Kennestone Interview Experience

[RunsWscissors]

Yesterday I went to an interview at Kennestone. I gave myself 3 hours to travel there from Chattanooga so as not to be late. 6 miles from exit 267B traffic came to a halt. Ultimately, I ended up being 20 mins late. This was a 3 pm appointment, not exactly rush hour.

The recruiter never told me where to park so I ended up far away from the actual HR office (outside the ER). So I had to leg it with a full bladder for what seemed like miles.

The facility was huge. It's 663 beds now so I guess it oughta be. Very modern & nice looking inside.

I finally get to HR. The receptionist, unfriendly. My recruiter, completely uninvested. She dressed poorly, didn't make eye contact & immediately trots me back outside & upstairs for my interview.

So I meet my potential manager. Almost immediately my uh-oh indicator starting going off. There was a woman seated in her office giving me a blatant, & slow once over with an expression of distaste. She left & I sat down.

The interview lasted about 25 mins. Not many questions were asked of me. Some things I didn't like. You aren't allowed to start your own IV's, they have an IV team. Thats great for some, but I like keeping my skills current.

She asked me about my charge nurse experience, so I told her. Then she looked at me in an odd way & said we have a charge nurse. I was applying for a prn job????

Then she asked me about my preceptor experience. So I told her about some of the students I had precepted over the years. She then have a sly grin & said yeah, we have a lot of students here. We keep our eye out for the good ones.

At that point I was just plain confused by the entire experience. I had driven 3 hours to be ignored by a recruiter, silently insulted by some woman I never even met, & then interviewed by a nurse manager who clearly was more interested in new grads.

When it was finally over I thanked her & walked back to HR as I had been instructed. The recruiter took a long time to come & get me. She rushed through a list of basic questions, saying "mmhmm mmhmm" before I could get even 2 words out of my mouth. I *hate* that.

Finally, she pulled out some info papers, rushed through what sounded like a prerecorded message about benefits, facilities, wellstar, blah, blah, blah.... I looked down & realized her light blue nail polish was half chewed off.

I know thats a petty observation, but it just summed up my day perfectly. I smiled & nodded in all the right places.

When I left I was so ecstatic to get out I was almost glad to walk the miles to my vehicle.

Impression- Wellstar is a huge, faceless entity with mediocre pay, benefits, & most likely not worth the effort to attempt employing with.

Bottom line- wild horses couldn't get me to practice there.

I intend to withdraw my application today. I'm also going to send a letter about why I decided not to apply with them. Perhaps it'll help them in the future. Who knows?

As far as I'm concerned, bad traffic, so-so pay, managerial bs & HR that regards you as a recently paroled felon.....no thanks.

[Eytbl]

Waaaaouuu what a disaster...

[T-Bird78]

The funny thing is Wellstar is one of the largest employers in the area and they have about 200,000 applications annually on their website. It's such a huge system that you can easily transfer to any other facility after 6 months. I've been trying to get even an interview with them for years. The actual working nurses are great and if you can get on at Kennestone's women's center then you're set. I hate to hear such a bad experience at Kennestone. I was born there, both my babies were born there, that's the local hospital where my entire family's gone for years. It's not as bad as your brief encounter.

[kphmsn]

I briefly worked for WellStar Cobb Hospital and it was the worst 3 weeks of my life. The work was extremely hard and no one to help you with patient care on certain patients who clearly needed at least two staff. I was the only person on my floor who had English as a primary language. Everyone else had accents that I could barely understand. I have nothing against foreign accents and own up to being an individual that has problems understanding accents. Additionally, items were stolen out of my purse. The management team was horrible and allowed a one day orientation shadowing a nurse. I was so disappointed and upset with myself for choosing to work at this facility. Everything literally falls on the nurse to do. Even taking your patient to MRI as well as other testing areas. Totally exhausted after leaving. I would not recommend this organization to anyone. Not even my dog. Karen

[sheronep, MSN, RN]

Oh my! I have an interview with Cobb I think...... iwanted Kennestone. What areas did you interview with?