natchan23

I just scheduled my physical for October 8th which was the absolute last day to do it. That's in 3 weeks! A friend of mine is looking at a place today on U Street. Thank you for all your offers to help out! I might be in touch about the move. Until then got lots of shots and papers to gather and packing to do in 3 weeks. This is crazy... for all of us!

What state are you in? I had a lot of trouble calling the BON in WA state but did some homework and hunted down some numbers. Try just calling the general number and asking for who handles the ATT. If you always get a voicemail then ask for someone else to write her a note. Another strategy I heard from others is to call the minute the office opens. That worked for a lot of people.

I did and I'm so nervous about finding a place in time and how I will like living in the east coast. I have a friend over there looking for me but he's a guy so safety isn't as much of a concern for him I think? Maybe I'm overly nervous about safety I'm just going by what I have heard. I haven't gotten a hold of HR since accepting but they left a message saying I need a physical date before getting an offer letter. I actually just had a physical so I wonder if my doc can just fill out some paperwork. The new hire paperwork is in my email waiting! I wonder when they will tell us what units we are assigned to. AHH! I hope this hospital is worth moving for! At this point it's my only option so why not have an adventure?

I was wondering what the July WHC RN residency folks think about the program, hospital, area, etc. Do you like working there? Is the staff generally happy? Is the patient load reasonable? Was it hard to find housing? I was just offered a position for the October residency and have a few days to decide if I want to spend the next 2 years of my life on the east coast (I'm from the west coast)! Any thoughts appreciated :)

I applied to this position but haven't heard anything. I'm guessing they got A LOT of applicants... but yeah, october 4th is around the corner!

Wow! I don't think I ever heard about the 18 month commitment. That freaks me out! I just heard that I got it officially today :) I was at the airport and didn't hear my phone but got the voicemail. Did they tell either of you what unit you're on? I just know I have until Thursday to decide...

I also felt stupid talking to the mannequins but just decided to bite the bullet and do it when being taped or observed by profs! Just remember that you aren't the only one feeling dumb about it. Everyone does and you gotta do what you gotta do, right? At my school we got graded for professionalism and I'm sure that's how it is for everyone else too so that was hard with mannequins. It gets easier as time goes and with practice. The first quarters with them were harder but then after awhile it's no big deal.

In my senior synthesis class a grad from June 2009 (when the job market was worse than it is now I heard) had an alumni panel come talk to us before graduation. One alum talked about how frustrated she was about not finding a job so did home healthcare while she waited to find a hospital job. She was upfront with them and they didn't mind that she wasn't planning on staying long. She loved home health though! She did eventually find a hospital job a few months later and she thinks it was better for her to get some sort of nursing experience under her belt vs. doing nothing.

0402, thank you SO much for your answer. I wish I could reply to you more in detail but since I don't have 15+ posts the website says I don't have permission to send personal message! Grrr... But please know I really appreciate it and will reply as soon as they let me.

Thanks again and good luck on your interview! I will get to my PM in a little bit :) Also I wanted to add that I went back to the hospital today to check it out. I get back on a plane tomorrow so that was the last time I could see the facility if they call. I definitely got a better feeling seeing it today compared to last time when I was shocked to get an unofficial sounding offer so I guess I was just feeling generally overwhelmed. On my bus ride there today I met a local man who couldn't say enough good things about the hospital which was great Maybe see you two soon!

Thanks!!! The interview itself wasn't bad at all. In fact, I found it was surprisingly easy -- even the clinical questions. Everyone is interviewed basically at the same time, just spread around the auditorium. There were about 12 people with me on my interview day. There is a line to check in and they photocopy your CPR card and take your letters of rec (which i didn't have...) and official transcript to put in your file. You are seen in order that you arrived and talk to either an HR recruiter or sometimes just a manager right away. I had four clinical questions and I'm pretty sure everyone got the same ones. They are basically all pretty much situations you might guess? At least I guessed what half of them would be and was able to reason out the other two. If you need help they can give you some prompts. IF I get a call and IF I move here I will hopefully move in with a friend who already lives here and is looking to move. We looked at a townhouse yesterday which was pretty crazy! I feel like I need to talk to people who have been through the new grad program at WHC. I wasn't in love with what I saw with the facility but you can't judge a book by its cover. The hospitals from where I'm from are just different I guess and of course it's hard not to compare to what you are used to. I wonder if people are happy with the program. The manager I spoke with has been there at WHC for 20 years and loves it. 0402, do you know when they needed to know your decision by? Is there a year-long contact? I didn't see anything about that in the paperwork I was given.

Thanks! It went really well. Everyone was really nice and they said I can just send in letters whenever. There were about 12 other applicants there yesterday. The manager I spoke with said she'd tell them to definitely hire me. We had a great chat and she gave me a tour of the floor! Now I just need to see if it's true and wait for the call. She said the next step of the process is choosing what floor I'd get hired on. The manager also told me that the last wave of new grads had 109 hired! This must be a huge program. If they do offer, I gotta figure out if I'm willing to move out here to DC! It's been pretty fun so far. I've just lived my whole life in Washington so this would be an adventure. One step at a time...

I tried calling the nurse recruiters but it went straight to voicemail... I hear that this hospital isn't very good at returning calls so I didn't leave a message but will keep calling. I'm just wondering if it's worth it to fly across the country for this. I wonder how many positions are open too. If I manage to get in touch with them I will ask and let you know!

Thank you 0402 for the info! I'm glad to hear they are understanding. I wonder why my confirmation email didn't say that? I didn't even get a call but my email said that it was a pleasure to chat with me that day... Since it was impersonal I was wondering if perhaps they weren't understanding! I will definitely call HR in the morning but plan on flying out Thursday with this news in mind. And thank you goalienurse1 for the tips. Luckily I have some miles saved up to fly over last minute. It sounds like a complicated area! The most I have seen of the east coast has been in NYC. Luckily the east coast has subways :)

I was wondering for those who have interviewed for the Washington Hospital Center RN residency program, did you need to have letters of recommendation in hand? I just received an email today that my interview is this FRIDAY. I would be coming from Seattle so this is an investment. The faculty at the school I went to are out of office until next week since we are on the quarter system. I know I can get letters mailed in but doubt I can have them by Friday. The job posting says to bring letters, but the confirmation email I got about my interview only says to bring my licenses/certifications and college degree. No mention of letters. If I need letters I will not bother flying out to DC which would be a shame. It's so hard for new grads to find jobs around here. I'll call HR tomorrow but am under a time crunch so was wondering if anyone had input about this?