Is this nurse recruiter nuts or am I?

[littlehoneybee]

I am an RN with six years experience. I worked in a medical/surgical cardiac telemetry unit at a large teaching hospital with magnet status. My floor was a 70-bed ICU step-down and we handled heart/lung transplants, LVADS, anyeurism repairs and well as the standard CABG/RABBITS,MI, cath, and dissrythmia patients. Because we were the only tele floor, I also cared for perinatal, dialysis, drug ovedose ,etc. Basically anyone that needed to be on tele, we took care of. I was frequently charge nurse, my nurse manager called me an excellent clinician and I gained the respect of the more experienced nurses.

I just moved halfway across the country due to my husband's job and I contacted a few of the area hospitals to see about available jobs. A nurse recruiter from a small hospital called me back and said they needed someone on their med/surg unit, but since I only worked on tele, that I had no surgery experience and only knew "heart stuff." WHAT? She basically wouldn't talk to me or listen to anything I had to say.

My question is did the nurse recruiter have no idea what a tele unit is? Doesn't all the experience I have qualify me for a regular med/surg unit?

[AFwife727, BSN, RN]

This recruiter sounds nuts to me. It sounds like a big excuse, really. With your wide range of experience on the tele floor, you should have no problem finding a job. You just need to find someone that's willing to give you a chance. Then you can explain to the interviewer the experience that you have and they will see how qualified you are, I'm sure. Good luck!

[llg, PhD, RN]

You might want to re-phrase your resume to emphasize the general nature of your work experience. Perhaps, at that recruiter's hospital, the tele unit population is very limited. She may not realize the wide variety of patients who end up there at a hospital such as the one you used to work. Make sure your resume reflects that variety to help you get an interview. In times like these, you want to give yourself the best chance possible to get past the first screening.

[pknurse]

I'm not accusing you of lying, but there is definitely something missing from your story.

[TXregisteredninja]

Did you put all that on your résumé? I'm sure she would have seen you as an asset to their hospital if she knew that! Then again, nurse recruiters are not nurses....

[littlehoneybee]

No pknurse, there is nothing missing from my story. My resume definitely reflected all my experience and I just got offered three other jobs!! One in ICU, another in cardiac rehab and another on a cardiology unit. Thank you all for your responses.

[llg, PhD, RN]

No pknurse, there is nothing missing from my story. My resume definitely reflected all my experience and I just got offered three other jobs!! One in ICU, another in cardiac rehab and another on a cardiology unit. Thank you all for your responses.

For other people reading this thread, note that the positions the OP has been offered have all been cardiac-related. None is a general med/surg position. That is worth thinking about if you are in a similar position as the OP.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

It really is interesting. My experience is ICU Stepdown as well and I have recently been applying elsewhere. I had a med-surg director say something very similar to me and had a second application at a different facility come back with a similar response as well. I also have applied for periop positions and admissions positions that ultimately those hiring did not feel I was qualified for, though I could address each of their stated needs within my realm of experience. It was eye opening. I truly had thought of Stepdown as the ultimate gateway position but I obviously have more to learn!