Terminated from job, having trouble moving forward

[DITN]

I would like some advice regarding something that happened to me recently. I have a little over 1 year experience as a new grad nurse on a med/surg unit in a medium sized hospital. I was terminated last week, and I haven't received a response back from any of my supervisors or clinical coordinators after I emailed them regarding if they would give a reference for a new job.

There's a long story here, and without going into extreme details, I believe that the nursing superiors did not like me personally for some reason and were looking to get me fired, possibly as early as 6 months ago. I know this because there were a few situations where I was treated unfairly (e.g. I was written up by the night shift supervisor and given the 10th degree for putting my chin on my hand and resting my eyes for literally one or two minutes one night, where another nurse was caught legitimately sleeping at the desk for over 30 minutes and she received kind words and a back rub from the same supervisor who wrote me up); not only that, one of my good friends and coworkers told me that our unit director actually asked her to spy on me and report anything, even though there is no real cause for anything like that as I'm an excellent nurse clinically for my experience level and I provide very good patient care and customer satisfaction. I've never received a complaint from a patient and I did not ever have to write an incident report for anything.

So now I'm unemployed and looking for jobs and I might not be able to get a reference from any of my previous superiors due to the circumstances behind my termination and the fact that I believe they had it out for me in the first place.

Where do I go from here? I basically can't get a job without references, and while I could use one co-worker as a reference, I know hiring managers want references from your supervisors or superiors. I feel confident enough explaining the reason behind my termination in an interview, but I need references for a potential employer to consider me in the first place.

I really don't know what to do here. Please give me some advise.

[DavidDudley]

That one year of experience at least allows you to work registry/agency now. I would recommend just picking up a registry gig for about a year and then from there just work on getting back on staff at another hospital

[DITN]

I've been applying to a few travel agencies and they all require at least one reference. One of them stated they would take an annual clinical evaluation as a reference, but I cannot find mine anywhere and when I asked HR for a copy, it is apparently against corporate policy to give ex employees records without a lawyer request with other legal stuff.

What is registry? What kind of nursing position is that?

[NurseQT]

As far as I know an employer is legally obligated to furnish a copy of a former employees record/file upon their request. State of WI law says the employer has 7 business days (I think) to turn over a copy of the file once the request is made.

[DITN]

They said it was against corporate policy to release records to former employees. Maybe the laws are different here in Florida I guess.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

Get a reference letter from your co-worker anyways. Even if said co-worker was put in a charge position and you worked under her at any point in time, she was your supervisor.

Get a reference from your other charge nurses with whom you worked well.

Know that often, it is not about your nursing skill at all. There are many, many reasons why someone is let go at or shortly after an orientation period. Unfortunetely they could "find enough on you" to let you go without obligation prior to your orientation period ending. They can now hire another nurse who they don't have to orient as much, is willing to take less pay, will work night/day/eve all in 2 week periods....you just never know. And there are so many nurses who are not working that when one hits the "I am desperate" point, they will work for just about anything for just about nothing. And managment laughs and laughs.....

If we all had dimes for any number of nurses who are let go for some weird obscure reasoning, we would all be rich. You can only go forward from here. See a job coach to fine tune your resume, your cover letter, how you present yourself in an interview.

Also suggest that you be able to show competency to the new employer. That way, they will see for themselves that you are capable of doing what you need to to get the job done.

Best wishes and let us know how it goes.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Crusty Old Bat here. There are very few us us that manage to make it entirely through our careers without at least one "involuntary termination". . . including me. Actually, I think that everyone should be fired at least once - it certainly helps to realign your perspective towards the employer-employee relationship. As a result, you're much more reality-based, for sure.

That being said, part of the recovery process after being terminated is to take a long, hard look at your own behavior and take ownership of your own 'contributions' to that event. This is very important because you will have to address this with any prospective employers during your job search. It will be a serious mistake to adopt the "I was an innocent victim" approach. The more successful approach is -- "After I was terminated, I realized what I had done wrong and have taken steps to make sure it will never happen again". This conveys a message of professional accountability; someone who learns from mistakes. AKA - ideal employee.

Best of luck on your job search and continued career success.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Moving forward, I wouldn't use the "they all had it out for me" excuse for your termination. Prospective employers want to see you own your own responsibilities in the matter. They want you to have figured out what you did wrong that led to your termination and to have a solid plan for ensuring that it never happens again.

You were terminated; wallow in your misery for awhile. Then let go of the "they had it out for me" rationalization and figure out why they let YOU go instead of someone else. What were you doing/not doing? What were the other nurses doing/not doing? Why would they not like you? Were you not a team player? Did you make an effort to get along with everyone?

And just so you know, sleeping on the job all by itself can get you fired almost anywhere. That other nurse who was sleeping for 30 minutes . . . she's probably been around for a lot longer and proved her worth already. And if the supervisor knows she's up all day taking care of her father or driving her husband to his radiation therapy or doing PT with her autistic child, that may get her some slack that you don't get. Never compare your transgressions to someone else's. They're irrelevant.

I wish you good luck in your job search. Perhaps an even better job will come along.

[paPsychRn3000]

The comment about registry is excellent. What has happened is water under the bridge. You can't change what happened but developing a current and new body of work. That will make the explanation you will give about your most recent job in a much better light.

[leaannf]

I am in a similar situation. My first RN job was a staff RN in a Regional Hospital, 9 bed ICU Unit. Low level acuity, shipped high level trauma and cardiac (no cath lab). Personal circumstances required relocating and I decided to try traveling. I was "relieved" from my first and second assignments due to my lack of experience with high acuity patient populations.

I was honest with my recruiters about my experience level but "we" decided to "give it a shot". Worst mistake ever because now I am so depressed and feel unqualified to do anything as an RN.

This is not my first career, but is the first in healthcare, (I am 52yoa) and reconsidering my goal to be an ICU travel nurse. Perhaps bedside is not where I need to be but I want to be involved with patient/family.

I have extensive customer service/sales/inventory/management experience and know there are options but this feeling of "inadequacy" is debilitating!

Do I hire a Coach or a Psychiatrist!

[middleagednurse]

Chin up. As previous poster said, lots of nurses get fired. Start firing off those resumes. Your previous job "was not a good fit". Can you get a reference from an instructor?

[middleagednurse]

By the way, staffing agencies send you where you are needed, per diem. If you like a place you can apply there (depending on agency policy).