Hiring Managers can you explain this to me...

[Marshall1]

A nurse friend of mine applied for a position that was in the local paper. She went to the interview, meeting with the DON. The DON told her all about the job, etc. including when the next orientation would be. The DON asked her to meet with someone else for the 2nd interview so she wouldn't have to come back. She agreed. They makes copies of her license, etc. and had her fill out the information for background check. She was told the formal offer would come when the background check came back. She was there for a little over 2 hours by this time. After all this is done and she is getting ready to leave the DON tells her he will be in touch as soon as the position is opened by the corporate people. She was shocked and a little mad given she had spent now close to 3 hours at this interview, filling out everything, giving copies, etc. only to find out there was not really a position even though it was advertised AND she was interviewed by two people for it AND told the position was hers! This makes nnnooo sense to me. She was told it would be "a few weeks" - it's now been close to 3 months. The man she met with - the DON - keeps telling her he is waiting for "them" to decide to open the position. The draw back is she has other job offers but this one would work really well for her since she is a single mother so she keeps passing up offers but as of today has decide to take one at an LTC but it's part time. WHY would ANYONE interview - wasting their time and the applicants - if there is no job??? Is this what nursing is coming to? I am really, for a variety of reasons, tired of nursing and if I could find something else to do, I would. It has changed so much in the past 10 years or so.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

in our facility all apps come thru HR who then matches them to APPROVED positions.

[caliotter3]

If the opening was not available yet, the first words out of the interviewer's mouth should have been just that. Or, better yet, it should have been specified in the job listing. Up front and open.

[BrookeeLou_RN]

Just remembered, got a job as PRN in LTC once, but had already planned to go out of town. Told HR and DON this and they were ok, set up for me to start day after I returned. I came in at 9 that morning as requested and DON did not even remember who I was. let alone that she hired me.. ( I was only gone 10 days) and then she says well she "does not need me so leave!" I was speechless. Nursing.. never a dull moment!

[blogera]

ha! my experience is close. i went to the assisted living facility early for job interview. when i went in the conference room, there were three people in a round table for my interview. after answering basic interview questions, the lady who is my main interviewer (i forgot what her position in that facility) gave me a tour of the facility. i thought my interview went well.

she told me to come back after two days for "shadowing". i spent 5 hours shadowing a full-time lpn nurse employee, only to watch her gave shots of insulin and vitamin bs. it was an assisted living so there were no patients for special treatments (no wound care, no trache, etc.) after the 5 hour "shadowing", she called me to her office to ask me how i thought. i gave her my thoughts and i really felt like the job was easy. when i asked her what would be the schedule for this position, she told me it is a part - time position and that she is also interviewing other applicants.

my issue is why the heck spend 5 hours of shadowing when there were other applicants lined up for interview in the same position i was vying for? it was a complete waste of time for me and to this day she hasn't even called back.

today, i was surfing on the internet nursing job sites and found that the facility is looking for a full-time lpn and the job ad was posted one day after my interview. i thought that was rude of them to make me spend 5 hours shadowing when really they were not planning to hire me. if they didn't like me, they should have known that in the first meeting interview or she should have just told me that they are going to make me come back for 2nd interview or not. i just don't get why i had to come back in the facility to waste 5 unpaid hours of "shadowing" for nothing. boy, they must really have a lot of time to waste in their hands. this experience makes me mad and feel violated. i could have spent those hours applying for other jobs. have you heard/experience the same thing? this was new to me, and i felt really violated, for them to waste my time and not even hire me in the first place.

[BrookeeLou_RN]

I think Nursing has turned crazy since the hiring/HR/Admin/NM people have lost all perspective. It is so unfortunate. And I see no hope for improvement at this point.

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

I had this happen when I was looking for jobs as a new grad.

I was very excited to get an interview with a very well-known hospital that was 4 hours away...my interview was super-early in the morning, so I drove the night before, got a hotel so I would make it on time.

She told me at the interview that there was not really a position open but that they just wanted to "meet with people".

I was furious. Needless to say, they called me six months later wanting me to come back in and I PROUDLY told them I was not interested.

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

What I want to know is why she turned other offers down for this job that she doesn't even have? I get that it would be a better match for her...but she didn't have a job offer.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

these problems are not unique to nursing. My son in law is having the same trouble in another industry. I believe plain ole good manners would make a big difference. Also, I believe working for these rude and inconsiderate people would not be any different than the interview process.

[NPvampire, MSN, RN, APRN]

Wow...this explains a lot of what I have been experiencing the past 2 years. I've had the "forced" shadow thing, too. They should've at least made the first cut with a canned-question interview before making you work unpaid labor.

I've had them copy my license, SS card, everything, even fill out tax forms! and then not get the job/ job not available. GRRRRR!!!!

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

This has happened to me twice. Around 2000, I interviewed and was hired for a tech support position at an ISP. They told me to call back for a start date. I called several times and left several messages, but never got a start date.

In 2008, six months after graduating from nursing school, I found a part-time (16 hours per week) night job in LTC. The DON wanted me to work a few day shifts for orientation. Forty-five minutes into my first shift, the DON told me that the job was now per diem, and they couldn't afford 2 orientees at once, so she was sending me home. She told me to call back the following Monday. When I called back Friday, she said the job had been cancelled.