So I have just found out that my dream job has rejected me after what I thought was a great interview with good references.
Looks like all my hard work didn't mean anything. BSN. Magna Cum Laude. 3+ years of healthcare experience. Nothing. While other new grads get their dream jobs with no experience. It just ticks me off.
So now, I do not know what to do. I had my heart set on the babies, but looks like that isn't happening. I am now starting to apply indiscriminately, even though I am not in love with any other specialty like I am with the babies.
Now what? To the more experienced nurses out there, what happens if you don't get that dream job? Do you stop pursuing it and just take what you can get? I am so disappointed.
I know you guys are right. I just had connections to this unit and I thought everything went so well. I guess I was just blind-sided by the fakery that is management.
*Sighs*
I have applied to other nicus, picu, pediatric oncology, float pool, cardiac icu, pediatrics cvticu...I am at a loss as to what I should do. I honest to god hate Med-Surg and don't think it would be right to apply to a unit I have no intention of staying at for more than a year.
I once had a splendid interview as a new grad, and I also thought everything went well: we were talking work schedules and planning and even that I'd be getting a locker. I was supposed to have a follow-up interview the next week and they told me they'd call me.
And nothing. And they never returned my calls. I didn't even get the courtesy of a rejection...*sigh*
Oh well.
You may hate M/S, but if it gets you in the door, it gets you in. And a year, while not ideal, is a lot better than bailing after a few months. Stay for the year and worry about the next year when it arrives. And use that year to see how you can get over to the kids.
I had my heart set on L&D also and did an externship there one summer...found out what shrews the nurses were and now wouldn't go there for all the tea in china...my new love - end of life care and dignified passing. Opposite end of the spectrum. M/S may not have ideal ratios but you WILL learn priority setting and time management. After finding out that I can handle 7 patients at a time the job offers do come easier now...plus a solid M/S base will serve you well in ANY specialty.
Think of it as a stepping stone, not the be all end all...
Right now focus on applying for jobs that has a unit that you want to transfer to in the future. It's much easier to do an internal transfer in the future. They don't have to pay for the HR orientation and you'll already know the computer system.
You could also be on the lookout for a PRN job in a peds clinic or something...having a little bit of experience taking care of babies might make you stand out a little if it's a difficult unit to get into.
I know you guys are right. I just had connections to this unit and I thought everything went so well. I guess I was just blind-sided by the fakery that is management.
*Sighs*
I have applied to other nicus, picu, pediatric oncology, float pool, cardiac icu, pediatrics cvticu...I am at a loss as to what I should do. I honest to god hate Med-Surg and don't think it would be right to apply to a unit I have no intention of staying at for more than a year.
You are a good person, but being a good person doesn't pay the bills. Having a job you hate pays the bills, unfortunately. You never know - you might like some of those other units and stay more than a year, or you might not. Either way, money in the bank and experience is better than no money in the bank and no experience.
However, I'm one of those that moved forever away to avoid having to get a med/surg job when my local first choices turned me down. I'm sorry doing that is not an option for you since it solves a lot of problems. Unfortunately, if you are stuck in your location, you've just got to take whatever you can get.
I wouldn't encourage anyone to apply to anything that they hated. That's just not right, I wouldn't want anyone taking care of my loved one if they dreaded coming to work. And as a coworker, just no. And apples to apples, a nurse that likes her job versus one who loathes it? It's one thing to be overwhelmed and not like the charting but to actually "hate" the work is too far into the negative column.
In my travels, I have found most nurses DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT start in their "dream job"; most start out in nursing homes, home health, med-surg; they get experience and utilize their experience to their nursing practice and transcend specialties and find one that "fits" them.
TBH, almost 15 years ago, I started out as a tech in the ER, I contemplated that this would be the type of nursing I would end up in, then I failed an ADN program, got a new job in Tele, went to PN school, ended up in Rehab and Peds home health, dabbled in agency nursing where I worked in specialty clinics and LTC, then ended up at a medical days care while in a BSN program. By that time I built a nursing practice that transcended many specialties.
I dabbled on a PICU unit, but struggled to realize that I needed to start at square one while bridging the gap of a nursing practice I strongly built for years; I went back to LTC, the post acute Peds, and now I start in a Level I Trauma Pediatric ER next month.
My message is that you never know what's in the cards, but as long as you build the 3 C's: Competency, Consistency, and Confidence, your nursing practice will transcend; you may find yourself having a great nursing practice and end up where you NEED to be before you end up where you WANT to be, and that's OK. :)
Don't you give up! There are a thousand reasons why you didn't get that job that have NOTHING to do with you being an inadequate prospect :) Someone could have taken a lateral transfer, I can think of several possibilities along those lines.
You DID have a great interview. You DO have an excellent 'portfolio' of accomplishment and experience :) It's all true.
I of course would feel the same exact way!! LOL! At first, anyway. And maybe after that too that's why we have each other to remind us it is NOT always personal.
Keep your eyes peeled for openings on that unit, and yes, take another peds position, maybe in the same facility and then YOU can be a first line choice for when an opening pops back up on your dream unit :)
No still focus on your dream job, but look at another skill set that will help you, like pediatric critical care. It might take a little time to get the 'dream job'but stay focused. When one door closes, another door opens.
Just because you were not selected this time does not mean the management doesn't like you. Your interview might have been outstanding, but if there were only one or two positions, they may have decided to choose someone with experience.
This happens often. Keep trying but take whatever you can get for now.
Specializes in Palliative, Onc, Med-Surg, Home Hospice.
I kept trying. I always knew I wanted to work Onc but never managed to get a job. I just kept applying and finally got hired not only on the Onc floor but also with the system I have always wanted to work at. You need to keep trying.
Just because you were not selected this time does not mean the management doesn't like you. Your interview might have been outstanding, but if there were only one or two positions, they may have decided to choose someone with experience.
This happens often. Keep trying but take whatever you can get for now.
I guess what gets me is that there are several positions open, and over the summer, they hired so many new grads. So it feels very personal, you know?
Interviews are scored by points given for answers.
The others scored higher than you.
Wait until you lose a much wanted "dream" job to a nurse who has to be accommodated due to a health issue. Basically, they interview with a pulse and a valid practice permit and get the job. That happens all the time in my system and is a huge slap in the face to the nurse who thought s/he had aced it!
that's why we have each other to remind us it is NOT always personal.
Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN
4 Articles; 7,907 Posts
I once had a splendid interview as a new grad, and I also thought everything went well: we were talking work schedules and planning and even that I'd be getting a locker. I was supposed to have a follow-up interview the next week and they told me they'd call me.
And nothing. And they never returned my calls. I didn't even get the courtesy of a rejection...*sigh*
Oh well.
You may hate M/S, but if it gets you in the door, it gets you in. And a year, while not ideal, is a lot better than bailing after a few months. Stay for the year and worry about the next year when it arrives. And use that year to see how you can get over to the kids.