Jupiterxo

Thanks for the response! That's what I'm not sure of either...if the clinical drug trials will work the same. Bc I'm sure I could probably get a doctors note from her saying that I am definitely enrolled in the trial. So confusing!

Long story short(ish), I had an interview at my dream hospital for their grad nurse program. There are 35 spots. She said it starts in October and I would find out by September 1st if I got a position. After my interview, I immediately sent a handwritten thank you card. Then a few days letter, I emailed both the interviewer and the recruiter asking if I could keep in touch. I actually included some questions for the recruiter that I didn't feel comfortable asking the interviewer, for fear it would be rude, such as "who is in charge of the hiring process?" The interviewer wrote back saying I absolutely could keep in touch but she would be on maternity leave in the next month so she won't have as much email access but will still answer any questions I have to the best of her ability. Turns out, the recruiter forwarded my email with the questions to the interviewer, and she wrote back and took the time to answer all of my questions, also explaining that she was in charge of making the hiring selections and what the next steps would be. So she ended up responding to me not once but twice. Do you think that's a good sign? I don't know if I'm just being hopeful but I would think that if she wasn't interested then she wouldn't waste her time responding to me at all. My actual question though is this...I plan on keeping in touch with her since September 1st is so far away and asking her two to three questions per email. My reasoning for wanting to keep in touch is so that she will remember me and also see that I want this position very bad and am persistent. I don't want to come across as annoying though. So, how often should I be emailing her before September 1st? Every 2 weeks? 3 weeks? A month? I'm also secretly hoping that since she is going on Maternity leave sometime that she'll make a decision beforehand (unless you can work on maternity leave?) :)

I am possibly going to take part in a clinical trial for ADHD. It is 12 weeks long and I will be given a non stimulant medication (or a placebo of course). I'm in the process of looking for a new job and am wondering what to do if I get an offer and have to do drug testing? Do I disclose that I'm part of a clinical trial? Give a doctors note from the neurologist giving me the med? Since it is a trial, the drug is not on the market so I'm not even sure if it shows up on the drug screen but I don't want to mess anything up with a potential job offer and will not continue with the clinical trial if there is no solution. Just a little confused and wondering if anyone had any answers :) Thanks!

I've got another question (now that I've passed the NCLEX and am finished with school, I've got a lot of free time to over analyze and think lol) My interview was last Tuesday, she said I would hear by September 1st. I sent my thank you notes and then on Friday I sent an email to interviewer asking if it was okay to keep in contact and ask any questions that pop up between now and then. She responded within 2 hours saying that I absolutely could and that she's going on maternity leave during the summer but will answer to the best of her ability. I also emailed the recruiter some questions and she ended up forwarding my questions to the interviewer who wrote back answering each and every question within the hour. Would you say it's good news that she wrote me back not just once but twice in one day (and took effort to respond to my questions)? I'm not sure if it means anything but the hopeful part of me thinks that if she wasn't interested then she could have just ignored me? She is the one who makes the decision. Which she said she'd pick her 35 candidates or so and then send the list to the recruiter to do screening and background checks (don't they need my social security number first?) If she's going on maternity leave sometime in July, wouldn't she have to pick before then? And not in August? I would assume she wouldn't work while on maternity leave but I'm not sure. Im just hopeful to find out well before August since this waiting is torture already since I want it so bad Also, my main reason for wanting to keep in contact is so that she won't forget about me. I was planning on asking 2 or 3 questions per email to not completely waste her time and to just check in. How often should I do this? I don't want to annoy her but I also want for her to remember me and hopefully think of me fondly that I'm so interested and persistent. Should I email every 3 weeks? 4 weeks? What do you think? Thanks!

Thanks so much for your advice, amb218 and you as well, TxxRN! You're both right that I should probably still keep my options open and apply to other jobs, just in case this doesn't work out. I don't currently have any other offers but do have other applications out there so we'll see what happens! Maybe the dream hospital will still work out :) I'll tell you one thing, though. I sure will not miss this whole job search and interview process when I'm employed. Talk about stressful! amb218....congrats on the job offer! You must be overjoyed and I'm so happy for you!

It went well! Thanks for asking! It was, however, very, very short. We're talking 10 minutes max. I'm worried about that because can she really tell my personality and how much I want this or if I would even be a good candidate in that small amount of time? I did mention several times how I wanted to work there more than anything and that I was extremely honored to have gotten an interview. And I smiled a lot and tried to appear genuine. She was also very nice. She asked me a few questions (Tell me about yourself and what my 5 and 10 year goals were, etc), I mentioned that eventually I'd like to work in Peds and she said something like Oh awesome! I'm actually a pediatric nurse!” Then she went on to describe the residency program and asked if I had any questions (I asked a few, my last being what she thought was the most positive aspect of being a nurse there, in which she replied with a thoughtful answer about how she loved the culture and the people…I said something like See! I love hearing that and that's exactly why I was to be a member of this team!”) It just seemed like she was rushed from the very beginning and I hope that that doesn't mean that she didn't like me from the very beginning. She said that there are 35 spots and that she's interviewing 47 people this week and isn't sure if they're going to have her interview more or if that will end up being the only week that they interview. Here's the kicker and the part that I am so conflicted on. She said the program doesn't start until October and that those selected won't find out until September! Now, I wouldn't mind waiting that long if it was a guarantee, but what if I wait until September and find out that I'm not selected? It's just so risky. I really want to wait because this is my dream hospital and I guess 3 or 4 months isn't too much longer in the long run but I'm scared to also and wonder if I should keep applying for other jobs still. I sent my thank you cards and am planning on keeping in touch with the recruiter but I'm so worried that they'll forget about me. Anyone have any advice on what they would do? I still live with my parents so finances aren't a total issue at the moment.

Wow! Those are great questions and I will definitely add them to the list! Thanks! About the thank you notes, I feel the same! I may or may not be trying to suck up a little but I genuinely want this job more than anything and any chance that I have to stand out (in a positive way) is one that I will take. I'm planning on writing the thank yous immediately after my interview in my car and then mailing them on my way home. I'm very nervous as this is only my second nursing interview and I'm aware that I don't have the best interview skills, mostly because I get very anxious and talk too fast and am afraid I'll forget the patient situations that I prepared beforehand or just simply not know how to answer a question. I hope she can at least see that I really want this and that I'm dedicated and willing to put my all into becoming a great nurse! I'll update how it goes tomorrow after my interview! Wish me luck! :)

Thank you so much for your advice! Very helpful :) and I'll definitely send the thank yous now! I hope that this will help me stand out, even just a little bit. I have a packet with my cover letter, resume, three letters of reference, and a copy of my BLS to hand to the interviewer. I'm interviewing with someone in Team Resources I believe. This residency program is run by the Education department so they'll be doing the hiring. It's for a med surg position. Any idea of what questions would be good to ask her, since it's not a unit manager? So far I have: What does the residency and orientation entail? What qualities are you looking for in an ideal candidate? What opportunities does this hospital have for continuing education?

Thanks so much for your reply! I do agree that it's exhausting and that I'm working myself up for a lot of what ifs. I'll try my best to calm down! I've been practicing some example interview questions and researching more in depth about the facility so hopefully I'll be well prepared for Tuesday. She said it would be around a 20 min interview. I guess the only thing I can do is hope for the best, be prepared, and try to relax. Ill definitely post more information about how the interview went when I have it! :)

Hi everyone! So, I graduated in the beginning of May and sit for my boards on Wednesday! I used LinkedIn to contact the director of HR of my DREAM hospital and let her know that I applied for their residency program. I received a reply that she had forwarded my information to the recruiter in charge of the residency program and received an email from that recruiter a couple days later thanking me for my interest and notifying me that her specialist would be contacting me with the next steps. The next day, I received a call and scheduled my interview for Tuesday! She also gave me an online reference survey to send out to 5 references. I want to get into this new grad residency at this hospital more than anything because I want to work at this hospital more than any other. My question is, do I actually stand a chance now that I got an interview? It's really hard to get an interview here unless you know someone and many of my friends (as well as myself) have gotten rejections a couple days after submitting applications. But now that I have the interview, I'm paranoid that it's just a formality because I reached out to them and they feel they had to offer me an interview. I'm worried that I stand no chance of actually getting an offer and they're just going through the motions. Is this a possibility? Or do I actually stand a chance if I have a good interview? Also, I was going to send a thank you card after the interview to the recruiter, her specialist, and the interviewer. Is this appropriate? Sorry for the long post. Between the NCLEX and the job hunt, I'm kind of a nervous wreck!

Anyone have any idea of when we would have to sign the contract if given an offer?

That's weird. When I call, they tell me they are only doing physicals at the end of the month on one day. Idk what that's about. :/

Which health department?

Thanks for the info this stuff is not cheap! I can't believe they gave us so little time for it all.

Where from if you don't mind me asking? Right now it's looking like I'll be going to a walk in by my house. I can't get a school physical ($20) there because I'm over 18, so I'll be paying $65 for a college physical. I hate not having insurance