Got myself in a tough career spot. What would you do?

[OliveRN]

I left my bedside nursing job after 1 year because my manager wanted me to sign a contract where she'll pay for a mandatory class but I would be forced to work there for 2 more years. I wanted to get out of bedside nursing so I resigned for family reasons last October (2 weeks ago) when my 1 year was up when my deadline was up.

I started looking for another job. I found a great offer and had my first interview with them in October while I was still working. But I had the second interview today. I'm not working at the hospital anymore and I had failed to mention that to them. So they're under the impression I still work there. They moved me onto the last interview round with the company president.

My situation is that this new company thinks I'm still working at the hospital. I didn't want to discuss the contract issue with them because I didn't wanna seem like I couldn't commit to a job. But in hindsight, I should have been upfront about this because this new company will call my nurse manager and they will find out the hard way and my credibility will be out the window.

Should I explain my contract situation with them in my thank you letter for the second interview? Or should I call her directly on the phone and tell her? How do I soften the fact that I left out this information during the interview? Or should I call my nurse manager and explain my situation and have her lie for me and say that I'll be leaving in November. I'm not too close with her and she may be offended and not willing to do that for me.

What should I do? Come clean with the new company? Please help. I need your advice. Thanks for listening!!

[kidnurse98]

I would keep my mouth shut! Did you leave on good terms? Are you eligible for rehire? They cannot call your manager and ask anything but how long you worked there and if your are elig. for rehire...legally. In the final interview I would tell them you resigned from the position to focus on a different career track, etc. etc.

BTW-Why would you have to sign a TWO year contract for a MANDATORY class? This sounds a bit fishy to me...what type of class was this? Was it a BSN program or something like that?

If the new company is interested and want to hire you, they will not hold it against you if you have resigned...they WILL care if you are not elig for rehire. If you left your last position in goos terms, then nothing to worry about. The new employer may even be thrilled becasue they will not have to wait for you to finish up with the other employer!

Good Luck

[caliotter3]

It probably won't make much of a difference in the hiring process so I would not go out of my way to mention it now. If you do, then you will be calling attention to it, when it might just be another fact for them to find out when the time comes.