So Who Are They Hiring?

[iluvdetroit]

I am an RN with just over 10 years of experience in an acute care hospital setting. I have always done a good, job, never gotten a negative performance review, and even gotten a few letters of commendation from former patients. However, I last worked as an RN in 2004. In the meantime, I have kept up my CEUs and taken an online accredited RN refresher program in which I achieved 98% proficiency. I recently applied at a large teaching hospital in my area that only has nine RN positions advertised on their website and was called the next day for an interview, which thrilled me to death. So today I go for the interview. My first interview was with the nurse recruiter from whom I got a really good vibe right away. She seemed really interested in me, and began explaining wage scale, benefits, etc. which I thought was really encouraging. She then called the unit supervisor of the unit for which I was interviewing and set up an on the spot interview with her. When I got into that interview, however, the unit manager kept mentioning that I hadn't had acute care experience since 2004. She asked what I have been doing since then to further my nursing career and all that I could tell her was that I have kept up my CEUs and taken the refresher course and done very well in it. She was very nice, but I just got a bad feeling about the interview, even though I acted confident, looked her in the eye, and answered every question. I kept telling myself that I am an experienced RN who cares about my patients and would be an asset to her unit. Now I have to wait to see if I "passed" that interview and can move on to the next step, a group interview in the nursing office.

This hospital has a policy in place right now that they will not hire new grads. I am an experienced RN who has been out of practice for a few years. So I guess my question is, just exactly who are they looking to hire, since they don't want new grads and the unit manager didn't seem too thrilled about me either? How many good nurses with very recent experience are out job hunting right now anyway, since that seems to be who they want to hire? If they are waiting for those kind of nurses to come along, won't they be waiting a while, since those nurses seem to already have all of the good jobs in nursing? I guess I am frustrated because I know that I am a good nurse, and I feel that I am still very competent. So much for a nursing shortage....

ETA: the unit supervisor did give me her card and wrote her personal office number on the back of it, told me to please call her with any questions at all, and mentioned that the next step, if she decided to hire me, was the group interview. Am I making a mountain out of a molehill, in the sense that if she really didn't think I was good hiring material she probably wouldn't have given me a card with her personal # on it and mentioned the next step in the hiring process? I don't know how much sleep I will get tonight, lol!

[NoviceRN10]

As a soon to be graduate nurse, I would think you have a good shot at getting a job, much better than me! I bet you are being considered, even though you are thinking otherwise. Good luck!

[iluvdetroit]

Thanks, and I wish you luck in finding a job when you graduate too. Nursing school is hard, and you deserve to find a good job when you graduate.

[UMichSCN07]

I think the major sticking point is the fact that you're 5 going on 6 years away from the bedside. Most of the openings I have seen for ICUs at my facility want experience in the past 2 years minimum. I know that on my unit, there have been several evidence-based practice changes just since I started 2 years ago; I would think that hiring managers would be concerned about that, even with your CEs. I'm thinking that the manager was thinking that you should have gotten some specialty certs while you weren't working (ACLS, PALS, NRP/NALS, CCRN, ATCN, CEN, whatever).

Unfortunately, yes, the nursing shortage has gone "underground" during the recession because many hospitals have had to implement hiring freezes due to shortfalls in income. Assuming that the economy recovers and retirement rates in the field continue to hold steady or increase as forecasted, jobs will open up again. It's always painful to hear, but you may have to take a less-than-ideal position for a year in order to get current experience or to wait for a more attractive opening.

Mike in Michigan

[PinkaRN]

Which hospital are you talking about?

[iluvdetroit]

It is a large hospital in Toledo, Ohio, and I got an official rejection letter yesterday. My husband kept telling me to call them and let them know that I really wanted the job, but I didn't feel comfortable doing that. Now I'm so glad that I didn't...how embarrassing to be told that I don't fit the bill over the phone! The letter wasn't fun, but it was better than hearing it actually said.

[dream-a-little-dream]

why the heck do you want a hospital job? You can do so much more with 10 years of experience. Why not homecare or office work?

[iluvdetroit]

From the nurses that I have known who have done home care, I have never heard anything good about it, and I wouldn't even know where to begin getting an office job. I don't have my BSN, and most "sit down" jobs for nurses, as far as I know, are management jobs and require at least a BSN.