New grad applicant - being asked for too much info!

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Just graduated! For the past few years, as I did pre-requisites and entered nursing school, everyone has said nursing is a growing profession. "You'll have no trouble finding work!" Well, guess what? :uhoh3:

It feels like facilities are drunk with power in this new economy. We are the SAME kinds of nurses they hired just a few years ago, yet it feels like we are being punished. Just to submit an application they want 2-3 letters of recommendation and/or the names of 3 references, your school transcripts, your resume and cover letter, your work history, and your social security number (no joke!).

I understand that these automated application systems ask us for all of this information because it used to be the facilities would interview a lot more candidates and a greater percentage would be hired. However, these days, that never happens. I feel that if they're going to ask for the information, it needs to be used. The current process is not respectful of applicants' time or privacy.

There needs to be a 2-step process that screens candidates based on their cover letter and resume and invites them for interviews. AFTER the interviews, THEN the top 3-5 candidates' references are requested, background checks are run, etc. That way, the candidates can decline to give the information if they don't want the position. But like I said, it's a new economy. Grrr. :mad: And it gets worse; if you decline to give them the detailed personal information you get automatically screened out by the computer!

Personally, I don't want to exhaust my references with a bunch of calls before I've even met anyone. I don't feel at all comfortable giving out so much information just to get an automated reply. But they have us (new grads) at a disadvantage and I feel they are pressing us for things they have no right asking for at an early stage.

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None of the requirements, except for the letters of recommendation, that you list in your second paragraph are new. Always been standard for job applications.

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Yes, for job applications, but not for screening processes, which is what these all are. If I had an interview first, and then was asked for the information, I would have no problem giving them exactly what they wanted, and more.

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I have never heard of anyone checking a reference before an interview was actually done, so I don't think you need to worry about a bunch of phone calls being made on your behalf at this point in the game.

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Thank you for the reassurance. I feel you hit the nail on the head in your reply though. If they're not going to make any calls or run any background checks before inviting me for an interview then why are they asking for all of my information? Especially SSN! In this day and age, sending all of that information out into the universe ('cause it's certainly not winding up on any hiring managers' desks!) makes me feel vulnerable.

Also, OUCH! Banging my head against this wall really hurts. :banghead: :D

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They need the info in case they actually interview you and decide to offer a job, and as for the soc number, I just put the last four digits when I do online apps.

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Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.

Have you read ANY of the threads on the site that have addressed the fact that there are very few jobs available for new grads these days?

Granted, it may be a little easier in some areas but it is thought to be nation wide. I don't think this is too unreasonable to be asking on a new grad application. Where I am located, the hospital are not even allowing new grads to fill out applications.

So, they may just be vetting the new grads more stringently to get the cream of the crop.

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Thank you for your reply. You bet, I've read lots of threads (this is actually an anonymous account because I wanted to vent - but I've been on this site for at least three years). I understand the economy. It's because of the economy that I feel the tables are turned on new grads and the "vetting" process is unnecessarily information-intensive.

To get the cream of the crop means to skim off the top. The real cream is on the resume. The recruiters should screen these, but the computers won't even send your resume without the additional information, which is what I'm objecting to.

Background checks, on the other hand, are de rigeur for nursing school applicants - there isn't one person in my class who couldn't pass one or else they wouldn't be in the school, and they wouldn't get to go to clinicals at the hospitals. This is usually the last step an employer will perform before offering a job. So why do I need to provide this information at the start?

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Thanks for the tip!

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Specializes in Pediatric Hem/Onc.

I get what you're saying, new_grad. Nothing like spending all that time on an app, finally hitting submit....and the next morning getting the "thank you for your application, but..." email. After doing it so many times with no good results, it starts to make you angry. I reached that stage last week :D but now I'm better and looking at small town USA for options. It is what it is, I suppose.

I miss the old days of dropping off resumes and winning people over with your personality.

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Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.
I get what you're saying, new_grad. Nothing like spending all that time on an app, finally hitting submit....and the next morning getting the "thank you for your application, but..." email. After doing it so many times with no good results, it starts to make you angry. I reached that stage last week :D but now I'm better and looking at small town USA for options. It is what it is, I suppose.

I miss the old days of dropping off resumes and winning people over with your personality.[/quote]

Hear Hear!

I am not a new grad..far from it I am afraid...but I fully agree with you...the last few times I have changed jobs, and even over the last few months when I have toyed with looking around at "what's out there"...I have thought about the good old days when you could go in and physically hand someone your resume and "sell" yourself on the spot.... I dont' like this online application stuff...don't like it at all.....I look good on paper, that's not the problem, but I just like to do the face to face thing, I guess I am old fashioned that way.:D:D

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.

To the OP:

Virtually every professional (and many nonprofessional) job that I have worked, and I have worked some job or another since holiday hours as a 13 year old to parttime at 17.

None of these requests are new or unusual on applications. In fact requiring the full SSN used to be standard. They have been there when the jobs were plentiful and when they were scarce. Perhaps the only one new as far as nursing is the requirement of grade transcript, which was required for many new grads but not for experienced nurses.

As a general rule, no one will call, until they are serious about hiring.

As far as it being unnecessary to require early in the process, I beg to differ. When I have dealt with HR in ANY field, you get the names up front. You do not want to know how many times that you get a set number of applicants that write "references on request" and then when you request, find them not forth coming. Or they spend 6 weeks getting the data.

A good job applicant in any field, has that data available.

If you want onerous applications and employment practices, try travel nursing and the credit checks. To work at a federal agency, I had to provide full addresses of every place I had resided, even temporarily for 15 years back, and have full addresses/ contacts for all assignments/positions. I had worked about 14 assignments by that time.

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