Not sure how to handle this situation with recent interview

[Southpawdown]

This is a first for me, I received a call about a job I had applied for about a week ago yesterday. It was the assistant unit manager. She asked me if we could have the telephone interview immediately if I had time. I said "sure" She was very nice, asking me questions, telling me about the position but while I am on the phone with her (I was sitting in front of my computer when she called) I receive an email from the facility stating I was not selected for the position! What? I'm in the middle of the telephone interview, literally, when this notification arrives. She tells me at the end of the telephone interview she will be in touch and for me to call her directly with any questions. I did not mention to her about the email arriving while we were talking as I wanted to make sure I was reading it correctly. I was. I don't know if I should call her and ask for about it or just let it go and assume while we were talking she had already decided I would not be a good fit for the job. She did say that she had a "lot" of influence about who would be hired as she had been there since this particular dept had opened and for the most part the Director leaves it to her.

I have reached the point with the interview process after this incident yesterday I am just going to stay where I am. The little bit of self esteem I have is just taking too much of a beating with how it all seems to be in the HR/hiring world now.

[cayenne06, MSN, CNM]

I once got a rejection letter three years after I applied. Another time, the interviewer started with "we just interviewed someone with much better qualifications than you." Another interview started with "we are no longer hiring." Whatever. Move on. At least they responded.

I once received a rejection letter after I had already started at the job! It was kind of terrifying at the time but hilarious in retrospect.

I had applied through their career portal originally, but not too long after I happened to meet the unit manager personally and was hired through her, new application etc. I imagine that once I filled the position, they sent out courtesy letters to all the other applications languishing in the system. lmao

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

Not quite the same, but...

I filled out one of those online company job applications that are so common these days and it included having to create an "account". Shortly after, I received a rejection email along with a statement asking me not to submit any new applications for at least a year. Oh, that was harsh, I thought.

Following that, I got a request to fill out a "satisfaction survey" relating to my "experience" applying to this company.

I admit I may or may not have written back something to the effect that they were "adding insult to injury" by sending out such a request...

[NurseCard, ADN]

Sounds like the classic hospital HR dept/management disconnect. The left hand rarely knows what the right hand is doing and vice versa. I went through that dance with my former employer three times (applied for position nurse manager told me to only to get a rejection email from HR and told to ignore it by nurse manager) before I finally started the position in question.

OMG, let me tell you what happened to ME!

So I went to interview for a job in a facility that I had wanted to work,

for a very long time. Well, it just so happened that this facility had just

been taken over by the large teaching/university hospital in the area.

Thus, the HR department of the large teaching hospital, was in charge

of getting employees onboarded, for this facility that I interviewed for.

Well, one day I received a call from that HR department. "Congrats

on getting the job!" That's how the call started. Then I was told to

come in and do drug testing, do this lab and that lab, obtain

paperwork from a couple other places that I'd worked... had to

go through all sorts of rigamarole (sp)?, but I thought it was

all for the job, which I had so wanted.

Turns out... the FACILITY ITSELF, and the DON at the facility,

had NO plans to hire me!!! That facility had always had a

policy that they do drug testing LONG before any job offer

is ever made. It is part of their interview/screening process.

Well, apparently the facility had called HR and said "have

NurseCard do her urine drug screen", and HR took that

to mean that the facility was hiring me, because THEIR

policy was that no drug screening or any labs at all

were performed until the facility decides to hire the

applicant!

When I found out that the actual facility had no desire

to hire me... I was furious!!!! I had already put my

notice in with my current employer.. had thought

that I was finally getting my "dream job"... I called HR

and in no uncertain terms, told them that they, and

unnamed psychiatric facility which they had taken over...

needed to get their daggone heads together!!!

[microkate]

Don't write it off yet. One job, I had interviewed with that manager previously. Didn't get it, but she strongly encouraged me to apply again when I had a little more experience. Next time a spot came up, I applied, and emailed her to let her know. I got an almost immediate rejection email from HR. The manager had to go specifically request my application, and I ended up getting the job.

[RNperdiem, RN]

My random thought is that this department already knew who they were going to hire, but had to follow the procedure of posting the job for the required amount of time, interviewing x number of people who they had no intention of hiring anyway, and the email was mistimed.

[SaltineQueen]

I would summon up every ounce of courage I have (because I'm bad at confrontation) and most certainly call her back and tell her about the email you received, and read, during your phone interview. And just see how that plays out. If it was indeed an unfortunate mistiming of events, they should know so they can try to improve their processes.

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

My random thought is that this department already knew who they were going to hire, but had to follow the procedure of posting the job for the required amount of time, interviewing x number of people who they had no intention of hiring anyway, and the email was mistimed.

They should be billed for the time of the "just 'cause we have to" interviewees...

[Daisy4RN]

The hiring process has just gone out of control. I miss the days when you could just apply, interview with 1 person, and be done which ever way it went.

[UrbanHealthRN, BSN, RN]

In my earlier days, I would have gone along with interview mishaps, HR department mistakes, and hiring manager errors, all in an effort to get a job and move along in my nursing career. Now, I see these things as red flags, and think twice about working for a place that seems to lack common courtesy or organization.

Earlier this year, when my position lost funding and I had to find new work, I remember applying for a job in which the person who was handling applications was very interested in mine and was actively working on setting up a phone interview- multiple emails, schedule checks, etc. Then out of nowhere, someone else stepped in and abruptly e-mailed me to say that a better qualified person had just been hired, and I wasn't needed. I was not impressed by the poor communication, and I find it odd that as a job applicant, I make sure to communicate clearly, stay organized, and keep my schedule open, yet a potential employer can't do the same.

[Mergirlc, MSN, APRN, NP]

I agree w/ a few of the others on here, you should communicate to her in some way (telephone, email) and ask about this. Many times, the people who are running the unit/business/division have no idea that HR does these stupid things. She could've been just looking through all the applications that were submitted, liked yours, and decided to put you into her pool of people. I'm sure she has better things to do than waste her time interviewing people who are not qualified. Obviously, she chose to call you because you seemed to be a good fit. If this just wasn't meant to be, then at least she knows that HR has rank over her & the onus is on her to fix that (or not).

By any chance, do you know somebody who already works at that facility? Sometimes, a person can namedrop or recommend you and mention you applied. Then they call you up and go from there. I actually did a get a job this way. I still had to apply through their system, but once I applied I called up the person hiring and they pulled my application and I was hired "officially."

[klone, MSN, RN]

Someone I know recently applied for a leadership position at a hospital that is owned by a very large for-profit organization. In the past, this person has applied to other hospitals also owned by this organization, and is convinced that she has been blackballed from the organization because she probably indicated that she has some type of deep-seated psychoses in the "personality test" that's required when you apply. Every time she has applied, her application goes into a vortex, never to be seen again. In her most recent application, the automated system online actually said that someone would reach out via email or phone with "next steps" and then...nothing. Now, a month later, this person is trying to speak to an actual human about the status of the application, and has discovered that you actually CAN'T speak to a human. When you call HR, it just says "To review the status of your application, please go online..."

This person is very frustrated and is starting to wonder if she even wants to work for such an organization.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I had something similar happen. I received a "Sorry but No" email from an employer, but shortly afterwards the manager was calling me to offer me the job.

Keep in mind that it's not always the manager who sends the rejection email. Those are usually generated by HR.

I would contact her and ask for clarification. After all, you have nothing to lose.

Best of luck.