St.Mary's&career advice please (long)

[NiceShot]

Hi, I am an RN that graduated a couple of years ago from nursing school. Before that I was a stay at home mom for 10 years. My first job was at St.Mary's in the ICU. I learned an incredible amount in a short amount of time. I was there for just about 6 months. It was quite stressful to be a new nurse in that setting but I had an awesome mentor and all the nurses with experience seemed to think I would make a great ICU nurse if I just stuck it out for a year. In the meantime, my family was having a meltdown in various ways and for various reasons. I tried to switch to nights or 8h shifts instead of 12h shifts but the nurse manager at that time was stressed and not able to easily accomodate this request at the time. Things came to a head in my family and I had to make a choice between my family issues and work. For me, family will always win out. Because of the way I left I am considered ineligible for rehire. I take total responsibility for how unprofessional I was about leaving. I then found a job in the clinic at a large high school in our area that saw over 200 students a day. The hours were great for my family and quick assessment skills were a necessity. Anyway, I no longer work in the clinic and now that my family situation has calmed down a bit I am really missing the hospital setting and patient care. I am not sure how to proceed at this point because I LOVE St. Mary's. I also don't want to compromise time with my family. I am 39 and when my youngest hits college I will only be 48 and I will be able and willing to work all kinds of hours at that point. So, is there a way to get something at St. Mary's that allows me to get back into my passion of patient care/floor nursing in a way that I can balance work and family? I can probably find the nurses at St. Mary's that really supported me and gave me positive feedback regarding my nursing skills if needed. If St. Mary's is out I guess I just need advice on my options in general. Anyone with thoughts, suggestions? Thanks for reading and helping.

[smn2010, BSN, RN]

niceshot:

first, you indicate that you are not eligible for rehire at st. mary's. being able to get in contact with the nurses from your previous unit won't help you in this instance. you may want to contact the human resources/nurse recruitment department of st. mary's and speak to someone in person. most companies are strict when it comes to hiring someone back--that was previously ineligible. since you indicate your ineligibility for rehire, should readers of your thread assume that you have been told this by personnel in human resources??? i have a feeling that some pertinent information has been left off of your thread. if you were not told this and you yourself are making this assumption, by all means, talk to someone, in person, about your ability to come back to this employer. if st. mary's is the only place that you want to/wish to work, you need to make some efforts to get your own foot back in the door. as for your previous coworkers, you may want to have them prepare letters of reference, especially if they worked as your charge nurse, preceptor, etc (anything other than a peer).

second, with all application processes, you will have to indicated "why" you left your previous employer. i think you need to prepare a "short" explanation as to why you left, in an unprofessional manner that explains why you left without giving the standard 2-4 week notice from st. mary's. regardless of your reason for leaving, your thread indicates that you were aware of a potential problem at home. because of this, you should have provided a 2-week notice to your employer. i'm under the impression that you "just left" without providing any significant amount of time to transition out of the facility. if this is the case, move on. find another employer. st. mary's will consider you a "risk" to hire you back; because you might "do it again" if your home life begins to suffer or you become too stressed to handle what is going on around you. not a good description for an individual who wants to work as a nurse in an icu.

everyone, at some point in their life, has to deal with situations that affect work/home/self, etc. your thread is very lenghty so i would suggest that you simplify your words when you explain your "reason for leaving" st. mary's to a prospective employer. no one wants to hear a sob story. not that i am calling your thread a sob story; however consider working your departure to your advantage. while telling the truth, explain your plight while utilizing descriptive words that will enhance your ability to be rehired. be able to explain how your departure has helped you to improve on your nursing skills/abilities....

in the future, do not just bail out and leave an employer, regardless of your reason. as you can see, it only holds you back in the end, especially when it comes to finding new employment. a lesson learned and one you will follow in the future.

hopefully, if you talk to someone in the hr/nurse recruitment department of st. mary's that is sympathetic you may be able to get yourself back on their payroll.

good luck!