The Hiring and Screening Process...

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Sep 9, 2005

I've been a nurse manager who hired nurses for my unit and a small business owner who hired employees for my business.

First of all, for your first job in nursing, most of the acute hospitals (if you apply to ones where you live) are going to be most interested in having a reference from your nursing instructor(s), so I hope you have one who you can use. They are the only ones right now who can attest to your ability as a new nurse. Hospitals will want to know, from them, what your attendance was at clinicals, what your attitude is toward tackling new procedures and, in general, are you a kind of step up to the plate kind of person. In one hospital where I was in management the nurse recruiter didn't even care which nursing instructors new graduate applicants listed. She knew them all from the various schools and just picked up the phone and would call the school you came from and start conversing with a couple of instructors about the graduating class.

Insofar as your prior jobs are concerned. The only things most employers "know" they can ask for (remember that confidentiality is a big issue these days in all businesses) is your dates of employement and whether or not you left the job voluntarily or were terminated by the business (fired). That's really all any ex-employer is allowed to give out about you. Now, some people are very shrewd and if they know someone where you've worked before they might try to make a personal phone call to glean some more information on you (attendance and attitude are usually the main things they're interested in), but most ex-employers are very relunctant to give out anything more than dates of hire and the status of your termination for the confidentiality reasons. If it is really a concern to you, you can write a letter to former employers instructing them they are not to give out any information about you than your dates of employment and that you resigned voluntarily; they must follow your wishes.

The farther in the past your old employers are, the less concern they are to many places you will apply. The reason is because any business who hires knows that contacting your older workplaces doesn't get them much more information than dates of hire and termination because they don't remember you or the person giving out this information wasn't even around when you were working there to know who you were. The current people in personnel are mostly going to be looking at paperwork in a file about you. And, by the way, old write-ups or disciplinary actions on you are strictly confidential and require your permission to be disclosed to anyone outside that company.

Here's some more insider info for you. Checking people's references when they have applied for a job with a company is a royal pain in the tush for them. It is time consuming and they usually don't net much usuable information. If the reference is a written piece of paper that you signed and they send out, a good many of the recipients round file those (throw them in the trash). A company or hospital is only going to check your work references if they are truly interested in making you a job offer.

I've never had my credit checked and, believe me, mine has been really bad for a good part of my life, plus I had a huge IRS problem for many years courtesy of an ex-spouse and had a couple of garnishment scares. It never affected my employment. I know there are some states where this has become an issue (I think Texas is one), but there are always going to be businesses that won't even think about using those services. These credit checks are not free so a prospective employer would only be looking at your credit history if they are seriously thinking of offering you a job. Look, if you get turned down for employment because of a credit check you'll just have to apply to other places. If you are really concerned that you could lose a good job because of this, research your state laws on what the credit reporting agencies are allowed to report about you and to who. The agency that operates in Texas I have heard is more of a co-op of employers who transmit information to it's database (don't quote me on that because I'm really not sure about that). In general, I would say that most community hospitals see their nurses as wage earners. It is more likely they are going to check the credit of someone they are placing in a high administrative position, especially if they are going to be having anything to do with the accounting functions. The only other thing I can think of that might be irksome to employers is if they have to deal with garnishments for taxes, child support or civil judgements. The reason is because it is pain in the butt for their payroll departments and adds extra work for the payroll clerks to do. Payroll is a big, stressful job and they may not want to FUBAR (f'd up beyond all recognition) up their system with that kind of stuff. (I was a business major and worked as an account clerk for 5 years before I switched to nursing).

Most state boards conduct some sort of criminal check on all their new licensees because they have legal authority and direction to do that.

Billy5949 · Sep 9, 2005

I've been a nurse manager who hired nurses for my unit and a small business owner who hired employees for my business.
First of all, for your first job in nursing, most of the acute hospitals (if you apply to ones where you live) are going to be most interested in having a reference from your nursing instructor(s), so I hope you have one who you can use. They are the only ones right now who can attest to your ability as a new nurse. Hospitals will want to know, from them, what your attendance was at clinicals, what your attitude is toward tackling new procedures and, in general, are you a kind of step up to the plate kind of person. In one hospital where I was in management the nurse recruiter didn't even care which nursing instructors new graduate applicants listed. She knew them all from the various schools and just picked up the phone and would call the school you came from and start conversing with a couple of instructors about the graduating class.
Insofar as your prior jobs are concerned. The only things most employers "know" they can ask for (remember that confidentiality is a big issue these days in all businesses) is your dates of employement and whether or not you left the job voluntarily or were terminated by the business (fired). That's really all any ex-employer is allowed to give out about you. Now, some people are very shrewd and if they know someone where you've worked before they might try to make a personal phone call to glean some more information on you (attendance and attitude are usually the main things they're interested in), but most ex-employers are very relunctant to give out anything more than dates of hire and the status of your termination for the confidentiality reasons. If it is really a concern to you, you can write a letter to former employers instructing them they are not to give out any information about you than your dates of employment and that you resigned voluntarily; they must follow your wishes.
The farther in the past your old employers are, the less concern they are to many places you will apply. The reason is because any business who hires knows that contacting your older workplaces doesn't get them much more information than dates of hire and termination because they don't remember you or the person giving out this information wasn't even around when you were working there to know who you were. The current people in personnel are mostly going to be looking at paperwork in a file about you. And, by the way, old write-ups or disciplinary actions on you are strictly confidential and require your permission to be disclosed to anyone outside that company.
Here's some more insider info for you. Checking people's references when they have applied for a job with a company is a royal pain in the tush for them. It is time consuming and they usually don't net much usuable information. If the reference is a written piece of paper that you signed and they send out, a good many of the recipients round file those (throw them in the trash). A company or hospital is only going to check your work references if they are truly interested in making you a job offer.
I've never had my credit checked and, believe me, mine has been really bad for a good part of my life, plus I had a huge IRS problem for many years courtesy of an ex-spouse and had a couple of garnishment scares. It never affected my employment. I know there are some states where this has become an issue (I think Texas is one), but there are always going to be businesses that won't even think about using those services. These credit checks are not free so a prospective employer would only be looking at your credit history if they are seriously thinking of offering you a job. Look, if you get turned down for employment because of a credit check you'll just have to apply to other places. If you are really concerned that you could lose a good job because of this, research your state laws on what the credit reporting agencies are allowed to report about you and to who. The agency that operates in Texas I have heard is more of a co-op of employers who transmit information to it's database (don't quote me on that because I'm really not sure about that). In general, I would say that most community hospitals see their nurses as wage earners. It is more likely they are going to check the credit of someone they are placing in a high administrative position, especially if they are going to be having anything to do with the accounting functions. The only other thing I can think of that might be irksome to employers is if they have to deal with garnishments for taxes, child support or civil judgements. The reason is because it is pain in the butt for their payroll departments and adds extra work for the payroll clerks to do. Payroll is a big, stressful job and they may not want to FUBAR (f'd up beyond all recognition) up their system with that kind of stuff. (I was a business major and worked as an account clerk for 5 years before I switched to nursing).
Most state boards conduct some sort of criminal check on all their new licensees because they have legal authority and direction to do that.

Wonderful info. Thanks so much for it.

I have received a job offer -so I suppose my credit wasn't checked!?