The Interview that never happened...

[NursieNurseLPN, LPN]

I am a recent LPN graduate (June 2012). I've been putting my ALL into looking for a job. From custom cover letters, to a professional resume, wearing business attire when walking in to apply, as well as minimal make-up, short clean nails, etc. Lol basically every hint ever given on allnurses. Two weeks ago, I walked in to apply at a ltc facility about 45 minutes from my house after a family friend referred me there. I was ecstatic to be asked to wait for an interivew (this has never happened, they usually dont even want a new grad to waste time applying). I think because i was referred there, the administrator was polite enough to see me and I was extremely grateful. I figured worst case, it would be a good experience to help me interview better in the future and allow me to practice all those interview questions I've looked up and memorized.:)

So i gratefully waited about an hour to interview. I believe for my first real nursing interview, I did very well, and I hope I made new graduates look good. I had done my research, and was well aware of the facility (recent awards, services, etc). But of course at the end, I got the expected: Im sorry but we prefer RNs, or at least experienced LPNs at this time. But we will keep you in mind and contact you if anything opens.

The following week, I received a call asking me to come in for another interview. I was so happy! I thought to myself, I did the right thing by looking further than my initial comfort zone and doing all that research into interviews. I agreed to come in the following day, so I spent allllll night preparing my portfolio, questions and responses, etc. With all my nerves, I drove there (leaving extra early in case of traffic, which i ended up stuck in for one hour), and arrived 15minutes early. I waited for 45minutes while a CNA and RN were interviewed, and was taken on a tour of the facility with them. This was all great until it was my turn. The DON called me into her office, everything seemed great, I felt we had a good rapport. The second we sat down, she looked at my application from last week (that boldly said in red pen- new graduate/no experience), and looked at me and said "We have no positions at this time for non-experienced nurses. Try a flu-clinic or anything where you can get some experience." She stood to walk me out and that was that. I had no opportunity to comment and truthfully i was stunned. I mean to me, this was my second interview, and although I tried not to get my hopes up and be realistic, I truly was unprepared for this. I understand new grads are not in need at this time, i really do. But they called me! At the very least, I feel she could've said, "I apologize, I didnt realize you were a new nurse, Thank you for taking the time to come in." Aghh how quickly a new grad can go from up to down!!

Sorry for this long post, I just had to post somewhere where hopefully someone can sympathize. To hiring managers or DON, please have more respect for peoples time. My resume clearly states im a new nurse. At the very least, dont be rude. I felt like absolute garbage walking out of there, dismissed after only 15 seconds. To top it off, i got stuck in traffic for another hour on the way home (in tears). Anyways, thanks allnurses for giving me a place to vent my frustrations!!

[leinasmom]

Please do not take it personal.. I too did the same thing.. I went out and meet with the dept. managers at the places I wanted to work..Handed them my resume and other stuff.. all were very impressed by my effort to come in and meet with them..all sent my stuff to HR...all knew that I was a new grad with no LVN experience.. I got a call from HR to come in and test for the job.. I was sooo excited that my hard work paid off.. I took the test on accident for MA..and passed it with a 96% and also took the test for LVN and passed with the same score.. I was then taken into a recruiters office and stat down and asked about my education background, my prior work experiences, ect.. I did well in my mind.. all to be told by the recruiter that I needed at least 6 months of experience to be looked at..and all the managers were impress with me..but next time do not go and speak with them.. I need to come thru HR instead.. and sent on my way home...jobless and hours of my time, gas and energy wasted...

That was in July.. so I hit the ground running and got hired on doing flu clinics at 2 different agencies and then got a job as a school nurse.. I am just waiting to hit my 6 month mark so I can march back into that HR office with my head high and go get the job I should have had in July..

Good luck and do not give up..

[RNewbie]

Sorry this happened to you. Seems like it happens a lot. Similar thing happened to me. I'm a med/surg nurse and have been looking to change specialties for a while. About a year ago I applied for an ER position, got a call for an interview. I was so excited. I went in to HR. I had to take 2 pharm exams. One was general and one was critical care. I passed both but was wondering why they tested me on critical care material knowing that I had no experience with those kinds of drugs or calculations. I then was taken to the ER for a tour and to interview with 2 of the ER supervisors. Interview was going well. They both had sheets with standard questions and they jotted down my responses. Toward the end of the interview one of them asked me, "So how much ED experience do you have?" I explained that I didn't have any, I discussed the experience that I did have and I was looking to change specialties. They both looked at me dumb founded and explained that they are sorry for wasting my time and that they were looking for experienced ER nurses. They told me that they had just hired a cohort of new grads in the ED and could not hire me at that time. The HR recruiter came back and walked me out, she apologized as well. I'm still confused on how the mix up happened. In my cover letter to the HR recruiter, I clearly stated what my experience was and that I wanted to change specialties. No where on my resume (which the ER supervisors and HR had copies of) did it say ER experience anywhere. Sometimes I think they do it to meet a quota, just to say they interviewed X amount of applicants. If your only job is to recruit qualified candidates for open positions, it seems like experience and credentials would be reviewed before you waste people's time setting up interviews.

[nurseblob]

Oh geez, so sorry this happened. Wish you could come to our facility (colorado), seems like we only hire new grads.

[historylovinglpn]

I was called back for THREE interviews for an outpatient clinic. I first interviewed with the office manager. After that I was called back to take the nursing test which I passed wth 100%. The nurse recruiter who gave me the test informed me that I was the only nurse that month who had a perfect score! Later I found out it was the wrong test. They gave me the test for Rn's, not lpns! Was then taken to interview with the nurse manager. 3rd time I had to interview with 7 of the clinic doctors who all had varied schedules.

I have never been interviewed like that! My boyfriend who is a scientist asked me what kind of academic position I was applying for since it seemed like overkill.

Regardless, I went home and mailed off cards thanking each doctor for taking the time to interview me. I was pretty confident I had the job.

And then... af ew days later- I saw the ad on Craigslist again. I couldn't believe it. I eventually ran into the office manager who pretended not to see me when I waved and said hi. It was apparent that I did not. I have to admit I started doubting myself. Wondering what was so wrong with me that I was not chosen.

Every few weeks the same ad will be in Craigslist. Now I am beginning to think not getting the job was a blessing in disguise. They can't keep anyone snce I see the same ad every few weeks! My luck eventually changed and I found a great job that I truly love. Hang in there!

[NursieNurseLPN, LPN]

Ok, first of all: thank you all for replying and helping me realize it happens, time for me to get over it. In a way, I think maybe this was a good thing, because even though at first I was extremely disappointed and sick of trying, now that its been a few days, I have a renewed enthusiasm to find a job. I went to five places today to apply, and I was alot more outgoing than usual. I also expanded my search to a 100mile radius and just took the time to drive and apply.

history loving lpn... oh my god.. just goes to show you that someone ALWAYS has it worse. Lol im sorry to hear you went through something similar but in a way it just reminds me someone always has it worse. THREE INTERVIEWS?!?! I am so sorry! Also, yeah i absolutely cannot stand to see jobs still advertising or back advertising after I applied there. I keep thinking to myself: Hire me! But I see you also found a job finally so I do think that sometimes we need these unfortunate situations to happen so we can put ourselves in overtime, desperately searching for a job. Im happy to hear you found something, especially something you love. YEAAA!!

Nurse blob: yeah i wish i could too!!! Colorado's beautiful! I have found that since i started looking farther out in the middle of nowhere, the ltc facilities seem to be more open to newer nurses. But only time will tell.

RNewbie: I sometimes think to myself, why even bother with a custom cover letter, etc? I know some unprofessional people who put in very little effort who were hired before me. And now i know that a lot of these places dont even read the cvr ltr, let alone any of the resume. I mean, really.. I can understand being so busy you cannot read every resume that comes in, but for the people you called in to interview, the 10sec's it takes to scan through isn't that much effort. Plus, it would save themselves time of by not wasting time meeting with people they absolutely know they won't hire.

leinasmom: Congrats on the job!! Like i said before, I think maybe that upsetting situation was what i needed to just decide to go all out and committ even more to finding any job. I thought i was doing that before, but now i am more committed than ever before. But i must say, your a bigger person than me, because the only consolation i have is telling myself that when i am that experienced nurse they want, I refuse to go there for a job. Theres a quote (i'm not sure i have it exactly right): you can tell alot about a person by the way they treat someone who can do nothing for them. It's just how she handled it. I mean, i know it's not her fault they're not hiring new nurses. But she shouldve known i was new, or at least when she found out that day, she could've said I'm sorry, I didn't realize. Thank you for your time.. But instead she acted like I was gum stuck on her shoe or something..

LOL okay I'm sorry guys! I am getting over it. I just wanted to get back to each of you to thank you for your support and let you know i appreciate hearing your stories as well. Im so happy to hear most of you are working!! That's awesome. Good luck with everything!!!