spaghetina

I'm an introvert too (being an only child only served to make me even more so because I had fewer interactions with people my own age), and shy to boot. There are desk jobs available - I currently work in obgyn clinic doing mostly patient message/phone triage - but just because you have a desk job, doesn't mean you don't still have to interact with people. I still do almost as much talking to people as I did when I was in direct patient care. It's hard to tell someone to 'get over it' and that's not exactly what I'm trying to say, but in some ways, you do have to learn how to navigate interactions with people. All jobs, desk and otherwise, will usually require you to interact with someone, at some point,even if not in direct patient care. You will get better at small talk the more you do it, even if it means relying on a few questions you can ask over and over again. Before you write yourself off, try patient care first. It sounds like you have no experience in the field, and you may find that it gets better with practice.

I took a triage position in OBGYN about 4 months ago for a change of pace from direct patient care. It's not strictly phone - we also handle the physician's in basket messages, where I'd say 80% of questions/problems/complaints come from, and I'm already burnt out. I'll be leaving in less than 2 weeks to go back to what I consider much more normal patient care, where people need to yell at me to my face, instead of sending vitriolic messages or getting snippy with me on the phone. I don't know how anyone does it long term, but I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to try it out, so that I can now say that I don't ever want to do it again.

I've never done bedside, and I've been a nurse for close to 3 years. Not for lack of trying, but right out of school, I missed all of the new grad programs that my cohort got into because my state nursing board took their sweet time getting my ATI to me (6+ months), so I started my career sort of behind the 8 ball. I tried for acute care jobs because I thought that's what I was supposed to do. We were trained as nurse generalists. I was ready to generalize my little heart out. I busted my *** in college and graduated in the top 1% for the school, so I was pretty disappointed that I didn't land a hospital job right away. But the truth was, I never really even liked acute care when I did it in clinicals. I would leave at the end of the day and sort of go, That's it? And while everyone else was really gung ho about foleys and ekgs and IVs, I was just sort of... meh. It wasn't really the holy grail of nursing to me, and so I took a clinic job in a private practice derm office. It was the best thing I could've done. Monday-Friday, normal-ish hours, holidays off, no endless IV pump alarms, no cleaning urine and feces, no turning patients, no med pass, and I got to develop a totally different skillset than what I learned in nursing school. Actually, when I first started in derm, I was shocked (and maybe a little frustrated) that absolutely zero things I'd learned in school were applicable to my new position, except how to do a head-to-toe assessment and to put a needle into a patient bevel up for comfort. But I learned almost every other skill I now possess on the job. Bedside isn't for everyone. Even out of those that DO bedside, many don't really enjoy it, it's just where the money is, and where people have developed their skills to feel like "real" nurses. But I'm no less of a real nurse in the outpatient environment, and I have the job title and salary to prove it. In school, we're not taught very much, if anything, about the options outside of the hospital, and I think it's a shame. It may just be that the opportunities for outpatient RNs are harder to come by and they're pretty competitive, but if you can land one, I really think it's the bee's knees. So just because you're currently in a position you think is coveted by others, it doesn't really align with your end goal, which is to be an aesthetics nurse, so it doesn't serve you much to stay where you don't want to be. Most people will probably tell you to stick it out so that you're more marketable and have more career flexibility later if you decide against aesthetics, and they're not totally wrong. I just think that if you know what you want, you should go for that instead of wasting time on a what-if. And if you're still working your way to your end goal, you might as well be doing it in a job that you don't hate in the meantime. I think you'll find getting into the routine of 5 8's is pretty easy. Being able to live like a normal human being instead of doing shift work is luxurious. Having all of your weekends off to be able to participate in your typical weekend activities is awesome. And in case you think that you'll get stuck or pigeonholed in that specialty, I assure you that you won't. I started in private practice derm and moved to a fancy pants affiliate clinic in OBGYN (SUCH a different world...), and I'll be going back to cutaneous oncology at the end of the month with the fancy pants hospital system. I've gotten to choose where I want to be, and what I want to do, and I'm able to enjoy my life spending time with friends and family during normal hours on normal days. So for all of the people that will inevitably say, stick with the hospital job, at least here's one person - me - saying take the outpt job!

I've seen a lot of questions regarding negotiating pay within a hospital system, but what about in the ambulatory/outpatient sector? Is this something that is typically done, or do most people just accept the offer immediately? I must admit that I am out of my depth when it comes to salary negotiations, and have quite literally never done it in my life. My fear is that I could unintentionally appear ungrateful for the opportunity, or god forbid, have the offer rescinded. I don't want to start a new job on the wrong foot, looking like I'm greedy and money hungry, but I don't think it's unfair to ask for another $2-3/hour either. If it came down to it, and I either had to take their initial offer or stay in my current job, I would take their initial offer in a heartbeat, but does that mean that I shouldn't still try to negotiate?

Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA Experience: 1 month ; BSN - stumbled into derm as an old new grad (out of school and without a job for about a year and a half before accepting this position) Specialty: Derm (mostly derm surgery)/Aesthetics Facility: Clinic/ambulatory surgery center Base Pay: $45/hr (94k/yr base, but I work a LOT of overtime, so it's probably closer to 105-110k/yr) Differentials: No differentials - I work M-F and have weekends and holidays off. OT: Anything over 8 hours is time and a half. Definitely not earning as much as some of the people I graduated with, but the trade-off is that I get to live a fairly normal life, with a fairly normal schedule. At this stage in my life, that's worth a lot to me. Looking forward to training in more procedures and lasers in order to start earning more, but that's quite a way off.

So, I may have an interview at a private practice dermatology clinic soon. I know there are general behavioral questions that are asked during most interviews, but if you work at a derm clinic, can you tell me what your interview process was like? I'm sure the process varies from place to place, interviewer to interviewer, but for some reason, I imagine it to be less formal (no panels, for instance). Were you asked clinical scenario questions? Are there things specific to dermatology that you needed to know, or that would be helpful or impressive to know beforehand? Finally, do you enjoy working in dermatology? What kinds of job duties do you perform? We certainly never received any training or had any clinicals relating to derm in nursing school, so this is a whole new world to me. Thanks in advance!

Let me share my first (and basically last) interview story with you, in the hopes that my sorrow makes you feel better about how you did. Some background on me. I'm a new grad. I've never worked as a nurse, and the last time I interviewed for a job, prior to the horrible one I'm about to tell you about, was almost 20 years ago (I've worked since then, but I was offered those jobs because I was either a customer, family friend, or a client, and people just kind of offered me jobs because they got to know me and liked me, I guess). I have pretty extreme anxiety, both generalized and social, to the point where sometimes even going out is difficult because I know I'll have to interact with people. This often manifests itself in my inability to speak naturally, where I stumble over my words, and sometimes get caught up on something I'm saying, and end up going all the way back to the beginning of the sentence to start over and rephrase. It's annoying and straight up weird - like watching take after take of someone on a tv show, except it's playing out in real time. It also takes me a really long time to come up with the right wording because I'm always editing things in my head. This, does not a good interviewee make. Somehow, though, this essentially does not come into play at all in a working environment. By some miracle, my brain knows how to suck it up once it's time to get down to business. It does not, however, know how to speak in coherent sentences and act like a normal human during an interview. So, I walked into the room of 2 nurse managers, introduced myself, handed out portfolios, then sat down and pulled out my water bottle. As I started to speak, I could feel my voice catching in my throat. See, that's what happens when I get nervous. Everything tightens up, and my voice gets so shaky that I sound like I'm talking while ascending a rickety wooden rollercoaster. I stopped myself, and apologized, and then said I needed to take a deep breath. OUT LOUD. Why?? And as I did that, I held my arms out at my sides and sort of shook my hands, the way you shake off nerves. But again... in front of them. Why?! So, they asked me the normal battery of behavioral questions, but I awkwardly answered with responses that I'd spent the last week rehearsing, so I sounded robotic and, well... reheorificed. Then it came to the clinical questions, and for those, they had paper handouts with scenarios written on them. I was thinking, Great, a quick break in the torture for me to take a sip of water and grab this paper! So I did that. I took a sip of water. And just as I did, one of the nurse managers made half a joke (not even a good one), and I laughed. A way overexaggerated laugh because my nerves were through the roof. Oh, and my mouth was still full of that sip of water. You see where this is going? I sprayed water out of my mouth and across the table like I was in some kind of bad comedy. Not only did I hit every stack of papers for the other applicants, but I'm pretty sure I got both of the nurse managers in the face. I didn't know what to do. I panicked. I apologized profusely, and tried my best to clean it up, and while they were both really sweet and understanding, I knew the interview was over. I did answer the clinical scenarios, went through the "Do you have any questions for us?" portion, and then asked for their business cards as I was leaving, so that I could follow up, at which point, one of the interviewers kind of guffawed. Obviously, I didn't get that job, and I haven't had another in-person interview since (had one digital interview, but I'm quite sure I managed to botch that one, too). I can't remember a time I felt lower than I did that day, and for many, many days (weeks, months, if we're being honest) following. It's been hard to want to try again because that was so mortifying and terrifying for me. I know that the best thing to do is suck it up and get over it - interviewing is a skill, and for some, it needs to be developed more than for others, blah blah blah, but I'm a sensitive person who takes rejections harder than most. Like you, I beat myself up, berate myself for being a moron, and knock myself all the way down because I can't believe how good I am at screwing things up. This whole job search process makes me feel really discouraged because I know what I'm capable of, and when I'm at work, I'm pretty "normal." I just can't get anything across in an interview because I turn into a bumbling, awkward, incoherent, ineloquent idiot. So, take heart. You made it into the final group that's being considered, so you must've done something right! And should something happen, and you be faced with the interview process again, look at it this way, it could always be worse. You could be me. Lol.

Hi, all! After a crushing and humiliating first interview experience for a new grad position a couple months ago, I've finally landed another one. This time, with Adventist Health in Hanford, CA. So my question is twofold (or like eight-fold, if I'm being honest) to keep from clogging things up by starting 2 new threads. First, does anyone here currently work for Adventist Health in California? If so, can you tell me a bit about what the work culture is like? I admittedly know very little about how faith-based hospital organizations are run, and while it doesn't put me off in the least, I am curious about it, especially being agnostic. Is there as much prayer as the initial pre-application screening questions have led me to believe there is? I'm actually very supportive of prayer for those who believe in it, but I might be a deer in the headlights if anyone asked me to lead a prayer with them - mostly because I don't know any. (I can foresee it going something like, "Dear God...um... we ask you to please, um, take this woman in your arms...? Wait, no. Aack. Don't take her yet! Don't. Don't take her!" aaaaaaand fired.) Second, did you begin the interview process with the Hirevue digital interview? If so, do you remember if you're able to practice and then leave the session altogether, or do you have to complete the practice and the interview in a single session? I'd like to practice for a couple days, and then get to the interview this weekend, but if I have to do it all in one sitting, I'll definitely just practice into my webcam without the software prompts. Also, if you had the Hireview interview, do you remember how in-depth the questions were? Were they general sort of behavioral questions, or were there any clinical scenarios? Were there any questions about faith or religion? I know most interviews ask the same sorts of questions, but if anyone remembers being asked anything that stood out to them, please elaborate, if you don't mind. I am terrible about tripping over my own tongue and starting, stopping, and restarting sentences from the very beginning if I don't word things the way I want to, and it's something I need to work very hard on correcting (I think it comes off as being scattered and inarticulate), but without proper preparedness/rehearsal beforehand, I already know I'll be a mess, so the more info I can get, the better. Thank you in advance!

I'm interviewing for a totally different hospital, but I'll also be doing a Hirevue digital interview. Can you tell me if you did the practice run throughs, and if so, were you forced to do the interview in the same session or were you able to practice and leave the software for another day? I would love to get started trying to practice a bit, but I'm terrified that once I start, I'll be routed into a loop that I can't back out of.

I know I'm resurrecting an oldish thread here, but for anyone who is currently working for Adventist Hanford, or has worked for them in the recent past, do you recall what your video interview was like? I'm wondering if I can record, and then erase and rerecord my replies, or if it's a one-and-done type of deal. Also curious as to whether or not there are any faith-based questions to answer, as I'm not religious at all, and would probably need to think of the best way to word things. (And if you happen to remember any of the interview questions, that'd be super helpful as well!)

Has anyone heard anything back, now that interviews should be over? Regional Medical was hiring during the same period, and people are now receiving offers.

It's just under $32/hr during the training period (13-16 weeks), and then you start at the hospital's pay rate of $50.40 afterwards. There is a 2-yr contract that begins after training ends. I just interviewed (before you ask, I totally bombed it, so there's one less person in the running, lol), and although I did get the rundown of the program, I wasn't specifically told anything about whether or not it would be possible to switch units during the 2 years. I've read conflicting things here on AN about that, but I imagine it's at each hospital's discretion to allow unit hopping or not. I spoke with another person interviewing, and was told that she considered the pay incredibly low for the area, and that she was already making almost the same as an LVN, so that's something to consider, if pay is your biggest concern.

Thank you for the clarification. :) I do understand your frustration with freely giving information, and then having people take it for granted - like it was owed to them. I have tried Googling, and I have gotten ranges, but I know that in the Bay Area, for for new grads especially, the salary can be a bit different than for other parts of California. I'm actually not even sure if Kaiser regards new grads in their program as RN I's, or if they're categorized under some other pay grade. I'll keep looking. Thanks for the reply, desert. :) The wages in California are definitely higher than Nevada, but then the cost of living is pretty astronomical here, in comparison, too. I've definitely had moments where I've toyed with the idea of moving to Reno to get away from the uber expensive housing here. Between $40 and $60 leaves a pretty wide gap, hehe. I read in another thread that someone who was working as an RN II at Kaiser was trying to break the $200k/yr barrier, I think? They didn't quite hit their goal, but they did end up making...$170k-ish. I'm not sure if that's an anomaly or something that's expected around here. I have heard that Kaiser pays the most out of any hospital organization out here, so I would assume that it's closer to $60 an hour, but I'm really hoping that someone out there has more specific numbers. Earlier today, I spoke with someone who has worked for Sutter for the last 18 years as an LVN. She was saying that the pay at Good Sam ($50.40/hr) was pretty low for an RN, and that she was already basically making that as an LVN. It REALLY made me wonder what the new grad RNs at Sutter were making!

Thank you in advance? Lol. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I really don't know why you would reply in the manner that you did. So you have the information, but are unwilling to share it. You didn't really give me a chance to show gratitude before seeming to assume that I wouldn't, did you? Anyhow - irrelevant. Can any new grads please reply?

I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure I'm catching what you mean. Can you explain?