Had my first interview & don't know what to think!

[Moosey32]

hello,

so i'm a nervous wreck and just needed to vent a little and maybe get feedback... or prayers at least!

well my background is that i graduated in aug. 09 and passed nclex-rn oct. 09. and have since not been able to find work in my area. i have looked into hospitals and ltc facilities and have not even been able to get an interview, not even a phone one. so relocation became an option.

i applied for a ft nights m/s position at a hospital that is 2.5 hours away. the hospital actually recruited from the university i attended, which the university is 4 hours from where i live. i had a phone interview and then got an actual interview.

i interviewed with hr and the clinical director for that floor. i felt my interview with hr went really well. i felt i answered all the behavorial questions very well, i was polite, we joked and laughed. she told me about all the benefits, salary, and orientation and when it started and asked me what orientation class i could attend. which thankfully i can attend the next scheduled 1 which is in 3 weeks. and i also got a folder filled with more detailed information on orientation and benefits. and even when i was waiting on the clinical director, the hr lady came out and found me a little book filled with apartments in the area because of my relocation and a city magazine that describes the area.

then i had my interview with the cd. she told me up front that i was going to be a guinea pig because she actually had a college student who was interning because she would be doing all the interviews after my interview. so that made me nervous but at the same time it was better because the atmosphere was really light-hearted because the cd would actually stop, and talk to both of us and say to her intern like "see, that was a really good answer because she gave me the assessment, action, and outcome." but i just don't feel it went as great as my hr inteview because the behavorial questions this time were solely nursing related, whereas in hr i could use past non-related jobs or clinicals or whatever. & since i'm a new grad, obviously my only experience is clinicals. it was a good interview, just not a great one ya know? i don't feel i did anything bad, but i don't feel like i was outstanding either. she did talk to me more about my preceptorship, orientation, what colors of scrubs to where and shoes, and she also went through a pretty detailed explanation on how i can expect nights to go and when i'll be busiest, and what not.

and she actually said that she doesn't have the final say in who gets hired, it is actually hr who makes the final decision. so that made me feel better because i thought my hr interview went the best.

i was actually like 1 of the first interviews, and i interviewed tuesday. the cd said she hopes she can have a decision made by the end of the following week because 1- they have a survey group wed-fri and she couldn't have any interviews and 2- the rest of the interviews will be done next week and i guess there are a lot of applicants and she said hr will contact my references & so forth, which i found out my references were called today. oh, and there are 3 positions available.

like, i feel it went good, and they talked most of the time like i had the job ya know?? but i know not to count on that aspect of it, because that is often misleading and just how some interviewers present the job ya know?

ugh... just pleaseeeee keep me in your prayers!!! it's going to be a longggg week of waiting lol.

[L8RRN]

I worked in HR before becoming a nurse. We did not contact references (via phone) unless we were planning to hire. We didn't care if you were a great employee or not before if we didn't want to hire you. :) Not going to get your hopes all up in case they do it a little different, but it is a pretty good sign if they contacted the references. They aren't going to waste their time contacting people if they aren't interested in the candidate. Might be some exceptions (like trying to narrow the field down if all else is equal), but still a really good sign.

GOOD LUCK!

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

My first thoughts were the same as L8RRN. The fact that they contacted your references is a very positive sign. Best wishes!

[prinsessa]

Don't want to disappoint you but one hospital i had an interview at I'm pretty sure they contacted everyone's references. They told me before the interview that they would contact my references. I felt like that interview went really well but I never got the job. Hopefully I hope the same isn't true for you. Good luck! Let know when you hear something.

[Moosey32]

Thank you everyone for your good wishes! I'm just keeping my fingers crossed at this point and praying!!!

[LoveANurse09]

So did u get the job?