I am so bewildered by something that just happened-I interviewed at 2 places as an LPN. One at a psych facility, another a nursing home. The pysch facility's DON assured me verbally that theyd make me an offer and she even had me come in and take a drug screen in the office, copied my SS card, license. Said the offer would be formalized after the drug screen results.That was three days ago. In the mean time, 2 days ago, I got a job offer for a nursing home that I wasnt crazy about since it was only PRN. I told HR that I'd like a day or 2 to think it over and asked him if I could get back to him in a day or two. He said Fine. Well, I called him back today to accept their PRN offer since the DOn from the other psych place still hasnt formally offered me the job. To my dismay, when I told the guy I accepted his offer, he said, "well, now its contingent because we had to keep interviewing others. You have to move very quickly in healthcare.I will try and fight for you, tell me why you want this position? ". he basically said the job offer they made me was no longer valid since I hadnt accepted it right away! It seems a bit unprofessional to me that they'd turn around and do that, especially after he said it was ok if i thought about it a day or 2.Any thoughts?
Now I am not sure I have a job anywhere, cuz the one at the pysch place was just a verbal assurance that Id get an offer, but I have yet to hear from them, even after I left a message yesterday asking them to confirm/finalize it.
"...he should have just postponed his interviews until they heard back from me..."
excuse me? but who is hiring whom?
kyrshamarks' answer hit the nail on the head.
no offense to the op; i hate to break this to you, but the world does not revolve around you; the recruiter has a position that he has to fill in the interest of patient care. that is his only interest, as it is what he gets paid to do. he's not paid to be nice to "prospective" candidates who "may" decide to take the job.
that said, maybe years ago, when the industry was freely importing nurses by the truckload from ireland and the philippines, job seeker could shop around like you're doing. however in today's market, that is a luxury that any position seekers can simply ill afford. consider that most people that would have appeared before him would gladly leap at his offer; you were luke warm and non committal. how should the recruiter take that? if i were in his shoes, i would think that you're probably wasting my time. i know that was not your intent. however, one must be aware of the economic pressures that come into play during the interview process. sorry, but it is decidedly a buyer's market right now and imho, you may have blown it by appearing to be an uppity seller.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Well, maybe I am in the minority here but I don't think what he did was nasty, shady or anything else. Were they supposed to call their hiring process to a screeching halt and wait for 2 days to see "if" you want the job? Especially in this job climate? That isn't the way things work.
When you juggle two job offers, you gamble. Sometimes you lose. I've lost opportunities due to that, and prospective employers have lost the chance to hire me if they gambled wrongly, choosing to wait too long to offer. It happens. Remember, no HR person is going to turn away a motivated, enthusiastic interviewee who is eager to start to wait for the one who may or may not deem to choose them. Best of luck next time!!
I give you kudos for being honest with them, and IMO you should continue to be honest.
But keep in mind that all HR cares about is filling the spot. They have a need and are looking to fill it, and they don't care about whether you need time to decide, or if you're uncertain about it...they probably have other applicants lining up three-wide at their door and who are ready to start yesterday. Once you waffled, they wrote you off as "not interested" and moved on.
You did nothing wrong. But neither did they. Like nursel56 said, you gambled and you lost. Now you know how employers are working in this market, so keep that in mind for next time.
erroridiot
266 Posts
doesn't even qualify as shady
just plain sleazy
don't stop looking for something better where you will be treated with dignity and respect