New and frustrated; ready to quit!

[kwagner_51]

aAs most of you know I have been fired TWICE! I went on four different interviews befor and after Christmas and thought I would hear something by last Friday on one and yesterday on another. Interestingly enough my phone is silent!

I think is has to do with the fact that i was fired. I have been completely honest with the interviewers and when they ask me why I was fired from the first job, I have to tell them that I DO NOT know! You see, I was hired as a graduate/nurse extern. I worked there for 89 days and had no training as a nurse. The company decided not to waste money on Graduate nurse/RN training until AFTER we pass boards!

There were nasty accusations made about me that weren't true and I wasn't informed that there was a problem until September. In the first complaint, they accused me of trying to do too much and not asking for help in procedures. So I asked for help only to be told that I should have known how to do the assessment! I was written up for bragging about passing boards!

How do I explain something when I don't know why I was fired?

In the second one, my position was terminated.

So my questions to y'all are:

1. Should I just leave out my so called 'job experience' and just say that i was a SAHM and ran a paper route?

2. Should I keep trying to explain something that makes no sense to me?

I feel like an absolute failure. How maany nurses get fired from a NH?

Thanks!!

_______________________________________

In His Grace,

Karen

[Antikigirl, ASN, RN]

I worked for over 3 years in assisted living and not one potential employer thought I was worth the time of day to even interview me! They assumed I sat around all day eating bon bons?

So I did something about it! I called around to Nursing Agencies and found one that was more than willing to work with me! Now I am working more and for more money than I did at the assisted living..and I am actually having FUN again, and feeling valued!

And those places that didn't give me the time of day...well now they are requesting me and it has only been 3 weeks!!!!!!!!!

It is something to look into :), some folks love it (Like me!), some don't...but it is an option :).

Good luck

[NaomieRN]

In reality, your former employer cannot reveal the reason they fired you. It is against the law. The only they can say is how long you worked there, what your assignments were. You should look in the legality of your situation.

[llg, PhD, RN]

2. Should I keep trying to explain something that makes no sense to me?

Karen

You are probably going to have to make some sense of it before you can move on. If you present yourself as someone who doesn't understand what went wrong in your previous jobs, that implies that you haven't learned from those situations and might make the same mistakes again. Someone interviewing you might be hesitant to take a chance on an applicant that doesn't understand her own previous problems.

So, my recommendations would be to do some serious thinking about your previous work problems and try to resolve them in your own mind. Then, practice answering questions about those experiences so that you will be able to present a positive image of yourself as you talk about them. You want to be able to present yourself as someone who will be successful in your next job and not as someone who might have unresolved issues.

Good luck,

llg

[kwagner_51]

This is what I think happened:

I had NOTHING to do so I kept asking the NM to give me things to do.

I sat and WATCHED the other nurses chart, pass meds, etc.

I tried to learn all I could about my job, BUT everyone on the unit thought I was a STUDENT! Therefore, I was allowed to do NOTHING!! :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

I answered call lights and had a nurse go with me to do assessments. These people were STABLE!! I went in, listened to breath sounds, bowel sounds, heart sounds etc. It was like they didn't trust me. I was allowed to do accuchecks and weigh people but a nurse had to be in the room.

I tried to lighten the load on the nurses and ended up causing them more work!!

I really think the position was paid for by the government because they told me that I was the first new hire they had had. After I was fired I went to the VP of Nursing and told her everything! She called me back after talking to the NM and told me that I was right that I hadn't had any training, but that my 'service excellence' wasn't up to par and she was really sorry but she had to go with what the NM said! :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

Oh The final kicker is this: they advertised for a NEW GRADUATE NURSE before they hired me AND after they fired me!! :angryfire :angryfire

So tell me, how do you answer that in an interview. It wasn't that I did anything wrong.. it was the fact that I wasn't TAUGHT to do ANYTHING!! I am trying to keep the bitterness out of my answers but I'll tell you it's d@#$%^ hard!

Thanks!

________________________

In His Grace,

Karen

[lcbradley]

This is what I think happened:

I had NOTHING to do so I kept asking the NM to give me things to do.

I sat and WATCHED the other nurses chart, pass meds, etc.

I tried to learn all I could about my job, BUT everyone on the unit thought I was a STUDENT! Therefore, I was allowed to do NOTHING!! :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

I answered call lights and had a nurse go with me to do assessments. These people were STABLE!! I went in, listened to breath sounds, bowel sounds, heart sounds etc. It was like they didn't trust me. I was allowed to do accuchecks and weigh people but a nurse had to be in the room.

I tried to lighten the load on the nurses and ended up causing them more work!!

I really think the position was paid for by the government because they told me that I was the first new hire they had had. After I was fired I went to the VP of Nursing and told her everything! She called me back after talking to the NM and told me that I was right that I hadn't had any training, but that my 'service excellence' wasn't up to par and she was really sorry but she had to go with what the NM said! :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

Oh The final kicker is this: they advertised for a NEW GRADUATE NURSE before they hired me AND after they fired me!! :angryfire :angryfire

So tell me, how do you answer that in an interview. It wasn't that I did anything wrong.. it was the fact that I wasn't TAUGHT to do ANYTHING!! I am trying to keep the bitterness out of my answers but I'll tell you it's d@#$%^ hard!

Thanks!

________________________

In His Grace,

Karen

You should definitely pray about this situation. Sometimes we must go through horrible experiences to learn from them and become even closer to God. Certain situations in our lives we have no control over and we must keep pressing on. Continue to be strong-willed and keep your head up. The right job is waiting for you.

[NanSeeH]

Since the 1st job lost is the one in question- could you simply explain that the facility did not provide a structured orientation period. Then you can lead into your experience at the second job- since you can easily explain the job loss there.

You may have to explain how your situation at the 1st job with examples of how you would've benefitted from an actual orientation. Try to turn this negative experience into a positive experience.

For example, if you say that during your 1st graduate nurse experience you had difficulty finding a balance between working independently and relying on others for help- Follow that up with a statement about how you have since gained confidence in your ability to to know what you can handle on your own, and when you need to collaborate with your healthcare team etc...

Hope this helps a little. I do understand your frustation.

Nancy

[RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN]

I'm so sorry for such rotten experience at your previous job. The best thing to do in ANY job is document everything and anything. That way you don't end up clueless at the end.

Best wishes to you and praying you land a wonderful job in this new year!

[mom2michael, MSN, RN, NP]

Don't go into details about the 1st job, just tell your prospective employer that you didn't get the orientation you felt you needed and the position ended with termination. I agree, you need to come off as your 1st job was a postive experience and how you learned so much about yourself as a nurse from that job. Don't drag out the nasty details of who did what and why it was done, etc.... Just simply say, "I did not receieve the proper orientation, therefore I had difficulty adjusting to my position and unfortunatly was eventually terminated....however at my 2nd job...." and lead right into that job and talk all about what you learned from that job.

By law your 1st employer can not talk about why you were fired to ANYONE.

I wish you luck!!!!

[Altra, BSN, RN]

I tried to learn all I could about my job, BUT everyone on the unit thought I was a STUDENT! Therefore, I was allowed to do NOTHING!! :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

Karen, I have followed your posts about your job experiences and tried to puzzle this part out ... while it's rotten that a unit would have been so ill-prepared to orient you as a new grad, did you not have a nametag that said "Karen, GN" (and then later, Karen, RN)? Did you not meet people and introduce yourself as Karen, a new GN? I just don't understand where the student/employee confusion arose.

I also remember reading your posts about your termination from your 2nd position - the med errors & so forth ... it may be quite dicey to say that your position was eliminated. Even if the position has not been filled as of today, misrepresentations during an interview with a new prospective employer could close doors for you unnecessarily.

But moving on ... I agree with llg - you'll want to think through your previous experiences very carefully and decide how you'll discuss them. I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of a hiring manager - I would hesitate to take on any new employee who had had problems at a previous job but was unable to identify what those issues were and satisfactorily discuss how he/she planned to better deal with those issues in the future.

Best of luck to you.

[jodyangel, RN]

Yeah well I wouldn't tell the prospective employer that was I fired! I would say that I wasn't comfortable with the first job due to their lack of orientation and leave it at that....why shoot yourself in the foot Telling them you're fired when by law the old job can't tell them that anyway.

Just my thought.

Don't go into details about the 1st job, just tell your prospective employer that you didn't get the orientation you felt you needed and the position ended with termination. I agree, you need to come off as your 1st job was a postive experience and how you learned so much about yourself as a nurse from that job. Don't drag out the nasty details of who did what and why it was done, etc.... Just simply say, "I did not receieve the proper orientation, therefore I had difficulty adjusting to my position and unfortunatly was eventually terminated....however at my 2nd job...." and lead right into that job and talk all about what you learned from that job.

By law your 1st employer can not talk about why you were fired to ANYONE.

I wish you luck!!!!

[kwagner_51]

I got a call today for a second interview, for a float position in a hospital!! :D :D

This is what am planning to say regarding my past experience:

I was employed at the hospital as a GN/NE. I left that job d/t a lack of orientation. On my second job I was in charge of med pass, giving insulin injections, doing accuchecks, flushing PICC lines, hanging IV's, doing dressing changes,responsible for all care and supervision of CNA's. My position was terminated.

What do you think? Does this sound appropreate?

Thanks!!

____________________________

In His Grace,

Karen