Getting back to work and interviewing....ugh!...

[catsmeow1972, BSN, RN]

I've been off for the last year or so because I have found that navigating the employment world with the ball and chain of a contract to be just too **** much. The jobs I've been able to land have either been hideous risks to my sanity and license or not within my specialty, experience, or comfort zone. I have been very fortunate that I have had the financial wherewithal to be able to do so.

Now then my original thought was to wait out the end of the thing and then go back to work. I've hated the idea of interviewing with what I call 'the elephant in the room.' I want to sell myself on MY skills and what I can bring. And then I have to address this thing. Annnddd, pop goes my balloon.

However, I am tired of sitting and waiting. I am close enough to the end that the majority of the restrictions are long past moot and meaningless. In regards to work, there's nothing left except the quarterly report card from my manager. There's other stuff, but none of it is work related. Pretty much I'm just counting days.

So I applied 2 postions, 1 charge, 1 management in a hospital. Got called to schedule an interview the same day. Woah! I can't help but think they are either desperate or impressed. I figure HR has to have reviewed the license and questionnaire (all of which shows the contract and discipline) before scheduling the interview. Plus I've worked for this corporation before while under contract (another facility that they sold)

I've been thinking about what to say about why ive been off work for a year. The best answer I can come up with is the truth. They know about the contract, so I can say that the contract makes it difficult to get a job in my specialty.

Thoughts, opinions?

[Recovering_RN]

I would probably try to put the time off in a positive light, like how you'd taken the time off either to reflect, gather some perspective or whatever, as well as the truth of how the contract made it difficult to get a job, and then say how the time away from nursing made you realize how much you miss it, or how much it defines you or something along those lines. Talk up your absence from nursing as a positive thing, how so many nurses get burned out and just go on, slowly allowing their attitude to decline, burnout is insidious, it creeps up on us (I know whereof I speak! I'm right there right now myself!) and how you've seen that with other nurses, the burn out, the bad attitude etc, so your time away was a valuable time to reflect about why you went into nursing in the first place.....or yada yada yada.

So my point is to explain the reason for the absence from the nursing field truthfully, then spin the result as a positive thing. Maybe it's just me, but where I work, morale is so bad that anyone who came in with a positive sun shiney attitude would probably be seen as a god send!

Good luck!

[Recovering_RN]

Actually, let me add something. Maybe don't go all honest about how the contract made it hard to get a job. Maybe just talk about why you stepped away, to reflect and grow, take some time to address personal issues. If you got this far, with an interview, hopefully they know about the discipline, don't give them reason to think about why other employers might have decided it wasn't a good idea to hire you, that the stipulations were too difficult to work around or whatever. Most of those things don't apply now anyway, but why bring up the idea that other employers made a decision not to hire you because of the contract, so maybe they should rethink it too? Ya know?

[catsmeow1972, BSN, RN]

The thing is, other employers, did hire me. I'm the one that stepped away. This is literally the first application I've filled out since my attempt at transitioning to floor nursing came to a mutual agreed upon end and my now year off work. Well the second. The first was to get into the same position that was ruined by the contract vultures to begin with. I am just totally prepared for the fact that I may not hear from them because the first two efforts at hiring me was such a cluster that they may not want to go anywhere near me. I can understand why.

I used to be intimidated by the existence of the contract and its limitations. I'm no longer scared of it. I'm annoyed and tired of it. I think my nervousness may be more from the shock having someone be so interested in me. I can only hope that it's not out of desperation.

[catsmeow1972, BSN, RN]

Interview went okay. Did not get the job. I was told it was 'because they were a small hospital and did not have the resources to deal with IPN but come see them when the contract is gone." Yeah, sure. Whatever. I don't have the foggiest what 'resources' are needed but I suspect I was getting smoke blown up my tuchas. Maybe not. I don't even care. I'm not mad at them. There's no point. It's just the typical answer from any place that doesn't want to deal with this BS and there's nothing I can do to make them. I dont even want to deal with this BS.

[Recovering_RN]

Sorry to hear this. Yeah, they obviously just don't want to deal with it, but they didn't look into the requirements very thoroughly because other than the quarterly reports, which is not time consuming, I don't see what exactly they need resources to deal with.

[catsmeow1972, BSN, RN]

Me neither. I mentioned the contract in the interview. NM pretty much said oh okay and we moved on to schedules, call responsibilities, etc, etc. business cards and so forth. My guess it was a decision from above her. It's all BS. I think this is where I lose it because the used kitty litter is public, even though it should not be.

I took all the proper steps (self report, self immolation, trusting these clowns) to supposedly keep some confidentiality and yet because people are lazy/stupid/careless or any combo thereof, my sins are plastered all over the internet for all to see. There are people out there whose issues and behavior are/were actually dangerous to patients who got that confidentiality. Where's mine?

Why, yes. Yes, I'm angry.