Did I just made a mistake by declining an interview?

Nurses Job Hunt

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I applied to the Med Surg unit at a local hospital. Last week, a recruiter called me and asked me to an interview. I was sooo excited at first, until I asked her who will be at the interview she told me it was the DON of postpartum/L&D unit. She said it was for post-partum & L&D new grad position. Now I learned, apparently new grad. application gets circulated in the hospital! ha..

I told her I'm not interested in women's health. and declined the interview.

Today, the head recruiter called (turned out last week was recruiter's assistant), basically just to confirm that I was offered an interview but declined? I again explained to him, I am not interested in post-partum/L&D unit. I asked if there are interviews going on for med surg or other units? He said maybe if selected next week they'll start calling..

I don't know, I just felt bad -- should I have gone to the interview? even tho I have absolute no interest in OB (don't feel comfortable too)?? :( I am afraid I won't even get a call back from med-surg now. It's my first time getting a call back! sigh.. I don't understand why the recruiter called twice and even just to confirm that I declined an interview? was it bad? is it a no-no in job hunting?

The right way to play a situation like this is take the interview but mention in the interview that you prefer med-surg. After the interview and once the managers and HR like you and want to hire you, you tell them you'd love to work for the facility when a med-surg position opens up. By not taking the initial interview you're off the facility's radar for ANY job there.

Every interview is the opportunity to learn something. Since you knew you didn't want the OB job, you wouldn't even been nervous for the interview; but you had the opportunity to learn what questions the interviewer would ask. Many institutions use the same interviewing format for every position; you would have been a step up if your application moved to the med- surg interviewer. I had a new job all lined up. I was supposed to start in 5 days; I was relaxing on a 2 week break between jobs. I received a phone call from a recruiter for a job I applied for 3-4 months previously and never heard anything. I had nothing better to do, so I went to the interview. It was a perfect fit for the position and myself. I quit the other job, before I even started. This provided me with an extra 2 weeks off before my new,new job started. AND after 30 years as a RN, I am finally in the "perfect" nursing position.

Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

I would call back HR or whoever called you and say you realize you made a mistake and basically ask them to give you another chance or even pass your resume on if they will no longer consider you. Ya know - throw yourself on your sword and all. You have nothing to lose.

They may even be more forgiving than people here........;)

Specializes in ER, ICU.

I would also have been up front and declined. If this takes you off the list for future jobs that is the hospitals error not yours. If they just want to fill their needs without any consideration for the nurse's career needs then it wouldn't be a good place to work anyway. I agree with another poster that I would email the recruiter and reiterate how you are interested in working there in your chosen area.

To make sure the message get to the recruiter in time, I sent an email. Thanked her, very briefly touched on why I declined the interview in a sentence, expressed my goal/desire units & interest for the hospital, asked for another chance. Ended with thanking her again. kept it short and to the point. She replied "Thank you." ha.. well I did my part! pray and hope for the best, if not.. it's not the end of the world.. lol :) thank u all again~

Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

It is probably for the best and you handled the fall out well. Charge forward!

Specializes in Emergency.
To make sure the message get to the recruiter in time, I sent an email. Thanked her, very briefly touched on why I declined the interview in a sentence, expressed my goal/desire units & interest for the hospital, asked for another chance. Ended with thanking her again. kept it short and to the point. She replied "Thank you." ha.. well I did my part! pray and hope for the best, if not.. it's not the end of the world.. lol :) thank u all again~

Looks like you cleaned up nicely. I really hope something comes for you soon. Its so upsetting that one mis-step can affect you so much. (especially when it has nothing to do with your actual job!)

Yeah, that was bad. The recruiter probably called to confirm on the off chance it'd been a miscommunication and you did want to interview. Even if it wasn't your area of interest, it would have been good practice to interview. And what if this is the only shot they give you? You could have taken the job, and later transferred within the hospital to another unit. Or discovered that you actually like women's health after all. Live and learn I guess.

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