Not getting charge nurse position

[frisky]

I have been a nurse for over 30 year and currently work in a Hospice inpatient facility.

I have many years of hospital experience including oncology, telemetry, med-surg and at one time was ACLS and PALS certified. I have worked in my current position as a staff nurse for 10 years. Recently our day charge nurse is retiring. I applied for the charge nurse position, but it went to a much younger and less experienced nurse. I was told by my manager that she could not stand the thought of losing me as a bedside nurse because she felt that was where I was most needed and felt that it would do the staff and patients a disservice if I was no longer providing direct patient care. Even though I find this a compliment I cannot help but feeling rather disappointed at her decision not to chose me as charge nurse. I have had my BSN since 1991 and am actively involved on many committees on our unit. I was told that the nurse that was chosen is interested in a management track and that they felt her goals aligned with the charge position. What I do think is sad is that my experience and dedication to our unit should have trumped the reasoning for hiring the other nurse into the position. I feel discouraged by this and am planning to educate myself in another field entirely and unfortunately leave nursing in the future. Am I right to feel this way or should I take this decision as an honest compliment and realize that my true talents are at the bedside?

[Psychcns]

Just make sure you fully support the new charge while you look around for other jobs ..and don't tell supervisors you are looking. If they wanted to keep you they would have promoted you. Don't let any resentment show....one door closes and another dooor opens. Best wishes...

[JustKeepSmiling, ADN, BSN, RN]

Just make sure you fully support the new charge while you look around for other jobs ..and don't tell supervisors you are looking. If they wanted to keep you they would have promoted you. Don't let any resentment show....one door closes and another dooor opens. Best wishes...

I agree with this entirely. I was recently the young charge. And an older much more experienced nurse was very upset she didn't get it instead of me.

She quite visibly shower her resentment towards me and this wound up hurting her chances of advancing when I decided to step down.

[TakeTwoAspirin, MSN, RN, APRN]

OK, I'm just going to put this out there to be devil's advocate. Just because you have years of excellent nursing experience and are a competent and effective bedside nurse, it does not necessarily mean you have the management and leadership qualities necessary for this position. I have seen this time and time again with people in your position. They apply for management stream positions based on length of service and feel like they should be given those positions based on the fact that they have superior nursing skills/abilities. Unfortunately, that isn't what they are looking for necessarily in a management stream position. Of course, you need to be a competent nurse and one that has the respect of peers, but there is a lot more to management than nursing skill.

If I were you, and you really do want to get into a management stream position, I would go back to the manager who interviewed you and ask them for an honest evaluation of what skills you need to develop to possibly become eligible for management positions in the future. By simply having this frank and honest conversation, you will be demonstrating that you have the maturity and insight to develop the necessary skill set. I would be surprised if they didn't want to help you develop.

Rather than getting all offended and threatening to quit nursing, you should really be using this time to self reflect and honestly evaluate what characteristics and traits might have made you more attractive as a charge. I'm not saying beat yourself up, simply recognize that there may be traits you could work on that would make you more appealing in a management position. Have you actually shown any self motivation to develop the skills necessary, like taking management CEUs or courses? Perhaps now might be the time.

Like I said at the top of this post, I'm not saying this to be mean but if you are sincere in your desire to go into management then you need to be an active participant in that process and not just expect them to hire you for this position just because you have been there the longest.

[Libby1987]

I agree with gooselady, I'd feel rather bad about it too. It would feel devastating, but really for the wrong reason. My feelings and pride would be crushed but not my dreams.

You don't really sound like you have had charge as your career goal, or something that you've been working towards (correct me if I'm wrong). If being charge was your goal, you wouldn't leave nursing all together after losing out on your first attempt. You would have already had a back up plan of searching for the position outside of your current employer. I don't believe you said but had you planted the seed some time ago that charge was your aspiration?

Is it more likely that charge was a means out of bedside?

(We just had an interesting reunion of sorts at work, I would love to give details lol but can't, where things kind of came full circle 10 yrs later, AWKWARD)

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

OK, I'm just going to put this out there to be devil's advocate. Just because you have years of excellent nursing experience and are a competent and effective bedside nurse, it does not necessarily mean you have the management and leadership qualities necessary for this position. I have seen this time and time again with people in your position. They apply for management stream positions based on length of service and feel like they should be given those positions based on the fact that they have superior nursing skills/abilities. Unfortunately, that isn't what they are looking for necessarily in a management stream position. Of course, you need to be a competent nurse and one that has the respect of peers, but there is a lot more to management than nursing skill.

If I were you, and you really do want to get into a management stream position, I would go back to the manager who interviewed you and ask them for an honest evaluation of what skills you need to develop to possibly become eligible for management positions in the future. By simply having this frank and honest conversation, you will be demonstrating that you have the maturity and insight to develop the necessary skill set. I would be surprised if they didn't want to help you develop.

Rather than getting all offended and threatening to quit nursing, you should really be using this time to self reflect and honestly evaluate what characteristics and traits might have made you more attractive as a charge. I'm not saying beat yourself up, simply recognize that there may be traits you could work on that would make you more appealing in a management position. Have you actually shown any self motivation to develop the skills necessary, like taking management CEUs or courses? Perhaps now might be the time.

Like I said at the top of this post, I'm not saying this to be mean but if you are sincere in your desire to go into management then you need to be an active participant in that process and not just expect them to hire you for this position just because you have been there the longest.

I agree. Longevity and experience aren't always the sole criteria for these positions, nor can they be. Just because a nurse (not referring to you) has been there the longest or has the most nursing experience doesn't mean that he or she is the #1 candidate for the job.

That being said, I am sorry you didn't get the position. Rejection sucks and it's hard not to take it personally. I would definitely self-assess why you wanted this position and what you really want (they may or may not be the same), and look at taking steps towards developing management/leadership skills as TakeTwoAspirin and others have recommended.

Best of luck.

[frisky]

Thank you for your comments. I guess I really do need to develop a way that I can prove that I am management material. My gut reaction was that I was very disappointed. The nurse who got the job is a personal friend of the manager so I probably took the whole situation the wrong way. I felt it was one of my last chances to have an opportunity to do something other than direct patient care.

But I can take pride that I do enjoy my time with my patient's and families. If the management track doesn't work for me, I do plan to seek other career options. I just can't see myself doing what if do now in 10 years from now.

[TakeTwoAspirin, MSN, RN, APRN]

frisky, believe me, I hear you with that. We are the same age and while I loved bedside nursing I realized that my days were numbered because physically I was burning out. That's what drove me to become a NP. Perhaps that's one way you could put all your experience to good use and get off the floor?!

[Libby1987]

I'd rather teach nurses than supervise them, being bad cop due to being caught between staff and upper mgmt just ugh. With your med/surg and hospice experience, maybe a staff development/orientation type position?

[ThatBigGuy]

I was told that the nurse that was chosen is interested in a management track and that they felt her goals aligned with the charge position.

It's probably this simple. She showed and voiced an interest in management.

You must enjoy your work if you've been there for 10 years, so stay where you're at for a couple months. Let your emotions calm down, and then reassess. If you still feel like moving into a different area, then go for it.

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

Just make sure you fully support the new charge while you look around for other jobs ..and don't tell supervisors you are looking. If they wanted to keep you they would have promoted you. Don't let any resentment show....one door closes and another dooor opens. Best wishes...

The best advice in the world. I don't see how I could do it though.

I'd probably have to transfer, go part time, or move on. I simply couldn't live through that kind of injustice. I always tell my kids "life aint fair", but ingrained in my bones is the belief that it should, and outrage when it isn't.

[Angeljho, MSN, NP]

I'm going through the same thing at my psych job. TWICE, they have chosen someone else over me . Freaking politics .

But back to you OP. I feel as though you should have gotten the position based on your experience AND credentials. Although they won't admit it, some employers actually attempt to protect star employees from going to the management side of things. Not everyone can handle the ugly. There are a lot of headaches at the management level but I say try it out first. How can we be sure that something really isn't for us if we never put ourselves into that environment? Sometimes we have to leave our place of employment to continue on with our goals. If you really want this, look elsewhere.

[TriciaJ, RN]

My gut feeling is that you were treated to a slap in the face. You were just told that you didn't get promoted because you're too good at what you already do. Basically penalized for being competent.

I'd give it a couple months, let the dust settle. But I'd be looking for the exit. They wanted to keep you at the bedside? They can't keep you in their employ with dirty tactics like that. Time to start looking around. This whole thing just smacks of disrespect. IMHO.