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Discussion

Interview Help... Terrified.

Ok, so I'm still stuck in that awesome "New Grad" bubble where there are no positions and it's extremely hard to move up the ladder outside of LTC and home care...

I graduated August 2013 with my BSN, and started a job in home care in October 2013. I take care of premies when they come home from the hospital. I was hoping this would give me an edge to go into pediatrics, which is where my passion lies (my whole resume is kids). I am a second career nurse (I briefly taught ESL), and when I volunteered at this children's hospital I was inspired to go back to school. I have 1+ years experience volunteering for this children's hospital, and then I scored a capstone there as well. I have recommendations, and basically I will not go away until they hire me.

So I applied to this children's hospital's new graduate program last November (the ONLY way you get in as a newbie) and beat out 400 other applicants, got an interview, only to have the interview go terribly wrong. The nursery manager was double booked, HR never rescheduled me like she requested, I waited 30 minutes past the time, which I was okay with because it was supposed to be my dream job, then we sit down and HR hasn't even sent her my resume (and I kicked myself for not bringing an extra copy of mine, idiot move on my part). She glances over it, I can tell she has no questions planned since she didn't know I'd be coming, when the phone rings and its the next interviewee... I about cried when I left, I knew I wouldn't get the job. So the deadline for offers goes by, and I find out from HR the position was pulled at the last minute and an internal candidate was hired (thank you, nursing union...).

March was the next cohort. I had a great impression with HR the first time around, and she bluntly said I was in her pile and to "expect a call" from her... so today I finally got the call I will be interviewing... for the same position in the special care nursery with the same manager.

I'm extremely nervous since I felt like I didn't make a good impression in the whole ten minutes or so we spoke.

Logistically, I can absolutely see why I have an interview with her again. I take care of NICU graduates and it's a logical progression of skills. However, I need this job. I'm not going away until I work at this hospital. It wouldn't be the end of the world to be stuck at my home care job until the one year mark, but it is just not for me--too slow, unstable, unpredictable, lonely, no benefits; I could go on but, at least it's a job.

ANY advice is appreciated. I'm planning to wear a suit, bring my portfolio WITH resumes, letter of rec, and a thank you card.

Did anyone interview for a position like this? Do you remember the questions?? AHH! Help! It's next Wednesday!!! I'm going to have butterflies until then...

I just want to be a pediatric nurse in this awesome hospital.

Sincerely,

Maggie

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    Make sure you have a lot of questions ready. Ask to tour the unit. This is your chance to interview her as well----she wants to see that you have really thought about how this job will fit into your life.

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    • Author

    I toured previously but a refresher would be good. I'm not sure what you mean by "how this job will fit into my life..." Do you mean my career goals down the road?

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    No I mean like ask about the schedule and what you would be doing each day and about patient satisfaction and whether or not the staff gets along. Things that really could impact whether or not you enjoy working there.

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    Caveat: I'm not a nurse yet (starting school this fall) but I just got my CNA certification and my first job at an LTC facility that's part of a large health services organization. I hope to keep the job through nursing school and perhaps to transition into a nursing job in one of the organization's hospitals after I pass the NCLEX. I'm a career changer with some holes in my resume, tough issues, so I was nervous.

    I found something online called the Interview Success Formula. The process starts with a short quiz that gave me information about what motivates me, what my values are. Oddly enough, I wasn't really clear on that until I did the quiz. Everything else springs from that so during the interview you are always coming back to just a few, true facts about your skills and values. The interview is comfortable because it was easy to be authentic. I also got helpful materials about how to respond to every kind of behavioral question, how to proceed through the various stages of an interview, post-interview follow up ideas. It was worth every penny it cost (which was much less than taking that kind of personality assessment alone.) I got the materials just two days before my interview and yet I was able to be better prepared than I've ever been for any interview in my life... and my interview was almost completely free of fear. (Big deal for me.)

    Looking for work is so much tougher than any job I've ever done. It was worth it to me to get some good help to make the job hunting process more efficient and enjoyable.

    Best of luck to you, whatever solutions you find.

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    I just recently had my interview and what i did to prepare myself is that went over some questions online and I reviewed the vision and mission of the employer. Its vital to know the population of your future patients example the type of pts you will be looking after at in the unit you are applying to. They asked me what I know about the unit example the type of patients which are homeless individulas with HIV or AIDS. Good luck to you.

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