MeldogRN

LOL! Thanks! This is why I sometimes need to vent to random internet strangers, beacuse at least one (or in my case four) people will know the perfect thing to say! You made me laugh :) You are spot on...working at a med center. My very first nursing job was in a big city, and although I got free parking where I worked, I didn't expect too. Even some of my nurse friends in CT had to pay for parking with NO free options, but never $90-$110 a month! Eh, I'll figure it out. Off to return my scrubs!

Thanks guys! Yes I could use a hug today. I feel like I am totally getting off on the wrong foot :/ I'll get over it. I'm going to try to looking on the bright side, at least I won't have to put too much thought into what I am going to wear every day!

I'm from Connectucut, worked at the same hospital for the past 9 years and a small hospital in Boston for one year before that. We just moved to TX. It took me several months to find a job, but I finally found a job that I thought I would love. I haven't actually started yet and there has already been drama! My concern about this hospital began with the application process. They don't hire tobacco users. Fine, I don't use tobacco products. They make you take this crazy personality test...fine I take the dang test. I get the call from an HR person that I got the job...I tell her I have a few things I need to discuss with someone before I accept the job, tell her what they are, she says don't worry about it and schedules my pre-employment activities with occupational health for the following Monday. I just go with the flow. Show up on monday and for drug, alcohol, and tobacco screening. I let them take my blood, pee in a cup...fine. Tuesday I get a call from the background check place that they can't confirm my employment from my first job, 10 years ago. The HR department at that hospital doesn't keep records that far back, and my manager doesn't remember me (I only worked there for one year, 10 years ago, I'm not surprised.) I call the HR department at my new job and they tell me I can bring in my W2's from my first job. Humm. Well, I go to my 20 foot by 20 foot packed storage unit, and by some shear stroke of luck I find both W2's, in two separate boxes, that I didn't pack myself. Go back for day 2 of occupational health stuff. Find out that in addition to drug, alcohol, and tobacco screen, they also ran a CBC, triglycerides, and glucose test. A) Why do they need that? B) Why didn't they tell me that they were going to do that? Fine, what's done is done. Then I felt bullied into getting a flu vaccine, not by the OH nurse, but by the policies and laws put in place by this hospital and state. Go back to HR and take a med test and pass by the skin of my teeth, not because I can't do math, but they ask me questions about meds that I never give and how to calculate drip rates, which I haven't done since college and will not need to do in my new job. Talk to an HR person who runs over things breifly and gives me a bunch of stuff to take home and read. Also makes a huge point that if I do start orientation on friday, I need to dress business casual, uh, ok. After HR, go to buy some new scrubs so I can make a good impression. I have fun, get 5 or 6 sets of scrubs in pink, gray, and teal, with some cute patterns, and a new pair of nursing shoes in gray and pink. Like a true shopaholic, I feel a little better. I get home and start digging through the paperwork. None of my doctors that I just picked out are covered under my new insurance plan, which we now have to use because of some crazy policy at my husband's job. The free parking option is further from me than the hospital and will add at least 20 minutes to my 10 minute commute. Pay options are around $100 a month, if they are availiable. Lastly I get to the conduct code, wherein lies the dress code. For shoes, you can only wear black, white, or shoes the color of your uniform. If you want to wear a t-shirt under your scrubs, it can only be white or the same color as your scrub top. If you want to wear a scrub jacket it has to be a solid color, the same color as your pants. It references unit specific uniforms. No one had talked about any of this! So, I muster all the courage I can (because I have a crazy phone phobia) and call one of the managers I hadn't met to find out if there were any unit specific uniform requirements. She matter of factly tells me what the requirements are, which none of my new scrubs match. I express a bit of shock, she makes me feel like a crazy person...explains to me why it's oh so important, and that every hospital in Texas has a uniform code, and she would have told me in the interview. I tell her it's fine I will get over it, but I would have appreciated someone telling me before I spent almost $300 on new scrubs and shoes. I get off the phone with her, and a few minutes later my phone rings. One of the interviewing managers called me and asked what happened, she heard I was upset, etc., but it didn't seem so much out of concern, but like she had just gotten yelled at. I explained to her that yes I was upset, but I didn't mean to make a big deal about it. I also explained a little about what happened in OH, that I was definately experiencing some culture shock, and that I'm a little worried, I don't want to start out working there like I am some uppity northeasterner. She said that she thought she covered it in the interview, but that people usually ask. It never occured to me to ask, because I've never worked anywhere where they were such control freaks over what you wore, down to the color of your shoes! I get it, put up with it or find a different job. There are plenty of nurses out there looking for jobs, the employer can call all the shots they want. I will have to get over it. I still have things I need to talk to the managers about, and now I am even more nervous than I was before! Thanks for reading my ramble...has anyone else had this major of a culture shock?

I just transferred my license this past summer and had the same experience as TheCommuter, temp. license within 10 days that was good for 120 days. Once I completed the nursing Jurisprudence exam, I received my permanent license within 10 days. I was scared to take the exam, but I took the course they offer through the website and took the exam right after and it was pretty easy.

I don't have any sage advice, but this thread reminded me of a story a dear friend told me. It was early in her nursng career and she just started working as a heme/onc nurse. In the middle of the night she answered a call bell, walking in her patients room to find him standing there, hunched over, vomiting on the floor. My friend went to comfort her patient and rub his back, but when he sarted heaving again, so did she! When they were both finished, they were laughing hysterically!

I know there is going to besome eye rolling here, but I do need some advice! I relocated in late September due to my (then) fiance's job. I began seriously job hunting in July, but had little luck. Our lives have been extremely busy since we moved, and I admit now that was really only half heartedly job searching, not because I didn't want to work, but because the chaos was making it difficult to get interviews and I was finding that navigating this new job market was far more complicated than any job hunt I'd ever performed before. After the hubub died down and the holidays were over, I renewed my job search in earnest, sending out dozens of applications last week. I had a couple of interviews and a job offer for what is quite honestly my dream job. The big hitch is that my husband and I recently were surprised and happy to find out that we are expecting our first child. I am 9 weeks today, and our families don't even know yet. My husband and I discussed what I should do during my job search. We decided that I should wait until I get a job offer to discuss my pregnancy with my future employer, especially since it is so early on, and anything could still happen at this point (I hate to think about the bad stuff, but there is still a pretty big risk of miscarriage at this point since it's early and we haven't yet heard the heartbeat.) So, when they called and offered me the position, I promptly told the HR person that I was expecting, that it was early on in my pregnancy, and I wanted to talk to someone about it before I accepted the job because I know I won't be covered under FMLA. Basically, she said congratulations, I wouldn't worry about it, they wouldn't waste their money to train you and then not take you back after your maternity leave. She then proceeded to process my pre-employment paperwork and set up my employee health evaluation for next Monday, with a potential start date of next Friday. In a way I feel a little relieved having told them, but I still feel like it is going to be a big surprise to the department when I start, and I don't want to get off on the wrong foot. The job is in the NICU, and I know pregnancies don't stay secret for long in NICU's for plenty of reasons. The department has one nursing director and SIX clinical managers. I have never met the director, I met two of the clinical managers and have contact information for one of them, and the HR department sent me contact information for another one of the clinical managers who I have never met. I feel pretty weird just calling up and discussing this information with a stranger over the phone. I was rather hoping that a manager would be the one calling me to offer me the position in the first place. I killed in my interview. I have qualifications that few people who apply for jobs in that unit have (9 years NICU experience and a Master's degree.) They offered me a job less than 24 hours after my interview. In hind sight, I am pretty sure they would have hired me if I put on the top of my application WARNING: I'M PREGNANT! But now, I don't know what the right thing to do is. Any advice is welcome, but if you think I'm a jerk for not telling them in my interview, please keep it to yourself, especially since I can't do anything about that now!

My how I wish you had written about your insecurities over a year ago! I felt the exact same way! I was TERRIFIED to give a bed bath when I graduated, never mind anything else! On top of that, by the time I took my NCLEX exam, 17 out of 32 of my classmates had already FAILED! The school I went to was put on probation and almost lost it's accredidation that year! I was not surprised, I had gone to the director of the program, the dean of the school, and even the president of the university to complain about how the courses were being taught. But, I passed the NCLEX, first try. That was 10 years ago. My first job was at a pediatric rehab facility, on a respiratory rehab floor. The first day I was supposed to take care of a pateint by myself, I cried because I thought I was incompetent and couldn't possibly do it. Did I make mistakes? Sure did, some pretty big ones too, but I was ALWAYS HONEST about them and learned from them. Within a year I was no longer afraid to give a bed bath, was able to straight cath anyone, male or female, almost with my eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back, I could change trach ties on a squirming infant by myself, and I found myself precepting both new and experienced nurses. I moved on to neonatal intensive care, and I have since earned a Master's degree and most recently, a certification as a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner. In some ways I feel like I am back at square one, but I overcame it before, and I know I will again. GOOD LUCK! I know you can do it!

Thanks for all of your support guys! After an application blitz last week (sent out over 20 applications over 4 days), I finally got a job offer! The offer was from the same hospital that told me they "definately wanted to interview" me in November, but then never heard back from. Turns out the HR person who normally represents that department had been on her honeymoon that week...gah! At least I got to enjoy my holidays OFF, probably for the last time for years to come! It is a dream position, 12 hour DAYS (don't ask me how that happened), 10 min from home, and almost FOUR DOLLARS an hour more than what I was asking!

LOL! I was the med nurse in a mock code...I slowed things down because I was looking for a trash bin to toss the wrappers from the various syringes and medications...after a few seconds I was laughing uncontrolably...obviously not a concern during an emergency!

Thanks for the responses guys, I really appreciate them. I realize it's a tough market out there...but this experience is insane! Getting my first nursing job was difficult. I was looking in Boston as a new grad and there were no jobs to be had, but I got a response to EVERY application I sent, either they weren't hiring new grads, the position was filled, or they just weren't interested. While I understand that I need to be accomodating, I told the hospital that said they definately wanted to interview me that I wouldn't be availiable for a face to face interview until November 14th during my first telephone interview. If they thought that was going to be a problem, why would they waste my time and theirs with a second telephone interview and have me take their crazy third party personality test (which I am certain they had to pay for)? Why would they tell me they definately want to interview me then never call NOR return any of my calls? This hospital has a strict policy that you cannot submit more than 5 applications in a 90 day period, so the whole apply every week strategy won't work here. Also, why would an HR person leave me a message telling me to call her back if she had no intention of answering or returning my phone calls? My other concern here is that there aren't that many hospitals that offer my specialty. If I've had two telephone interviews, is that logged in their system somewhere preventing me from having more telephone interviews? Ugh! I'll keep on keeping on!

I am a nurse who has just moved to Houston late September with my (now) husband. I have 10 years of nursing experience, 9 in my specialty (neonatal intensive care) AND a master's degree in neonatal nursing as well as my permanent TX RN license and excellent references. I have been applying for nursing jobs since July and have applied for at least 15 jobs (probably more)...I am so frustrated! Every single application comes with another set of bs things to do, copy and paste your resume and then type all of the same info into your application, take another odd behavioral test or personality questionaire (I would never choose to blow up an airplane full of people, nor would I choose to torture people EVER, why do I have to pick one over the other, and what the heck does that have to do with babies?) I did not get a single response to any of my applications until I actually physically moved to TX. HR people have left messages for me, which I promptly return (as in minutes after they called), and then called back every few days, never to hear from them again. Most recently I had an HR person call (after my 4th application...different postings, same position) who was so excited about my qualifications she wanted me to come in the next day for a face to face interview...which I couldn't do because I had an early morning flight. She said someone would call me to schedule an interview when I got back, which was 2 weeks ago. I've called and left messages for this HR person, guess what? NO CALL BACK! I've had telephone interviewers that never call or call HOURS late. To top it all off, my husband is really pushing me to get a job and that in itself is stressing me out! Anybody out there have any words of wisdom, encouragement, or support for me?

My fiancee and I are relocating to Houston (I know, moving to TX is pretty much the theme of these boards!) I am looking for a position as a Neonatal Nurse. I have 10 years of nursing experience wich includes 9 years of NICU experience. In addition, I have a master's degree and certification as a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner. I've given up hope of finding an NNP job, but I am confident that I am abundantly qualified for all of the RN positions I have applied for thus far. I already have my temporary Nursing License in TX, all I need to do is take the online exam. I would like to know 1) Is the exam difficult? I tried to read the materials they suggest, and it its quite literally a snoozefest of leagalese. 2) How long do Houston nurses typically need to wait after applying onlne for someone to contact them for an interview? I'm asking mostly because my #1 pick, that I applied to weeks before I applied elsewhere, basically states in it's FAQ that if they don't want to interview you, they don't tell you (no rejection e-mail or anything!) The second reason is that we are moving in 5 weeks and my future husband is freaking out because I don't have a job yet...I'd just like to give him a little bit of a timeframe so he'll calm down! I'm not expecting to have a job by the time we move, but I am hoping to at least have some interviews set up. My first round of applications went out at the beginning of July. Thanks!