i'm a soon to be new grad in december and i recently interviewed at a large teaching hospital for a cardiac critical care internship. they called 4 days later with the offer. i accepted the next day after consulting with my wife overnight. anyway, i contacted my references the next day to thank them for their help in landing the position and all three of them said they were never contacted. this position was supposed to be very competitive and i was required to have letters of recommendation, fill out a separate questionnaire from the application etc. i think i represented myself well at the interview, and i have a good gpa, but i can't believe that they would hire me without checking references. it has me a bit concerned actually. in my opinion good grades do not necessarily make a good nurse, and anyone can interview well with a little prep work.
i guess they just desperate to fill an empty slot? is this a normal thing to not check references of new grads?? maybe i'm just wigging out and overthinking things!?
i guess it's a little late now to be doing any second guessing since i've already accepted the position.:trout:
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
In the Rio Grande Valley, TX, I went to apply for a job, and they did not want me to fill out an apllication. they didn't even want to see my nursing license!
I told them they needed to check it- I could be anyone off of the street posing as a nurse, or I could be a nurse in trouble w/ the BON. I tried to hand them my license and said "You need to check it."
The owner of the small facility said "No need for that. You seem fine to me. When can you start?"
Your post made me think of something. Do you ever read the Texas BNE imposter alerts that arrive in their mailed newsletter quarterly? The majority of the imposter nurses seemed to have been working in far South Texas, and many are in the Rio Grande Valley. I guess the facilities are so desperate for warm bodies that they do not have the time or patience to check the background and licensure of these people. One young man was pretending to be an LVN, and had worked at a Brownsville facility for 1 year before being discovered.
I would be afraid to work at a place like that- if they didn't verify your license, what kind of co-workers are you going to be working with???
It was a position as an Independant Nurse Consultant. I was the only nurse, the only medically educated person at the facilities. I was a consultant for three adult day care companies.
I was paid with personal checks- I had to file a W-9 as an independant contracter and pay my own employee taxes.
Your post made me think of something. Do you ever read the Texas BNE imposter alerts that arrive in their mailed newsletter quarterly? The majority of the imposter nurses seemed to have been working in far South Texas, and many are in the Rio Grande Valley. I guess the facilities are so desperate for warm bodies that they do not have the time or patience to check the background and licensure of these people. One young man was pretending to be an LVN, and had worked at a Brownsville facility for 1 year before being discovered.
Yes, I always look at the Texas Nurse Imposter Alerts. It's really scary.
Another aspect of this situation is that hospitals feel pressured to make a job offer quickly so that the applicant won't accept another job. Some applicants apply for several positions and won't wait for any length of time for an employer to interview other candidates, check references, etc. Just look at other threads on this board. How many times to we see people post, "I had my interview 3 days ago and nobody has called me! I'm panicing. Should I accept the offer from my 2nd choice that I received last week? I can't keep them hanging any longer!" To avoid losing an acceptable candidate, hospitals take a gamble on people who seem OK and make the offer.
Some hospitals will check the references AFTER they make the job offer. If something doesn't check out, they can either rescind the offer (if they find the applicant actually lied on the application) or keep a close eye on them during the probationary period when it can be a little easier to fire someone if they don't meet the employer's needs. I know my hospital does not check references until after the person is hired. It takes too much time and effort to contact all those references on people you are not going to hire. They only check the ones of the people who accept the job offer. THEN, they check the references to assure that you didn't lie.
TheCommuter, BSN, RN
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