Interviewing policy for new grads

mydesygn · Aug 9, 2006

I am an RN at a small community hospital. I am currently working toward my MSN so I can teach nursing students at our local nursing program. This year's grads just started getting their RN licenses and applying for residency positions at the hospital. My concern is that of the 28 grads only 15 positions were created at our hospital and those positions went to the "older" students 34-50 year olds. Several of the younger students age 20-21 did not get positions because they were unable to answer structured interview questions that rely on past work experience. How are we going to get young nurses trained if we don't hire them?
I and other nurses work so hard in our community speaking at high schools and youth groups trying to recruit students into the nursing profession and I feel that we are failing them when they graduate from the RN program by not providing them with some sort of residency, whether or not they are hired on into positions after the residency, we should at least be trying to keep these young bright minds in the community and not exporting them while keeping older grads.
I will have to be very honest. In my opinion, the choice to hire the older nurse as opposed to the younger graduate has more to do with life experience, reliability and maturity and less to do with interviewing skills. As a nursing manager, if I had 2 new grad nurses applying for the same position (one that is 32 and one that is 23), I would be biased toward the 32 year old before either nurse was interviewed. The 23 year old would have to be an exceptional candidate to convince me or the older nurse had to be really horrible in order for me to consider hiring the younger nurse over the older nurse. My general experience is that older new grads are typically are more reliable in attendance, tend to be more mature in their reactions to stressful situations, viewed as more competent by families and physicians, and usually more grounded in their expectations regarding their work and workload. I am not surprised that the "older" nurses were choosen, most managers want reliable and productive staff and maturity is important quality. I think the nurses ability to answer questions well in an interview situation had very little to do with the selection. Most likely the managers were already biased toward the older nurse for the reasons I cited, we tend to make most decisions on a "feel" for a certain candidate as well as how well they present themselves. In my area, there is a shortage of nurses so age would not pose a problem for new grads, however in a competitive situation that you describe, age would certainly be consideration.
Most residencies are designed with the hope that the candidate will choose to remain as a hire after the completion of the program. If I would prefer to hire an "older" nurse, I would more likely choose the "older" nurse for the residency and not the "younger" nurse. I'm sure the lack of oppourtunities are discouraging for the "younger" nurses but ultimately I beleive that the "younger" nurses will, in general, fare well even if they have to "exported" out so to speak so choosing them over "older" nurses, in order to keep "younger" nurses in the community would not even factor in my decision.

woolgirls · Aug 9, 2006

Thank you for your opinion, I appreciate your help. I understand your point of view but wonder how we are going to attract younger nurses and get them trained? I understand hospitals not wanting to put out the kind of money it takes to run a residency program but we have to train these young, new grads somehow. I don't believe letting them go into to the long term care facilities just to use them as a stepping stone is helping anyone. The turn over rate in our area for RN's in SNF's is huge. They get a few months training and some experience with assessing and they get hired by the hospital eventually. Do we as a profession need to change they way we teach RN students so they are more attractive to managers at any age?

mydesygn · Aug 10, 2006

Thank you for your opinion, I appreciate your help. I understand your point of view but wonder how we are going to attract younger nurses and get them trained? I understand hospitals not wanting to put out the kind of money it takes to run a residency program but we have to train these young, new grads somehow. I don't believe letting them go into to the long term care facilities just to use them as a stepping stone is helping anyone. The turn over rate in our area for RN's in SNF's is huge. They get a few months training and some experience with assessing and they get hired by the hospital eventually. Do we as a profession need to change they way we teach RN students so they are more attractive to managers at any age?

I have found that internships offered by hospitals are very few indeed and those that are offered are usually very short in duration and very restrictive ( the students are basically glorified volunteers). In many ways, I would say that there was not enough of a learning experience to make them worthwhile. Students can be very frustrated by an internship with such a limited learning experience. When I was in nursing school, I participated in an internship during my last semester that lasted 8 weeks where I shadowed an RN. I did everything (under the supervision of the RN) but administer medications and I was paid . I have not seen anything like that available to nursing students - the facility I am currently at , only offers 3 weeks, unpaid, without any patient care involvement (the student can observe only). I understand that the facility does not want to deal with any possible litigation issues but that type of program is pretty much a waste of time in my eyes.

We often have nursing students apply for positions as nursing aides or unit secretaries - which I won't hire a nursing student for, For me, these are full-time positions and I need staff who will be able to work full-time hours and who will be able to remain in the position.

Unfortunately, I have found that most students receive very limited clinical rotations during nursing school (unless they live in a larger city where there are more hospital sites to select from) and that most of your learning will occur on your first job. This makes the selection of a job with a good, solid orientation program critical to a new grads success. What I would ask nursing instructors to focus on are really the critical thinking skills and time management. For example, focusing on soft skills involved in discussing issues with a physician, how to escalate a potential patient issue, recognizing your resources and knowing how to contact others for help, learning to relate to peers, strategies to organize your clinical shifts (ie checking the chart for orders before doing your morning assesments or checking your med drawer for ordered medication before they are due), strategies on how to respond to patient complaints about you, a peer or a physician. Most people will tell you that I can teach you what you need to know clinically on the job (ie how to start an IV or put down an NG) but the "soft" skills is what you will need to be successful and accepted. As a manager, if I beleive the new grad was involved in a program with that type of focus, I might be a little more swayed.