Left a toxic environment; need advice

lpnflorida · Sep 15, 2008

You can say you left as you desired new experiences in nursing. Nothing more or less.

RN1982 · Sep 15, 2008

When you interview I wouldn't mention that you left a toxic work environment. When I left my former job, I told the manager in the SICU where I got hired that I wanted SICU experience and that I always desired to work in the downtown Detroit area and that I would be using the experience I gained here to help me further my career. I never mentioned that I had come from a toxic work environment.

neurorn6 · Sep 15, 2008

Toxic environments are unfortunately growing in nursing. I recently left such an environment and am moving on to traveling. When potential employers ask that "Why did you?" Never put anything such as personal reasons or an negative comment on your previous employer.

My suggestions is that you always expression that you were looking for ways to broaden your skills, learn new things, etc.

Positive is always better than negative.

Good Luck

FireStarterRN, BSN, RN · Sep 15, 2008

"My last position was a great learning experience, and now I'm looking forward to new challanges"

You have nothing else to explain. You stayed 3 years, so you won't appear like an unstable job hopper.

ERNurse752, RN · Sep 16, 2008

Ditto the find a way to turn your reason into something positive.

"I've always wanted to try x specialty, and with 3 years experience in z specialty, I feel like I have a strong foundation to do very well."

Or something like that.

rn/writer, RN · Sep 16, 2008

Good advice above. It's best to focus on what you're aiming for, rather than what you're getting away from. And as jlsRN mentioned, with three years on your old unit, you don't appear to be flighty.

Best wishes.

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Sep 16, 2008

Hi all. I resigned from my last nursing position of three years due to a toxic environment, i.e. an extreme amount of horizontal violence. I was getting debilitating headaches from the stress, and it was negatively affecting every aspect of my life. I did everything in my power to cope, but mgt. was laissez faire about it. Needless to say, the headaches stopped when I resigned. My question is: How do I explain this to future employers? I can't say I left because of the environment, can I?
Anyone have the same/similar experience, and any suggestions of how I can reply to "why I left this position?".
Thank you!

I've left a few toxic environments, so I've got some experience with that.

Number One lesson I learned: Toxic environments are most often situational to that unit and happily, the unit environment is dynamic. That is, a toxic environment for you today, might be a very healthy and happy and nurturing unit a few months or years down the road. So don't badmouth them and especially don't badmouth them to strangers -- you never know who is friends/relatives with whom.

A unit might be fine for one person but toxic for another.

So don't burn your bridges. People change. You have, they might.

In your interviews, just say, "It wasn't a good fit for me at the time. I learned a lot, however, and I would just like to go in a different direction at this point."

Because who knows, you might find that you'd like to go back there one day.

medsurgrnco, BSN, RN · Sep 17, 2008

There's a nursing shortage and high turnover in the field. Anyone interviewing you would be glad to have a nurse who stayed for 3 years in one position. They might not even ask you why you left, might just need to answer that question on the application. Come up with a positive response, like the ones suggested here. Imagine you might be concerned about getting a new job with the same atmosphere, so suggest you ask about the environment, teamwork, etc. Just be sure you ask those types of questions in a positive way, rather than sounding like you've had those types of problems in the past (altho many of us have!).