The Scarlet Letter Nurse

[ArtzyFartzy]

O.k., I've looked around the forums and I see nothing -not even a hint of a topic like the one I'm posting.

I almost posted this in the forum under 'disabilities' but then I changed my mind and almost chose 'recovering'. In the end, it really didn't matter -what I'm about to post is a misfit no matter which forum I choose.

Recently, after working part-time for a doctor (and friend of 8 years) I decided to go back to work full time in nursing.

My doc could only offer the part-time I was already getting, so I launched a job hunt.

Now, I'm nearly 54, still kicking and not quite over-the-hill and (this is crazy) but I genuinely love working! I, actually, look forward to it.

I put in a months notice and, after updating my resume and a decent cover letter, I posted it online to several open nursing positions and waited.

And waited. And waited.

I was getting nothing but 'spammy' sales calls back. I checked the messages at home and on my cell.

About two weeks into my job hunt I get one authentic return call back from a moderately-sized locally-owned physician's group practice.

The human resources rep interviews me once for about 5 minutes by phone, then again a week later for another five minutes, promising that, whether I got the job or not she'd either call me or e-mail to let me know one way or the other.

Two weeks later, as I served out my notice on my present job, I had still not heard from her -nor anyone else.

Now, you -the reader- is wondering what (for heaven's sake) I did wrong!

You're a bloodhound.

Of course, I did something wrong.

Here's my mistake: more than 25 years ago I broke the law and wound up with not one -but two- misdemeanors.

Yep. Apparently, I will suffer for them the rest of my life.

So, why didn't these misdemeanors ever hurt my ability to work before?

Answer: because they happened during the prehistoric era before computers became involved with sensitive personal information at a g-zillion times the speed of light and before Human Resources personnel made hiring decisions based on how far they could go in digging up all the dusty skeletons and smelly garbage they could find from the farthest corners of your darkest closet.

You see, hospitals, and home health agencies, and medical business entities of every type are increasing their standard reach of seven years into your background to as far as your record goes back.

And they are -in their opinion- doing it for the safety of everyone (in the end, themselves).

Meanwhile, people like me, who have something embarrassing in their background that they dealt with and put behind them so many years ago are seeing it dredged up again in these extensive background checks.

For me, it's very alarming because I know, matter of factly, that our small town has never been able to keep anyone's secrets for long, despite HIPPA law.

In the last 25 years I've married, raised a family I'm proud of and worked so hard at creating a decent and honorable life.

Now, I can't get work, and my ancient mistakes are back again to haunt me and harm me.

My life is falling apart because of this. I just wonder how many others are scarred by backgrounds that aren't perfect.

[wildboo]

I agree with what most of the other posters are saying. It probably has little to nothing to do with past transgressions and everything to do with the job market. I've been out of work for more than a year, and, after finally getting interviews, people very enthusiastically tell me they will "DEFINITELY get back to me one way or the other" or "Within a few days" and I never hear a word from them, not even a rejection letter. Or, after weeks I finally get the "You have such wonderful experience and a great background but we couldn't be less interested in you" letter. And I have NO "criminal" background to speak of. Not that I think you're paranoid, but I think that any HR person worth their salt, if they saw convictions for misdemeanors from 25 years ago and nothing since on a background check, would consider you a good risk. Especially since you (presumably) hold an unrestricted nursing license in good standing.

My personal feeling is that I keep my business my business, especially from an employer, since I don't like to buy trouble. I thing you could do (but I wouldn't recommend) is disclose to en employer your youthful discretion and they would know in advance. I think that is overkill, since, again, as many have stated, most employers are looking for felony and abuse convictions. It is a tight market, especially for nurses, even with lots of experience. Hang in there! Have you looked into traveling? That might be a good option. Get out of your small town and see the country. Please don't let some bad decisions a half a lifetime ago keep you from loving your job and growing in it!!

[ArtzyFartzy]

In 1989 I was the side-target of a political fight between two would-be sheriffs running for office in a small, hillbilly East Tennessee town.

They were doing what came natural to each of them: stir up a frenzied crowd (the local religious crowd) and use that frenzy to highlight your ferocity and demonstrate how good of a sheriff you'd be.

My sister owned a certain biz in a well-know redlight area of the county and they tagged me to get to her.

I was already a nurse working a regular job. I still had contact with my sister and they figured out how to nab her for the 'good of all the people'....all they had to do was apply the right pressure and that was me.

Both would-be sheriffs were playing the 'bannish-the-harlots-from-our-God-loving-county' card to get votes.

One of them crossed the line and entrapped several innocent people in order to get to a handful of the what they had deemed the 'worst' redlight biz owners.

Many of the people entrapped did not see it coming and walked right into the police station to straighten out the charges that (we thought) would be easy to erase, once we proved out whereabouts at the time of the allegged misdemeanor.

What happened was -sleek investigators had everyone sign papers that (they promised) would smooth everything out -except that's not what happened. I don't think anyone actaully read those papers and I know that no one even asked for a lawyer b/c they didn't even refer to the whole incident as an actual 'arrest', as a matter of fact, they told everyone that going through this was just being done because it was mere 'procedure' and wouldn't amount to anything.

All they said they wanted was everyone to admit to their relationship with the business owners.

Everyone that came in was embarrassed about being there linked with our relatives that owned the businesses, anyway, so none of us wanted it to go public. We did what they said.

Days later, everyone was served with papers to appear at a court hearing.

The newspapers and TV reporters were there and it was blasted all through the county, ramping up the politcal race for sheriff.

After the race, the new sheriff paid back his biggest campaign promise to the church goers by continuing to focus on the redlight area of the county and transformed his success using that item into a tool to help the local new candidate for Prosecuter to win his campaign, too!

The two of them used the exact same method -and people- as before to put the squeeze on the redlight business owners.

It was easier this time: they had an earlier misdemeanor.

They were successful.

But they completely destroyed many *innocent* people's lives in doing so.

And I'm one of those people.

[ArtzyFartzy]

Angi, having this in my background puts me at risk in all kinds of situations. That's what is so ridiculous about all of this: the misdemeanors, actually, set me up to be harassed or hurt, and there's always someone willing to try extortion as a means to exploit your past.

We all have to work (at least I do) -and the small fishbowl of a town that I live in is known for notorious gossip and pious religious sects that condemn the past of anyone with even a hint of soil.

I recently applied for work in a nearby town and after a week of checking they came back and said 'Come in & let's get the paperwork started."

I go in and every single question and comment was focused on one thing: criminal history.

At first, I told myself I was just imagining it and that I was just over-sensitive on the subject -but, I swear, the female interviewer stared a flaming hole through me and banged the drum over and over and harped every other breath about how criminal history background checks were *vital* to the applicant process.

She made me feel guilty about something that -God knows- I was never guilty of in the first place, years ago!

But it just goes to show you that these interviewers are more than ready to pass judgement on whomever they deem 'less than' equal to their *personal*, *moral* standards, if not the requirement standards of the hiring corporation.

[ArtzyFartzy]

My employer requested a months notice at first. Then he reduced it to two weeks. It was only two days a week, anyway, but at least, it was a job.

I needed full time work. They couldn't offer more work. I had to turn in a notice in order to keep from just abruptly having to leave , if new employment was gained.

What I didn't realize was that the market for LPN's had decreased to an all-time low, affected by several factors: #1-the overall downturn in the nation's economy. #2- healthcare facilities (hosp) were hiring mainly from *within*, decreasing the availability of Nursing Jobs at the local hospitals, #3- closure of three to four local home health agencies that employed at least 60% of the locally available LPN's in our area of East Tennessee.

[caliotter3]

I was told by someone there is work for nurses in the Clarksville area. Go on a job hunting trip. If you land something, relocate. Good luck.