two months had made a wreck of me. I was constantly going home and agonizing over decisions I had made and care that I had provided. Most of my shift (2 pm to 12 am) was spent largely alone on the facility grounds. I could call for assistance, but that call was always to my direct supervisor or the geriatric nurse practitioner on call. So when I had to ask questions like "how do I..." I always had to ask those people (instead of a peer). My "training" for my position had consisted of two days with someone who wasn't even a nurse, and various different meetings and in-service had been canceled due to renovations of various buildings on the premises.

I did what many in my situation would probably do...I shut down. I couldn't think of the list of things I had done the night before. Oh, I had been busy, but I couldn't tell her why. When I left, I got angry. How dare she? I have been working so hard and been so enveloped in this job that my house was a disaster and my friends and family were starting to worry. Can't she see that?

About an hour later, she came to me (just before she left for the day) and said that she felt like the conversation hadn't gone well. I stuck with my honesty policy and told her that I have been struggling and probably the worst part about it is that I didn't know what I needed to succeed. I had been asking questions, but the answers weren't always forthcoming. In fact, not three days after this event, I had asked this very same person how to safely escort a demented resident from one home to another (the resident was refusing to go back to their original residence due to Sundowner's) across a busy street at dusk with little to know personnel resources. I did not feel comfortable doing so because I would have to call the police if he got away from me outside of the locked gates, and that situation would have likely ended very poorly for this resident. I got "keep trying" and "good luck" followed by "I'll be in a basketball game from 7-8:30 so you might not be able to reach me."

Still being in a somewhat emotional state, I was basically telling her that I was struggling in my current position, that I had not had a choice when placed in this position, and that I didn't know what to do to make it work. I stated that I wanted to figure it out, but I just wasn't sure how. At one point she stated that she would "open the door" to the idea of me looking for other work. Honest once again, I mentioned that I had looked a week prior and the market was worse off than it was when I got this job. This statement is probably what decided her (or others involved), but again, I can't imagine why anyone would be surprised that I might think I wasn't qualified for the position I was in.

On Tuesday the following week, I was called in on my day off (called at 1:30 pm and asked to be in by 3 pm), taken into the human resources office, and told that the company "would like to sever their relationship with me." When asked why, I was told that it was based on the conversation described above and the fact that I was a new nurse...something they were aware of when they hired me.

No warning, no written anything, nothing. I realize this is a completely subjective statement, but it seems to me that they wanted to try using a new grad (can we say minimal pay?) and found out that you can't cut that corner without spending some time and money to train.

This employer makes a very big deal about employees being "at will" employees. During my short six month stay, I watched them hire and fire three nurses and one human resource employee (of which they only have one in employ at any time). Multiple nurses there have reported that the facility has gone through over 20 nurses (just nurses...they weren't accounting for any other position) in the past three years.

The only positive things that came out of this were that they offered to let me resign to keep a termination off my record and also offered to furnish letters of recommendation (which I asked for and have yet to receive). To be honest (ha), my head is still spinning. I have never been fired in all my working career. Ever. I have also never had a "needs improvement" in any evaluation form.

I sincerely hope that the above situation is just a monstrous example of what's out there and I was just "lucky" enough to experience it. I am now floating with what I still feel is ZERO nursing experience and no job prospects. I am probably either going to have to move out of the area (think out of the entire western states) or find a job doing something else.

For reasons different than most, I am wondering why I spent $45,000 on an education that I currently appear to be unable to use.

Thank you to anyone who took the time to read this. It's the first time I have told this story in a complete way and it feels good to get it all out in front of me. I understand that it was way more than was needed to explain the situation, but it felt necessary to tell it. Many people in the past two days (some of them nurses) are surprised (still!) to hear that someone such as me is having "this much trouble" finding a new job.

All I can say is do what you can to hold on to what you have. Take classes, do research, and above all be honest. Even though that is probably what ended it for me in the end, at least I can show that without a doubt, I never hid anything from them. When they ask me in interviews I can hopefully get, I can say that I was upfront and honest and I just didn't fit what they needed, which I don't think is unacceptable and shouldn't be a deterrent to my getting hired.

Hopefully...