I want to curl up in a ball and cry

Altra, BSN, RN · Mar 27, 2012

I'm sorry this happened to you, but calling someone 30 times in 2 days may well have changed someone's mind about a hiring decision. Lesson learned. Lesson learned #2 -- without a written or at least telephone offer of a specific job title in a specific department for a specific rate of pay and your verbal and/or written acceptance of such ... you have not been "hired".

And ... it's distressing to me to see new grads who expect hiring decisions/processes to be completed in unrealistic time frames. I remember an old saying: for each $10,000 of annual salary, you should expect it to take 1 month to find a suitable position. I often think of that saying (thanks, Dad :redbeathe ) when I read these threads that detail various bad outcomes over rushed hiring decisions ... by both employers and applicants.

Good luck with your job search.

OCNRN63, RN · Mar 27, 2012

I'm sorry this happened to you, but calling someone 30 times in 2 days may well have changed someone's mind about a hiring decision. Lesson learned. Lesson learned #2 -- without a written or at least telephone offer of a specific job title in a specific department for a specific rate of pay and your verbal and/or written acceptance of such ... you have not been "hired".
And ... it's distressing to me to see new grads who expect hiring decisions/processes to be completed in unrealistic time frames. I remember an old saying: for each $10,000 of annual salary, you should expect it to take 1 month to find a suitable position. I often think of that saying (thanks, Dad :redbeathe ) when I read these threads that detail various bad outcomes over rushed hiring decisions ... by both employers and applicants.
Good luck with your job search.

Do you think part of that mentality exists because this generation is used to everything being obtained instantaneously? I mean, the "old school" nurses waited months to find out if they passed boards; now you can find out in a couple of hours. In olden days it was normal for some facilities to take a while to get back to you; now people expect a response the same day. I don't say this to criticize the OP; I'm sorry she had such a discouraging experience. I just think part of it has to do with everything coming so fast.

FutureRN_NP · Mar 27, 2012

Wait? Did you go through the background check and drug screening per their policy already? They only marked you as hired after everything is cleared. I am going through this myself but to this point I don't consider myself as hired until I get an ID batch picture taken.

p.s. You are not hired (only offered) just yet until your background and drug screening come back negative and cleared. That what I was told with mine.

dudette10, MSN, RN · Mar 27, 2012

Why are we doing the "I walked ten miles in 20 feet of snow" thing on this thread? She was told she was hired, she apparently even knew when her orientation was going to start, and she waited two weeks before making a call. The hiring manager made it sound like just a background check was needed.

Yes, the 15 calls and 30 calls were a bit much, but this "the paperwork must have gotten screwed up" stuff just leaves a person hanging. If an employer doesn't want to go through with the hiring process, just say so!

tyloo · Mar 27, 2012

i posted earlier this month asking for job advice because i received 2 offers for full time rn positions on my first attempt at finding an rn position out of college. i took a snf job at a major hospital in my area. the woman in hr told me they would run my information after i was "marked hired" and no news was good news and wait for them to call me. so i did. for 2 weeks. finally a week before my orientation i heard nothing, so i called. hr said i was never "marked hired" and to talk to the woman who hired me. so i called her. 15 times. then she called back and said she didn't know what was going on, and would figure it out and call me back. i called another 30 times over the next 2 days. she called back to say her secretary who "marks hired" was on vacation for the week, that hr didn't know, and she would get a hold of the secretary at home and call me back. that was last thursday. my orientation was the 26th. never heard back, never got an answer. so i called the job i turned down, and very humbly asked to still be considered for another position on the unit that i applied for that day. so i just keep filling out applications, and trying. i had 2 offers, now i have nothing. and i wasted 3 weeks. i busted my little butt to pass my boards before the rest of my class did so i wouldn't be competing with 70 other new grads for jobs.. and now i am.
i want to curl up in a ball and cry.

i don't quite understand, who said you were hired? was it a nurse manager you interviewed with? or was it someone at hr? i agree calling that many times is excessive. usually with phone calls my rule of thumb is- if it is a service i am paying for i make the phone call as many times as it is needed. however when it is a service that is a favor, like getting hired, i would make the phone calls a minimum.

usually i have been on interviews that when it is a large place you do interview at the hr level and then with the nurse manager. when it is a small facility it could be with the don or administrator.

if they offer you a job they usually will formally say, "we would like to offer a formal position,,,," and give you the pay rate and so on and so forth. there is paperwork that needs to be filled out and a drug screen. you don't get hired until they get results from the drug screen. usually you are not offered a position the same day that you interview, but sometimes this is not the case. most interviews i have been on it ends when hr or the nurse manager says, "well we are still interviewing candidates...you will hear from us in a week or two if you get the job." i have never heard, "no news is good news," from an hr perspective.

just keep applying!

lilybug12 · Mar 27, 2012

Im going through the same thing , Im a new RN . and i except if someone tells me I have the job that i Should have the job! so i totally agree with OP. It takes way to long for this process. I had to call and call and call HR until they gave me a background/test/tb date finally got it today, getting my badge tomm. Good Luck, its fierce.

mazy · Mar 27, 2012

I'm sorry that this happened to the OP. I agree that 30 calls was too much, and she had unrealistic expectations about what the hiring process entailed. The only job I got hired for immediately was a job in a facility that no one in their right mind would work for.

Mostly I've had to go through weeks and sometimes more to progress through a very complicated interview process to get a job.

And I think that the OP misunderstood what "marked as hired" meant. At that time it did not mean she had been hired, but rather that continuing onto orientation as a hiree would mean that the paperwork and background check and hiring process had been completed. At that time everything was still up in the air.

That phase of the hiring process can take a long time.

But the fact is that nowadays, when researching how to get hired, most "experts" recommend being very persistent in following up with potential employers, and to be tenacious and keep reminding them that you are just thrilled to be interviewing and really, really want to work for them.

It's easy advice to give, but not really what employers want. And I think that in her heart the OP was trying to do things the right way, but misunderstood the language of HR, and lost sight of the fact that however much you want a job, you do have to be respectful of boundaries with potential employers.

I hope that she can learn from this experience and I offer many hugs.:hug:

sapphire18 · Mar 27, 2012

I'm so sorry that happened! I know how frustrating and stressful job searching is. If you already got 2 offers though, you must be doing something right, so hopefully the next one is right around the corner! Side note: I don't think she was "expecting an unrealistic time frame" in the hiring process when she called only a week before her orientation was supposed to start!

OCNRN63, RN · Mar 27, 2012

Why are we doing the "I walked ten miles in 20 feet of snow" thing on this thread? She was told she was hired, she apparently even knew when her orientation was going to start, and she waited two weeks before making a call. The hiring manager made it sound like just a background check was needed.
Yes, the 15 calls and 30 calls were a bit much, but this "the paperwork must have gotten screwed up" stuff just leaves a person hanging. If an employer doesn't want to go through with the hiring process, just say so!

It wasn't "I walked 20 miles..." I explained why there may be a difference in perception of how things work. Sheesh. Lighten up.

JenniferA428 · Mar 27, 2012

Obviously i need to make a couple things clear.I first had an interview with HR where I answered some questions, and went over salary, raises, insurance, benefits etc etc. After that interview i had to take a med test standard to the hospital. After that i went to my first interview with a hiring manager (the one i turned down later) she said she was interviewing other candidates, and i would hear in 2 weeks. I thanked her and left. 2 days later i got a call from a different hiring manager. I went, filled out more paperwork, she gave me the same employment reference paperwork, i told her i had filled it out in HR, but would be happy to do it again. Then she gave me a different med test. I told her i took one in HR but would be happy to take hers as well. I passed them both. I interviewed with her, she was very happy with my answers, we talked about the floor, the patients, the staff. She said i would not have a problem fitting in there, and that she would like to offer me the position and understands if i choose the other position I had interviewed for first. I told her i would gladly accept her offer and i felt her floor was a better fit then the floor i previously interviewed on, she said pending my drug test, background check, and employment reference check, that i would have orientation on the 26th. I thanked her and ran out of there like charlie with the golden ticket to the chocolate factory. (obviously i didn't act like a psycho in the hospital, this is a joke). On my way out the door i ran into the HR Nurse recruiter, and she said that they would run my checks, and "no new is good news" and I would hear from them. 2 weeks went by and i heard NOTHING. I worked as a director of a criminal background check company for 7 years, I know sometimes these things take time. That's when i started calling. I did not leave 30 messages. I was just calling to try and catch her in her office, because I'm not sure how often she checks her messages. Also I only left 1 message a day. When i worked for the criminal background check office people would often call me a million times a day when i was busy and not returning calls like i should have been, i never thought they were crazy, just persistent, and more on top of there job then i was at the time.

Also I see how a written offer would be better then verbal, but how is a telephone verbal offer any better then a verbal offer given in person with a handshake?

Also when i called HR after 2 weeks to schedule my drug test I was told that they do not start doing background checks and drug testing until I come through the system marked "hired" that's how the process starts for them. That is why they told me to contact the Nurse Manager who hired me to make sure she marked me as "hired" in the system, so that they could start the work on their end.

Honestly, i didn't misunderstand anything. For whatever reason, I never got marked as hired in the system, and because of that the job was given to someone else. I would like to know exactly what happened, but i know i most likely never will.

netglow, ASN, RN · Mar 27, 2012

I knew you didn't really make 30 calls, OP :)