I got a call about a month and a half after the job I applied to was posted for a nursing assistant on labor and delivery. I just started my second semester of nursing school and due to work had to schedule my interview 12 days out from when I got the call. Everyone around me got my hopes up and said there was no way I wouldn't get it, and my friend at school had just gotten hired on a different floor as well. Its at the same hospital that is connected to the school and I know 2 people that are RN's that are recent graduates and worked as CNA's in their float pool as well. All of my instructors liked me, got great reviews from the clinical instructor, and did well in class (which I know doesn't mean much...). But my patients liked me and all of the nurses I worked with got along with me in clinical.
Interview I thought went well, the HR person wasn't insanely friendly or cheery but I nearly aced the competency exam in which we needed a 75% (got 1 wrong). I answered her questions to the best of my ability, and although I have no patient care experience outside of clinical I was humble and explained how much customer service experience I had and how much I enjoyed my clinical and working with patients and that I felt like I had the time management skills and compassion necessary for working as a CNA. I also mentioned my interest in labor and delivery, or women's health in general. She explained what I would be doing (which was kind of different from what the nurse manager and clin. supervisor I met with told me) and let me know if they decided to move forward with me I would receive an email to fill out my professional references and they would complete a background check. She then took me down to the labor and delivery floor and left me with the clinical supervisor who explained to me what I would be doing, how it was atypical of most of the nursing assistant jobs on med-surg floors, and that I would kind of be doing whatever was needed by the nurses and nurse manager, anywhere from paperwork, answering phones, cleaning up after delivery, baby baths, cleaning equipment, setting up the labor rooms, and transporting women to post-partum. She asked me about what I did prior to going, why I wanted to be a nurse, etc and I felt like I answered them as professionally as possible. Met the nurse manager, she told me how it was per diem and depending on how many patients they had at a time I might receive more or less shifts etc but it was really flexible. I can't remember everything I said but I definitely said I was extremely flexible, and although around 20-25 hours would be ideal, I would be willing to work more or less hours. They also asked me about my interest in getting hired on the floor after I graduated, and I let them know that it was something I was extremely interested in but I was still trying to figure out what exactly I wanted to do and had interest in the ICU/PACU but I knew what a special and awesome experience it would be since it was a hospital that dealt with over 4000 births a year and many of the high-risk moms in the surrounding 12 counties so they saw a lot of different situations and even had 3 of their own OR rooms.
Basically I'm SO worried I said or did something wrong and it sounded like the PERFECT job. I had the interview Friday am at 830 and was emailed at around 430pm with the generic "We enjoyed discussing your career goals, work history and other achievements. We were impressed with your fine record of accomplishment. Although you were an excellent candidate and it was a very difficult decision to make, we regret that we are not able to offer you the position at this time." I'm HOPING this just means they had already made their decision and had to interview me out of formality but the nurse manager/clinical supervisor was insanely nice and excited and gave a tour of the unit and everything :/. I want to get hired at this hospital SO badly and I have another application in for per-diem float pool but I'm afraid that this one rejection means I have no hope for anything else. What if thats the case and I can't get hired as an RN at the hospital I go to school at???? Bawled my eyes out Friday night and now I'm tearing up again I feel so hurt.
