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@ jquan25- do you have any word of advice on how we can prep for PIH's new grad interview? How was the interview process for you? Any helpful advice would be much appreciated. Thanks! :)

Oh wow! Congrats Nurse_Jaydee! I'm so happy you finally got a start date!!! I understand how dreadful the wait can be...I am still waiting to get my physicals done. Can't believe it's almost been 2 months just to get these done. Please, you must share with us your experiences as a new grad and their "training" program. Best of luck to you! :)

Oh I see. It helps to know a rough estimate of how long others had to wait before getting cleared for everything. Thanks Nurse_Jaydee!

@Nurse_Jaydee: how long did it take for you to get cleared for the livescan and get your physical(s) scheduled? I'm hitting the 3 wk mark just to see my status on fingerprinting, and they keep telling me the approval i'm waiting for is really the approval of the budget to move forward w/ my hiring process. If it's taking this long just for the livescan result, I wonder how long it'll take to get the results for my 2 physicals (which i'm still waiting to get scheduled for). sigh. How long did you wait for both your livescan and physicals to be cleared altogether? thanks! :)

Oh my goodness! RN, BSN, PHN has been cleared and waiting since August?! And Volunteerpioneer, when you say "your group" in November, does that mean you were cleared with everything including the 2 physicals since November and you have finished your preceptorship already? That must mean that you've received your start date rather quickly and also I thought the "training" or "preceptorship" was a total of about 4 months? 6 wks seems kind of short. I have been hired for PICU and they have never mentioned anything about starting off at med/surg before going to ICU? I am scared of waiting for months and months before I actually get to start b/c I have already been waiting for months and months to even land this job. I sure hope they give all of us a start date soon. I am still waiting to hear back for my live scan clearance (which I called HR about and a girl told me I've actually been cleared on the 16th and they don't know why someone has not contacted me yet. She told me to expect a call by tomorrow (Tues). It is now Wed and still no call. sigh..) Reminding myself repeatedly "patience is a virtue". lol.

@Sugarlips: If you read my previous comment, I briefly mentioned my experience applying for the RN I position. It's not really a "program" per se, but you have to first apply for the RN I position with the LA County Health Services (County of Los Angeles - Department of Health Services) and then they will mail you with a Civil Service Interview date (mine took about 4 months before I got this interview). Once you are notified that you've passed this initial interview, you are eligible to be on the "RN I list" where you can then go ahead and contact the different county hospitals and ask for availabilities. If there is an opening and an HR person or nurse recruiter is interested in your resume, they will contact you for a second RN I interview. This second interview will determine if you're hired or not. Hope that helps!! It's a long process, but from my personal experience, it is worth the wait. Good luck~!

Thank you Nurse_Jaydee!! It's like this huge elephant is lifted off my chest. I hope I get to meet you in person and it would be awesome if we started together. Do you know what unit you will be starting off in?

Update: I got hired!!! :loveya: Thank You Lord! To everyone who is looking into applying to a county hospital...DO IT!! It may be a long process, but it is definitely worth the wait. I applied for the RN I position back in July, got the civil service interview scheduled in Nov, received a letter 2 wks later saying that I've passed the civil service interview, then a nurse recruiter from LAC+USC called me in December to schedule a second RN interview for an actual position in January and I got hired! Whew. See how long that took? lol. I just went in recently for my fingerprinting and still need to do my 2 physical exams. They told me it can take anywhere between 1-3 months before I actually get a start date, but hey, at least I know I have a job which means no more job searching. yay! So, I just wanted to encourage everyone else to be diligent and patient with the County system and you may just find yourself a job. Good luck fellow nurses!

Congratulations Dance_RN! That is such exciting news! How was the interview process for you and what unit will you be working on? :)

Yes, I believe so but I also think it depends on when you start orientation. She was saying something about how some start off in the PICU, but eventually go to the regular Peds ward. I guess it depends on your skills and how confident you are in the PICU as well as when you start Phase I. The unit is really small (10 beds) with about 5-6 nurses. The nurses station is right in the middle, so you can see all the patients' room as they have glass windows. I hope you get a call soon, too! :)

@Tbiytc- thank you! don't give up hope yet. The residency doesn't start until February, so there is still some time left. :) @Telenurse22- Thank you for letting me know! I appreciate your input very much! I hope you are enjoying your time working at UCI and have nothing but good things to say about UCI's new grad residency/training. hehe.

Thank you! I am so thankful for such an encouraging forum just for us new grads! ;D I finally interviewed with the assistant DON of Peds (PICU) and I felt like it went okay. She had asked me a lot of questions, but thankfully they were all questions that I had expected for her to ask me (pretty generic questions that were relevant to peds). Afterwards, she asked me if I wanted a tour of the unit, so I had a chance to see the unit and meet the nurses. I wasn't sure if everyone gets a tour of the unit, but either way it was really nice to see what the work environment might be like. Everyone seemed so friendly and nice. I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but I find peace in knowing that it is all in God's hands at this point. Good luck to all of us! :)

Thank you so much, Telenurse22! I am glad to hear they are general questions. I've never had a panel interview before (only one-on-one interviews) so hopefully it won't seem as intimidating with 2 or 3 more interviewers there! When you say "behavioral/clinical questions" do you mean questions like "What would you do in this particular situation..how would you handle the situation"? types of questions NOT like "what do you think this patient has according to his s/s and what nursing interventions will you do for the pt"? Thanks!! I received an email for med/surg on Dec. 28th and she said she was in the process of scheduling interviews. Hope that helps! :)

Nurse_Jaydee! Thank you so much! I am a little relieved to know that it is similar to the civil service interview, since I have gone through that before. I will focus on similar questions then. I was just afraid that they might throw at you specific case scenarios where you have to read a pt's signs/symptoms and then diagnose what you think they have and what your interventions will be. (I heard some hospitals do that). So, I don't need to worry about any medication calculations, pediatrics disease processes/pathophysiology, and in depth stuff, right? It would be awesome to work with you as well and be new grads together!

Hi everyone! I have an interview set up for med/surg soon. Has anyone else heard back for an interview? I got an email from the med/surg nursing director and we've been communicating that way. Anyone know how we can prepare for this interview? Anyone who has gone through UCI's interview process with helpful information will be much appreciated! Thank you~