So, I have been at my job for seven months now and I applied for a transfer to my dream unit. My application was rejected, so I emailed the supervisor to touch base to see what more I can do to become a competitive candidate. I had talked with her before and have even went as far as to do what she suggested: join the specialty's organization, volunteer on a routine...she said she would sent off my resume.
Now? She is saying that the manager is recommending TWO years of med/surg experience to even be considered even though I have done EVERYTHING that the supervisor has asked and that unit has hired so many new grads. She says that med/surg is great and blah, blah, blah. But let's face it: how can working with sick adults help with premies? It doesn't. This is the same person who told me she only spent one year in med/surg prior to switching to my dream specialty.
I am livid. I feel like I am being strung along, and that I have absolutely no future whatsoever at my job. I have since started filling applications at other places.
I am half-way done with the residency program with more than seven months of experience, and I am damn sure not going to stay another 17 months in hopes getting something that I probably won't get. I have been at this hospital for damn near five years, and I am furious. I get waiting to a year-mark, but two? Hell no.
At this point, what should I do? Should I leave the hospital and try to get on somewhere else? Contact her after the residency program is over (I will have almost 14 months of experience) and say that I am ready to transfer? I would hate to leave this institution as I am almost vested and it has great benefits, but I don't want to reward this stringing along behavior.
I have only read to this post. Based on what I've followed of your career, and the fact that you were not hired on as a new grad in the department where you WORKED as a tech, my gut is saying that you pissed someone off, and you are blackballed from that department. I fear that unless management changes, you will not be hired there. Give it a full year (or until next September when you're fully vested) and then start applying at other hospitals. I would not pin all your future career aspirations on this unit. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, and I could very well be totally off-base, but that's just my impression.
2 years of med/surg experience with adults will do little to prepare you for the world of NICU, honestly - my hospital routinely hires new grads that are passionate with the specialty because it is so so so specific. So I'm surprised by that comment, because I find it to be simply untrue. Two completely different worlds. Did you interview with the other floor at any time? I missed that part. It could be, and I hate to say it, that they are simply uninterested in hiring you and don't have the guts to say that. :/
I did back in January. If that is the case, then I guess I don't even see the point in staying. I never got written up or received any patient complaints and I received good performance evaluations to my manager.
So, I have been at my job for seven months now and I applied for a transfer to my dream unit. My application was rejected, so I emailed the supervisor to touch base to see what more I can do to become a competitive candidate. I had talked with her before and have even went as far as to do what she suggested: join the specialty's organization, volunteer on a routine...she said she would sent off my resume.
Now? She is saying that the manager is recommending TWO years of med/surg experience to even be considered even though I have done EVERYTHING that the supervisor has asked and that unit has hired so many new grads. She says that med/surg is great and blah, blah, blah. But let's face it: how can working with sick adults help with premies? It doesn't. This is the same person who told me she only spent one year in med/surg prior to switching to my dream specialty.
I am livid. I feel like I am being strung along, and that I have absolutely no future whatsoever at my job. I have since started filling applications at other places.
I am half-way done with the residency program with more than seven months of experience, and I am damn sure not going to stay another 17 months in hopes getting something that I probably won't get. I have been at this hospital for damn near five years, and I am furious. I get waiting to a year-mark, but two? Hell no.
At this point, what should I do? Should I leave the hospital and try to get on somewhere else? Contact her after the residency program is over (I will have almost 14 months of experience) and say that I am ready to transfer? I would hate to leave this institution as I am almost vested and it has great benefits, but I don't want to reward this stringing along behavior.
You are being strung along. At the end of 2 years, you will be given yet another excuse. Don't waste your time. Sounds like your current manager may have played a role in either giving you a bad reference or not wanting to let you go. I had that happen to me early in my career. The manager was terrible and could not keep good staff. I am a top notch nurse and she could not stand the thought of losing me, so she was bad mouthing me to keep me. She did that top people all the time.
Things are often not fair. I think you should make the best of
your current situation and keep your eyes open for a better opportunity..and continue to apply for a transfer if the opportunity comes up. You don't know their thinking about why they hired new nurses.
Hmmm, I have to disagree with you there. All this "put your time in the trenches" is nothing more than a sign of the times, IMO. When I graduated from my ADN program in '97 I swore on stacks of bibles I would be a direct entry into the OR and I made it happen! I got a FT position, my OR training program paid for AND a 10,000 bonus. I was just commenting on my situation the other day and how nursing may never see a return to those prosperous times. Now the market is so saturated that employers are cherry picking only the very best candidates and setting completely unrealistic expectations such as 2 years in med/Surg which is complete BS. I wish our OP the best of luck, to be passed over for new grads sounds like a slimy situation indeed. If I were in her shoes I'd stick it out until I were vested because that's a pretty important thing IMO and then leave the SECOND after. Final note, if our OP worked in a union hospital this never would have happened! Food for thought...
I had no idea the VA had a mechanism in place whereby techs could earn their RN. This is very interesting, could you tell us how that works? Also, I thought all VA RN's had to have their BSN???
I had no idea the VA had a mechanism in place whereby techs could earn their RN. This is very interesting, could you tell us how that works? Also, I thought all VA RN's had to have their BSN???
Who is this directed to? Please use quote feature so correct person will reply
2 years of med/surg experience with adults will do little to prepare you for the world of NICU, honestly - my hospital routinely hires new grads that are passionate with the specialty because it is so so so specific. So I'm surprised by that comment, because I find it to be simply untrue. Two completely different worlds.
I am actually appalled at this comment! 2 years of med-surg experience will most certainly be beneficial for so many reasons...confidence in assessments and clinical judgment, critical thinking, time management....the list goes on. To believe that she has nothing to gain from her experience that will assist her in any career path she chooses is simply untrue.
You are right. It is a little too soon to be talking about leaving nursing. But I'm just afraid if I stick it out two years that next thing I know, they will be telling me that I don't have the right kind of experience, you know?
It probably doesn't help that your unit is a POS as you've said here many times.
My suggestion is to wait another five months and then apply to other organizations. If you have an exit interview, tell them that you felt you had no future at your current hospital and 2 years adult med-surg experience is ridiculous for transfer to PICU/NICU, especially when they hire new grads.
Your current manager probably blocked your transfer due to understaffing. Timing is everything. Try again in six months.
Unit directors in my hospital are notorious for doing things like this to keep their prime employees and prevent them from transferring. The better you do, the more likely our bosses are to use their back channels to prevent you from leaving. This can only go on for so long, but it's a nuisance for while.
It's rather underhanded for them to do this; but on the flip-side, your director probably isn't keen on the idea of grooming and training employees, just to see them leave as soon as they get comfortable. No unit director wants their unit to be seen as a stepping stone to other units.
If you got your current job as a new grad, 7 months is nothing. IMO, you dont really have "7 months of experience." You cant count orientation as true "experience" and since it's your first job you know very little for months and months. I say that as someone who, 20 yrs ago, got my first job on a med/surg & cardiac tele unit where NOBODY wanted to work. I went there because there were no other jobs available even though I had been a CNA in a SNF and hospital tech at that same hospital. Did I like this job? Nope. Hated it 90% of the time. Felt like barfing before work the whole first year I was so scared with how sick the patients were, the busyness of the floor, the cattiness of my fellow nurses, etc. At the time, though, you'd be black-balled if you even thought about leaving before your 1st year was complete. Part of that is because it really stinks to constantly precept when you know the new hires will leave as soon as they can - you'll understand this later if you ever precept.
So, suck it up and calm down. You have a right to be mad and we all understand - I've been where you are many, many times. I just got told I didnt "have enough experience" for a job I had 10 yrs (!) experience in, and I knew from people working there they had recently hired 4 new grads. It happens to all of us. (I assume I didnt get the job because I'm almost at the top of the payscale and new grads are cheap).
Stay put for AT LEAST a year, and then try again to apply to your "dream job." By then the mgmt could be new, there could be new "rules," who knows.
IF other things about the "dream job" unit are good - good commute, in your community, etc - then I'd stay for another year. Then, after 2 years, if I still couldnt get my foot in the door at my "dream job" I'd apply elsewhere. In the meantime keep your mouth shut and dont badmouth your current unit. Pls be careful or you'll get a reputation for a bad attitude which will haunt you. Vent here, or vent to your roommate who doesn't work there, be careful.
At my last job where I was a preceptor we always got told it cost $40k to train a new grad. Maybe your orientation did stink, but from a financial and staffing standpoint, you can understand why your current unit wants you to stay.
You are getting experience that will help you; I guarantee it. For one, you are learning how to organize your time and prioritize. You are learning to speak with families. You are learning charting, how to advocate, how to get along with coworkers, collaborate with MDs, etc - I can name many, many things that you are benefitting from at your current job. It's not what you want, but you are gaining experience that you need as a new grad, even if it's not the area you want to be in. Hang in there and lie low for a while. Good luck! You can do this.
ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP
1 Article; 2,594 Posts
I didn't work in the NICU. I worked in OB.