"Not sure what unit you will be hired into..."

[TitaniumPlates]

So this just happened to my best friend.

Jane has been looking to relocate back to her hometown after 3 years in the ICU at a major teaching hospital. She also has 3 years in a level 1 trauma ER.

She interviewed over the phone for a position that was POSTED AS ICU about a month ago. She was immediately asked for her references, which made her feel pretty confident that she would be hired. She told me that during the interview, she asked about how many slots were open, and was told "4".

Well, apparently, the Nurse Manager has written her half a dozen emails regarding her references not answering yet. Its been a week.

That isn't my main problem with this situation. It seems that the Nurse Manager has now changed the job description to....

You will relocate across the country, go through all of our "orientation" (she will not be specific on what that orientation entails) and then one of our educators will decide what unit you will be "eligible" for.

She also told Jane that there are "a dozen or more" nurses starting in a month and there is no way she could possibly give Jane an idea of which unit has openings.

Jane called me and told me all of this nonsense...and I advised her to tell the Nurse Manager to.....well.....file that job under....Uh....NO WAY.

This isn't the first time I have been hearing about this bait and switch in the past year. It's happened to me twice and I wasn't kind about telling the facility to take that job and....

Has this happened to anyone else lately? Is this the new trend in trying to cover the garbage shifts and positions that no one can fill? These positions are outright LIES and they want the highest qualified (3 yr ICU RN) for what....med surg???

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

The bait and switch tactic is sadly pretty common nowadays. Even LTC isn't immune. We've hired more than one nurse that accepted a job expecting a certain shift that had to adjust to a different schedule or decline the job offer after an internal candidate decided they wanted the posted schedule. At least the hiring manager in this case was honest enough to tell your friend the reality of the job posting before she actually accepted the position by phone interview and moved all the way across the country only to find out then that there was no guarantee of being hired onto the unit she expected.

[sevensonnets]

I'm curious why we haven't heard from the offended friend.

[Iheartwoundcare, MSN, APRN, NP]

[tropsnegRN, ADN, BSN, RN]

1 hour ago, sevensonnets said:

I'm curious why we haven't heard from the offended friend.

Same.

[chacha82, ADN, BSN]

This would be a no brainer for me. If I accepted a certain position and found out what I would be getting was not well defined or not defined at all I would resign immediately. I was offered an interview once for a position that floated between three different areas of a facility and I found them to be way too different for me to be a good fit for the position.

[nursenmom3]

5 minutes ago, chacha82 said:

This would be a no brainer for me. If I accepted a certain position and found out what I would be getting was not well defined or not defined at all I would resign immediately. I was offered an interview once for a position that floated between three different areas of a facility and I found them to be way too different for me to be a good fit for the position.

I agree, but that does't seem to be the situation here. The OP's friend hasn't been offered any position, much less accepted. She's been told that if she gets an offer it will be for a different position than the one she applied for. She's welcome, of course, to withdraw her name from consideration, or to decline an offer, but that doesn't make it unreasonable for them to have considered her for the position.

I agree 100% that if they'd made an offer, and then changed things, that would have been a terrible thing.

[chacha82, ADN, BSN]

OK...then...if this was simply a job that may have been represented poorly, and that it didn't even happen to the OP, then the level of ire in this post makes even less sense.

An ICU job was posted. A person interviewed and was told, after the interview, it was not sure which unit they would be orienting to. If I am the interviewee in this case, especially if I am considering moving a far way, I'd have to decide how badly I needed that job, or any job. If I felt flexible, I might say "Sure. Show me what you've got."

ICUs are different everywhere. An ICU patient in one facility might be a stepdown or even a floor patient somewhere else. I did work with someone once who literally said her talents were being "wasted" working on a certain shift. I disagreed, as all patients need care.

This person was interviewed and then presented with a possibility different from what they interviewed for. Annoying, but not worth any of the rage that is the undercurrent of this post.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Closed for staff review

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Good morning everyone! Reopening this with the following comments:

1. Please stay on the topic of the "bait and switch" job position

2. When we post on the internet we aren't able to see tone of voice, body language, etc.. It can be easy to misinterpret posts

3. Nursing today is "highly specialized" - there is no area that is easy to work - all require specialized training

4. Stay on topic....thanks everyone!

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

Bait and switch happens more than anyone realizes. At least your friend was told up front, so it's not a true bait and switch, which would have been her getting there and then having that pulled on her. Your friend should call or email and ask what the situation may be, before calling it a wash, they may be able to give some details, ie, multiple ICUs, etc

[ThatChickOmi, ADN, RN]

On 7/4/2019 at 11:34 AM, Jedrnurse said:

It sure did. Is it my imagination, or is this phenomenon becoming more and more common on the site?

I don't think this is unique to this site at all. It's just the internet/social media in general. Snippy McSnipperton acting snippy.

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

11 minutes ago, ThatChickOmi said:

I don't think this is unique to this site at all. It's just the internet/social media in general. Snippy McSnipperton acting snippy.

I tend to agree. I was actually wondering if generalized social media rudeness was spilling over to AN. Anonymity certainly fuels faux chutzpah...