a pseudo job offer?

[hopefulSN]

Hello all!

This is my first time posting, and I have a question about the hiring process in general.

I have one year left until graduation for my RN, with plans to go into NICU.

I have a very good connection that put me in direct contact with the unit manager, who had HR call me saying that "BLANK wants to bring me in for an interview!"

I went to the interview exactly one week later, and the interview went fantastic. The manager seemed extremely pleased, and made the following statments (nearly verbatim...i hung on her every word, haha)..

"Your experiences and history will make for a wonderful nurse in this field" "I love your personality and enthusiasm" "I would like to put you in a per diem role that I think will work well with your school schedule" "When are you available to start?" "Training should not interfere with your school schedule"

The entire interview just flowed great, and she seemed as pleased as I was. At the end of the interview she explained to me that she would open up a PER DIEM job on their career page and that I would need to go on and apply for it, and that BLANK in HR would be calling me with a formal offer and that she was happy to have me joining her wonderful team. I took all of this to mean a verbal job offer, and left there completely excited. I sent a followup thank you email to her the next day.

It had been one week since that interview, and the PER DIEM position has not been posted, and I have not heard anything from HR, so I called HR and simply explained that I had my interview and was instructed to go online to fill submit an application for the specific positon she wanted to place me in, but that I am unable to see the postion and just wanted to check in if there was something else I needed to do. She said that she would send the manager an email her and let her know of my inquiry and try to followup with it for me. (this was on monday, it is now wednesday night and I haven't seen any movement yet).

I am so anxious and worried, I would gratefully appreciate any advice on what to do next or any thoughts you all may have on this situation.

Thanks,

K

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

HR is (from my own experience) the sloooooowwweeeesssstttt area of health care. Everything takes much longer than you could possibly anticipate & they never seem to be in a hurry.

My advice? Just be persistent and keep following up until you receive a definite answer.

[hopefulSN]

Thanks, HouTX!

I think the hold up for me is that the manager who interviewed me said she was going to post the position so I could apply and we could move forward, and she still hasnt had it posted yet. I called HR today and told them the situation and they said they would followup on it and let me know. I agree with you that being persistent is probably the best and only thing I can do. Once it gets posted and I apply for it, then I know I will need to be patient, but right now I'm going crazy! haha

[adjappleton]

The position may have to go through several layers of managerial approval/budgeting approval. This can take weeks/months even though the hiring manager was given a "go ahead" and hire someone, informally. Keep in contact with HR at least 1x/week.

[hopefulSN]

Well, I've followed up by calling once a week, and I just called again and HR basically said they don't know anything about it and that really I should keep an eye out on the website in the future and that they are sorry that she misled me.

I just don't understand how a manager can ask you in for an interview, it go really well, the manager tell you how much the experience will be great for your career and that you will love it and that someone from HR will be calling you with all the hiring details and then just POOF....nothing. Feeling really defeated and sad today.

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

Don't be discouraged.

Like others have said, there are layers of beurocracy, and sometimes managers are extremely busy. We never get to everything we want in a day...sometimes not even that week.

You did send a follow up note to the manager thanking her for the opportunity, and restating your enthusiasm, right?

If not, do it now.

[hopefulSN]

Thanks MrChicagoRN, yes I immediately sent her an email thanking for for meeting with me and talking about how excited I was.

For what it's worth, two people who work as nurses for this manager forewarned me that she " forgets " things easily and can be a bit " flighty ". So deep down I really am thinking it wasn't anything I did incorrectly, it's just the way the situation has played out with maybe her busy schedule and the layer of HR etc.