How would you have handled this?

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

I just recently graduated and started my first nursing job. My preceptors were so mean to me and they made me feel stupid. They made my life miserable everyday that I went into work. . .one day I just decided to leave the job. I was only there for a month. . .I was able to get another job. I'm just starting orientation at my new job and I hope that things go better. . .Marina

Don't worry. What happened at your first post-graduate job stays there. It is so sad that the places that need nurses the most subject them to the kind of experience you had without seeming to notice where the problem is in their own system. Let me assure you that a great deal of it is due to poor supervision and management. Remember your experience so that if you ever find yourself in a management position take time to make yourself aware of how the staff is interacting among themselves and step in if you need to. I hope you find a better situation in your new job. Honestly, there are some real excellent RN role models who will be most willing to bend over backward to help you get started. Good luck, kiddo.

[live_N_scrubs]

...Remember your experience so that if you ever find yourself in a management position take time to make yourself aware of how the staff is interacting among themselves and step in if you need to. I hope you find a better situation in your new job. Honestly, there are some real excellent RN role models who will be most willing to bend over backward to help you get started. Good luck, kiddo.

Thanks so much for the encouraging words. I hope to find those excellent role models and learn alot from them. I'm the type that has a hard time being treated poorly, I don't react very well. That's probably why I only lasted one month at the old job. Because of this bad experience, I have made becoming a preceptor one day one of my long term goals. I don't ever want any new grad to feel the way I did.

[ZASHAGALKA, RN]

The only thing I would have done differently, as has been posted, would have been to line up another job first, for several reasons.

You don't have to explain why you quit if you still have a job. An employed RN is an unquestioned current asset - to some employer. An unemployed RN is full of questions.

You have a stronger bargaining position. You can counter an HR offer with "Well I make this much now." You can't do that if you don't have a current salary.

You can honestly tell your prospective employer that you haven't let your current employer know you are 'job hunting' - and ask them not to contact them. This comes in handy when you are leaving a bad situation.

Many hospitals in the same area have an informal 'no headhunting' agreement. They won't actively recruit you unless you come to them first. Sometimes, HR dept considers that a coup - and that makes the hiring process much easier.

I'm on my 4th job as an RN. I didn't resign any of my three prior positions without having the next job already lined up.

~faith,

Timothy.

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

I had a horrible experience as a new grad RN in a surgical unit. The place was a viper pit. I lasted 3 mos. On applications, I list my reason for leaving as "poor working conditions." No one has ever questioned me about it.