bigbee13

Hoozdo, thanks for the response I was beginning to think that no one would respond with over 80 views. It is the main hospital on Van Buren. One of the nurses that intervied my wife told her not to get too scared, that it looks worse than it is. My wife would be working the 7p to 7a shift. Also the hospital where where she works now, there is a homeless shelter right next door, we have had more than a few issues all around the hospital with drugs, and a few shootings. We have both worked in bad areas before so that would not be the worst thing in the world. We would be more interested in living in the better area's. Have you heard anything about this hospital recently? Just trying to get a heads up, looks like we would be coming down next weekend and staying a few days to check everything out and make a decision. Any and all help you give us is appreciated.

Hello, My wife has a job offer at St. lukes Medical Center and we wanted to find out about working there. All the interviews have went well and an offer has been extended. We will finalize after next weekend when we come down to Pheonix to tour the hospital and sign papers if all goes well. Any thoughts or input about the hospital, working conditions, fellow coworkers, management, overtime or just anything you can give us about the hospital. Wife is an ICU nurse with 5 years of experiance all of which is in the ICU. The salary offer was about 50 cents more than what she makes now and benifits look to be a little less expensive than what we are paying now. The relocation package is nice and will get us there with no problems. We would just like to find out how the hospital ranks. She has applied at JCL, Mercy Gilbert, and Chandler Regional and according to the web site her apps are all under review by a manager however have not heard anything from them. She has had 3 interviews with St. lukes and and they were impressed with her experiance. Any and all insights would greatly be appreciated. We would also like your thoughts on some areas that we are looking to live in. Paradise valley, Scottsdale, Ahwatukee and any other that you could recommend. We have 2 children 12 and 9. We are coming from Minnesota and can't wait to leave. We have been there before as we interviewed with banner hospitals a few years ago however we were treated rather rudely and did not get to see much as the whole interview process went wrong. So banner hospitals are out for us. Thank you in advance for any help and information you can give us

That sounds pretty borderline with some legal issues. They better be carefull or there so called "talent plus" is going to come back and bite them. I will have to keep an eye or ear out to see if anything happens about that as I can't see everyone sitting back and letting the hospital controll the rest of there careers based on a few so called questions. Thanks for the info

agirlandherdogs, we knew about that type of interview and my wife did not say I do this, I do that, I, I, I. That was me telling all the kind of work that she does and that was never found out because of the way the one manager asked questions and how that manager interpreted her answers. Then to add insult she was told that she could not apply to any other position within the hospital. Hey as another poster put, Managers and they can say this person is not a good worker or this person seems like they would not fit. I know this goes on, hell I have done it with other managers within different departments when I was in retail. If a persone interviewed at my store, I did not tell them that they could not apply at any other store. Just because I did not liker this person does not mean everyone else will not like them. This manager that interviewed her made it so she could not get another opportunity to interview within that large facility. C'mon it would be different if she had 2 or 3 interviews and everytime it was the same result stating that she would not be a good fit. Then you would have to start looking at yourself. Look at it this way, take 3 different managers within a company give them the persons resume and have them interview the same person 3 different days without getting feedback from each other untill after the interviews. Use the same format of questions and I bet they don't get the same results unless that person is one of two types, either that person is a slacker or a superstar. Everthing in between the people are going to have a different interpretation of the answers. All I have been saying is that she was judged by one person for the whole mayo clinic and that person was a manager of one small department not the head of the whole hospital. My wife interviewed at three other hospitals in MN and two hospitals in WI and was extended an offer at all of them. It has worked out for the better and we will be in MN in a few more weeks.

MNmom, thanks for the reply things are finally working out. I will be looking for an ADN program as that is what I was in and would like to get that first and start working than work on getting the other degrees. We have been up there 3 times now and everytime it was harder to come back here. Can't wait unitll the move and have left this place in the dust. Thanks again for the info.

Hello, My wife just got hired at St. Joseph's in St. Paul and will be starting at the beginning of Feb. We will be moving up there in late Jan. I have 2 semesters of nursing school finished and would like to finish the journey. I am currently an EMT/Firefighter and was wondering how long the wait lists are up there and what schools that you would recommend for an older male student. Have not decided yet where we will be living yet that will be in the next few weeks. I have started to do some research however would like some insight and thoughts from some students or past students. Thanks in advance for your help.

I can agree that a clinical instructor could determine as they see how you perform, they are grading you on your actual PERFORMANCE, not an interpretation. I have interviewed a few times and have given interviews many times(was a mangager for 8 years) and never have I nore have I been told that I or the person could not apply for any other position within the company. Even when I thought the person that I interviewed would not fit in my department, I would not tell them not to try in another department. See the easy thing would have been that Mayo says "thank you for applying however the position is being givin to someone else, however you can check for future openings". They did not they said" the results show that you are not a good nurse and you can't apply for any other position. Oh well as I said, we shall see down the road.

Thanks for the responses. We are moving forward and actually have had more than a few interviews with other area hospitals. There have been a few job offers and a couple more that are pending. Everything looks like we will be moving up there in January. What really bothers me is this. You give an interview and do not like the fit of the person you interview, So you put in this persons file that they should not be given an interview within any other department. I understand they can be choosey but how can one person interpret what every other supervisor or manager is going to think about that person. That is a form of descrimination, you are being denied because of one persons opinion. It is not that she wants to work there anymore it is more of a large entity thinking they can do as they want without regard for there actions. With this as long as people just let them go, they will continue to act in this manner. All these other interviews, there was comments on how much you(meaning my wife) have so much to offer to this hospital and unit. So in a more positive way we are glad that she did not get an offer from the Mayo, as better plans are on the horizon. Don't be suprised though if in the near future you don't read about or hear about something pertaining to this type of practice in the news.

thanks for the replies, We went to st. paul, so far so good, we really liked it. We looked at a few places in Woodbury and will checking more places in January, that is when we will end up making the move up there.

Wife has been offered a position in the CCU, we are excited however a little nervous as the offer came from just the phone interviews. We did however manage to get a meeting set up as wife said she wanted to see the hospital and unit she would be working on before she actually accepted the position. Everyon has seemed nice that she has spoken with and they already had a realtor call us and send us a packet with information and maps of the area. would just like to get some insight from anyone that has,is or knows someone that works there. Also your thoughts on areas to look for a rental. Looking at commute time and the most important schools for our children. We are excited as we really do want to move to MN and glad that things are working out even though the issues we went through with the Mayo. Again thanks in advance for any and all the information you can give us.

thank you both for your replies, Let me just update you on what has happened so far. We finally did get a call from the head of HR and was told that the manager that interviewed her put her down as not being able to respond under pressure. She also said that that the whole interview was so called below score. As my wife explained to this person, the unit she is at and the hospital does not have all the different staffing positions that the mayo has. She does not have the luxery of having a monitor tech,IV team and all the extra hands that they do. Thus making the order of which they respond is different. I am not saying this because she is my wife, however she responds extremly well under pressure. She is on a code team, is charge nurse with a full patient assignment, they do thier own IV sticks and the list goes on and on. This head of HR also said she was misinformed about applying to other positions however she would most likely be flagged for what is written in her file. Since then she has gotten 4 rejection letters to get another interview. They checked nothing except to take the word of how 1 person interpreted her so called interview. The person my wife talked to also said that they get hundreds and hundreds of applications for 1 position, well if this is the case should there not be a little more weeding done before a person is brought 900 miles to interview. Also you would think that they would set up multiple interviews if a person is coming from out of state and has applied to more than one position. this way they could compare what more than persons interpretation of the interview went. Also some people are just not good interviewers, especially when they are nervous and really want a position. Take a look at the persons past history with work, check refrences to see how they perform. They checked nothing however they give her a red flag just because they think she is not suited for the MAYO WAY. We are not giving up on Minnesota as we think that moving there will be a plus for us. Wife has already spoken with, St. Joe's, North Memorial, St. Cloud and recruiter for the Allina hospitals. Will find out next week when interviews will be set and we will make the trip up there again. All I can say is the Mayo is losing out on not just a great nurse but a fantastic person.

We received a call back today and based on her behavior-based interview she is not a GOOD nurse and thus can't apply for for any of the Staff RN positions. During her interview she was given scenerios and she responded with what she does on her unit right now. On her unit now she inserts foley's, starts IV's, keeps track of her pt's monitors, pulls sheaths, she is the lead of the scheduling commitee and does most of the scheduling, rotates as charge nurse, on the code team along with her regular RN duties. She does not have teams like the mayo has, so the way she responds to situations is different than what the mayo is. There is no PCT, IV team, Foley team, monitor tech ETC. She is a CVRN(nationaly reg.) and had many references(some MD's) and not one ref. was checked. The decision was soley based on the 2 RN's interpertation of the answers givin during the so called interview. This was her first interview of this kind and how can the so called right answers for this unit be the same in all the other units. My wife is even more upset now as she was told that because of this interview she is considered not to be a GOOD nurse according to the mayo. I find this so unnerving that a SO CALLED best hospital would base a possible employee's ability soley on few questions where as the co called correct course of action is based on there rules and regulations. They do not take in consideration that you have to act differently when you do not have all the extra team members that they have at the mayo. When they are questioned the only response that we get is"I Don't Know". When asked about checking ref. she was told that would happen after a job was offered. Since she was told no based on her answers if she would have answered the scenerios the way the mayo wanted them answered and was offered the job what would have happened if when ref. checked and was told negitive things like would not hire again or calls off all the time, would that not matter, asked the person at mayo this and again was just told"I don't Know". That is why we are upset. My wife has a spotless work history, has never been written up, has many letters written about her service from family members to the hospial she is at now and according to the famed Mayo Clinic she is not a Good nurse because of a few questions. She thought she would try and better her career by going to a well renowned hospital. Not so sure now if that would have been the case. However we are not going to just sit back take that answer. If anyone has any contact info with some higher up members within the mayo please let us know. We want to talk to them to find out some more on how they can base a possible employee on just some questions and why no one can actually answer our questions with something other than"I Don't Know" thank you for listening to my rant and rave and helping us out any way that you can..

Hello, My wife had an interview last monday with the Mayo Clinic, St. Marys medical cardiac PCU. Interview seemed to go well, we were excited and was looking forward to moving to Rochester. Wife called Friday to check status as was told would hear something by Friday. They told her they did not have her packet and would hear something by next week. She received a rejection letter in the mail today and letter said to check daily for updates with available positions. Wife called to ask a few questions about the the other positions she also applied for and was told to withdraw her other applications and not to apply again. She told the person about the letter and was told that the wrong letter was sent to her. When my wife asked why she was told by the person that they did not know why. We have since contacted HR again and have been forwarded to a manager that is supposed to get back with us. Wife has 4 years of Critical care and telemetry experiance, she has never been late to work and never has been written up for anything. She is devistated right now with being told not to apply for any other position. We had high hopes and thought nothing but good things about the Mayo Clinic and now we are wondering about it. We have never had anything like this happen and are wondering what your thoughts about this would be. Thanks for listening:o:o:o:o

Frootloop, thanks for the info, yes she is ready for the behavioral interview, all we know is it is a 17 bed unit and I believe it is medical PCU. Considering right now she is on a cardiac telemetry unit with a 5 patient ratio on almost every night and 6 on more than a few, many many call offs. With this she starts IV's, does ECG's, Pulls Sheaths, draws blood if from a pic or central line. plus the teaching and other Nursing duties. Right now she makes 26.52 on Night shift and that is with the .80 shift differential, no shift diffs on the weekend either. When passing meds do you guys use a veriscan or similar device to to keep med errors down. Is the computer on wheels or is there one in each room? what about uniforms, are there only solids or what can be worn. what about shoes and earings, rings, watches and my wife does have a small nose ring. We have 2 children and the big city life is not the most important thing for us. We want good schools for the children and we want to opportunity to make our careers flourish. The cold will not bother us, in fact I think the weather is much better overall up there than here in Pennsylvania. thank you for helping us out with information

Thanks nursetmj, My wife has interview on Monday for a 17 bed cardiac progressive care unit. We have heard many good things and are looking forward if all goes well in the interview to moving and starting a new life. thanks

Hello, wanted to find out what kind of uniforms the mayo nurses wear. Do they have to be solid or are prints permitted. We are coming up next week for interview however just would like to find out if will be needing to buy all new uniforms before we move up there, well that is as long as we get the job. Thanks

Hello, My wife has an Interview on the 22nd and we will be coming up on the 21st so we can look around a little. We have been doing much research and everything looks good, actually if all goes well with the interview can't wait to move there. My wife applied on Sunday night, and got a call on tuesday morning to set up the interview. It will be with the Cardiac Progressive Care Unit. Just have a few questions for anyone that works there or who has worked there about the the nurse to patient ratio, what type of charting that you do and just an overall outlook of the clinic. Right now we live in Pennsylvania and she works on the cardiac stepdown unit. Patient ratios are 4 for daylight, and 5 or 6 for nightshift. Half of the staff is ready to leave because of the staffing problems and the workload with the higher acuity. There are call offs everyday and mandation almost everyday. Half of the floor is on medication for thier nerves and high blood pressure. This is why we are looking to get out of this stinking state. Well there are many other reasons but that is for someother post. Also any tidbits of information on Rochester and the surrounding towns that would be recommended for rasing 2 children would greatly be appreciated. thank you in advance

Hey Silver, We were working with a recruiter from texas and had interviews with a few hospitals, good sam being one. everything that the company told us was a lie. We signed a contract and when money was sent, all the lies started to come out. We luckly got out of the contract as my wifes aunt works at a big law firm and sent some offical paperwork to the recruiter and they were fumbling around and let us out of the contract. Just be very carefull before you sign anything. if you want pm me with recruiter that you are using might be one in the same.

Hello, My wife and I both had interviews at JCL. Wife for a RN and myself for PCT. I agency that we were going through for this opportunity really dropped the ball and was terrible to work with. We also interviewed with a second company in vegas and vegas was not for us. We now are going to be coming back down to interview at Banner Baywood Medical Center and Chandler regional. This company we are working with is much better than the first and from what we did get to see we liked AZ. Any insight on either of those places would be appreciated.

Stopnik, Thank you for all the great information. I knew when I seen that the FD was paid that I would have no shot especially if I said I used to Volly as there is the gaping hole that seperates the paid from the unpaid. IMO that should not mean a thing as I put my life on the line every call just like they do except I don't get paid. I really want to be a ED nurse as I love trauma and the fast paced action that it entails. JCL north mountain will be the hospital. I have not spoken with anyone there yet, my wife has though and they were just doing her interviews. We are going through a recruiter(I know they can be bad) however this one we trust as he has worked with more than a few nurses in our area and some of our friends have made the move from here to other states and they just love there jobs. I wont mind doing the PCT however I will check with the ambulance service also. With knowing the hospital now, any thougts of area's to look and or avoid. Thank you again for all your help, it is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your replies. It looks very much like we are going to take the JCL position. We just need to come down to look around. A tentitive offer has been given to us with just the face the face meeting and I do not forsee any problems. We are happy so far as there is a nice little relocation package offered. They are also getting a 2 for 1 special, as I will be getting a job offer with them as well as a PCT. I am an EMT with National Registry Certification with a few years of exp. I am in nursing school here in PA however I will be looking to get into a program down there. This brings me to a few more questions that I have for you guys and gals. I have most of my college classes finished (psyc, anatomy, phys, micro, eng, nutrition, and a semester of clinical. The shool here is a little different as you do some college, and clinicals together except for the first semester which was all at the college. I have a 3.6 GPA, I am in EMS, a volunteer firefighter and will be working at JCL. Are my chances good for getting into a program without a long lengthy wait. If I have to wait I guess I will just have to work a little more however I am hoping that I will not have to wait tooooo long. Next question is about some locations and travel time. I have been doing research about schools, neighborhoods and travel time(with mapquest for distance). We have found a few houses that we like online in, Cave Creek, Fountain Hills, Peoria, Scottsdale(had our favorite house) and Sun City. What are your opionions on these area's,(school,travel to JCL, crime). Right now we travel 35 min to work at hospital and I travel an hour when I have to take the college class. Thanks in advance for all your guys and gals help. A soon to be Arizonian!!:yelclap:

Wow, This thread gets a lot of action. At first I was a little worried about the school system, however I know how my kids are and we spend alot of time doing extra homework and both my kids will work extra on there own. Both my children love school and really try hard to get great grades. Son has been on Honor roll since first grade, and daughter made it this year while in first grade. We are coming down on the 19th for a face to face meeting and a chance to look around(can't wait). Good Sam, Thunderbird and J.C.L all are interested however J.C.L is who we are meeting with. Any info that you might have or heard of would be very much appreciated. We know that there is no perfect job, place or person. That is not want we want, we just want a place we can raise our children, and make a comfortable living. We also would not want to work for a place with a really bad reputation. Any advice or tips on places to check out for renting would also be appreciated. We want to get a 4 bed if we take the position. Also is there anything that we must see when we get there and any recomendations on someplace nice to eat. Thanks in advance :caduceus:

Hello, First I would like to say that this is a great thread as I was able to get much information so far about AZ. Me and my wife are looking into relocating to AZ or NV. She has already had 4 Interviews on the phone and getting ready to fly to both LV and AZ for face to face and to look around and check out areas. I have been doing a ton of research and from what I have found out so far is that AZ is cheaper with rental property as well as purchasing a home. AZ also has a better school system at least what I have seen by test scores. We are really leaning toward AZ because of those reasons. We have 2 children, 6 and 9 and would like to be in a family style neighborhood. My wife is a critical care nurse and I am an EMT/Firefighter. I have most of my prereqs done and want to go to nursing school. The reason we want to move now is tired of the snow,rain,high taxes,rude people,I could go on and on. We are just tired of Pennyslvania. My wife has interest from Good Sam, UMC, John C. lincoln, Thunderbird and there were 2 others that he had to get back to. The recruter was also talking about getting me into the ED as a tech. We know that all workplaces have some dirt so to speak and not everyone is pleasant to work with and we can live with that. We just want to get an Idea about the quality of life. We would also like to find out about the nurse to pt. ratio, mandation of overtime, is there OT available, education opportunities, and any information that anyone could give us. We are friendly and get along with most everyone and would like to be in an area like that. I love to BBQ and Drink beer so that part of AZ looks like a perfect fit. Thank you in advance for all the info

Hello, My wife is in talks with Summerlin Hospital and St. Rose Hospital. We will be coming out for 2nd interviews and tours in about 2 weeks. The position is for Critical Care. We would like to get any info about either place. How are the Pt. ratios, what type of charting they do, anything at all will help. The first interviews was mainly finding out all my wifes info and experiance and then just gave us a minimum starting amount/and relocation amounts. they are flying both of us down so she can do 2nd interviews and we can look around. Any info you can give us would greatly be appreciated, including places to look for housing. Thanks

Hello, We are thinking of relocating to the Rochester area. My wife will be talking with a person from the Mayo Clinic end of this week or next week and will be discussing a date for an interview and to be able to see the area. We were trying to find out any info from someone first hand. We know that the winters can be bad however that does not bother us. Wife is a critical care RN with 3 years exp. She is ACLS,PALS,and CCRN. The Mayo looks fantastic on paper however that is not always the case. Would just like some insights on nurse to PT. ratio's, How the charting is done, and how they are to work for. Also any insights on the school systems. We looked online and they look fantastic again that is on paper. Children will be in 2nd and 4th grade. Any and all info that you could give us would greatly be appreciated. thanks