interview honesty

[picklejuice]

• I have an upcoming interview at a different unit within the same hospital. I am a new grad with only a few months of clinical experience. I was hired in an ICU and fired at the end of orientation because I have anxiety issues at work (they worded it differently) which leads to 1) poor thinking, autonomy, and slow reaction/action time during emergencies 2) incompetencies of some foundational nursing skills including setting up IV tubing, generally slower at skills than is required during an emergency 3) general nervousness and lack of autonomy. If I knew what to do I would be doing it, it's mainly feeling the need to ask before I do an action to confirm it's right.
  
• I have several strengths, including patient assessment, willingness to learn, determination and honesty, and empathy. This post is more about my weaknesses though. I was generally competent in clinical knowledge, just not the hands on skills which don't come as naturally to me.
  
• So knowing these things, one of the career recruiters told me to be honest. I know I can't handle high acuity patients right now or a fast-paced environment. I need a slower environment where I can develop my skills, have time to think and prepare, and build my confidence, organizationl skills, prioritizing, communication, time management, everything a new nurse struggles with. So med-surg or rehab are more units that could be a good fit, but not just any: not a unit with high patient admission turnover rates, complicated surgical patients, etc, you get the idea. Honestly I'm wondering if I can survive in a hospital setting at all, but being a brand new nurse I want to give myself a second chance before giving up so that I can build a foundation of skills before going straight to outpatient or giving up on a hospital job.
  

• Knowing the strengths and weaknesses I mentioned above, I was told to be honest with the manager in my interview. I intend to be honest, and word travels between managers so they may already know my weaknesses. But do you have any advice on how to word my weaknesses in a professional and honest way without putting myself down, or looking completely incompetent and non-confident? I struggle with how to phrase these things. Thank you so much for any of your help.
  

[dsb_fam]

I would chalk it up to inexperience. You are not incapable, you are just inexperienced. The frenetic pace of the ICU was beyond your current skill set and you know enough not to endanger someone's life by not asking questions. I guess I would phrase it something like that...good luck

[picklejuice]

Thank you. I am really nervous still about how I will word things and struggling to write a "script" before my interview. I can't mention weaknesses without showing what I've done to improve or what I would do to improve. The absolutely new grad can say that she is determined to learn and improve her technical skills during orientation. But I've already gone through one orientation, and honestly I feel that I am almost a blank slate for another unit and they might as well treat me as if I have no work experience. Because I didn't catch on quickly or else there's a very slight chance I wouldn't have been fired. People tell me I am very intelligent. So I feel discouraged. I just had to vent that to you. Thank you.

[picklejuice]

I don't think I got the job. According to my online job status, I did not get the job. I have so many anxiety issues and trouble with the technical skills of nursing that I have no idea what job I could actually do in nursing. This is how I honestly feel. I feel that it is almost futile to apply to hospital jobs, home health, anything with the typical nursing skills. But then how can I be a nurse? If they could train me well, I wish that new grads could be hired in jobs such as nurse auditor, medical coding, etc. I don't know what to do.