"We don't hire male RNs" and other things you should never say to me

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

Specializes in L&D, OBED, NICU, Lactation.

TL;DR - Recruiter told me they don't hire dudes. Firestorm ensues. I get a PRN job.

Recently I did an online "Talk with a Nurse Recruiter" session as I have moved to a new city and I'm looking for some PRN work. This was a fun conversation (organization name and recruiter name protected) as you can see below where I'm told that the hospital doesn't hire male RNs into women's services or NICU/SCN/Nursery.401714447_croppedandobfuscated.thumb.png.4ebb0910e33cdf3f8e7acfabeca2c3f5.png

Once I was done with this nice, but uninformed recruiter I sent off an e-mail AND snail mail copies to the SVP of the entire system as well as the president, CNO, and VP HR of the local facility. Oh boy did that set off some fun. Less than 24 hours later I had a call from a system level HR director telling me that she doesn't know what that lady was thinking and that certainly wasn't correct information. I played up how caught off guard I was by how blatantly she told me they won't hire male RNs (even if she thinks it, don't say it! especially in a recorded chat room, that's just not very smart). Also, it apparently only applies to RNs because they will consider male STs.

Long story short, ended up interviewing, shadowing, and getting a job offer because as it turns out I'm pretty awesome and the staff wanted me to join them. I may have also bribed them by offering to bake cookies, but that is totally beside the point!

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Specializes in Medsurg.

Werk!

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

Wowowow! Reading that chat exchange left my jaw dropped. From what I know of you from posting alongside you these past several years, you are an awesome L&D nurse and would be an asset to any facility that hired you. Congrats on the job!

(p.s. I would hire you)

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Specializes in L&D, OBED, NICU, Lactation.
11 hours ago, klone said:

Wowowow! Reading that chat exchange left my jaw dropped. From what I know of you from posting alongside you these past several years, you are an awesome L&D nurse and would be an asset to any facility that hired you. Congrats on the job!

(p.s. I would hire you)

Thanks klone,

That's actually the second time I've dealt with this, though for this lady to be so nonchalant about it was...wow. Once I actually met the manager and shadowed, I had a job offer that day. I've built a reputation back in my home city and people come in and ask for me as their nurse, I must be doing something right!

I won't get to work there or the other hospital here very often because of school, but need to keep up the skills until I'm done with this program next summer and go back to work for a year.

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Specializes in OB.

Wow! Go knock 'em dead! Side note---I've never seen a chat tool for nurse recruitment for a hospital like that. Kind of a cool feature, assuming the recruiters aren't ill-informed jerks like that one.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
4 hours ago, LibraSunCNM said:

Wow! Go knock 'em dead! Side note---I've never seen a chat tool for nurse recruitment for a hospital like that. Kind of a cool feature, assuming the recruiters aren't ill-informed jerks like that one.

Actually, it's a cool feature specifically BECAUSE of ill-informed jerks. Black and white proof, so there's no possibility of denying it occurred.

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Specializes in OB.
2 hours ago, klone said:

Actually, it's a cool feature specifically BECAUSE of ill-informed jerks. Black and white proof, so there's no possibility of denying it occurred.

Touché!

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Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.

Mr. Ruby Jane, who is also a nurse, was told back in nursing school in 1999 that OB/Women's Health would not hire a man for the job. AND he was given an "alternate assignment" for assessing the cervix of a pregnant woman. I wasn't a nurse yet but I went nuts over that one.

Mr. Ruby Jane is a tech kinda guy and gravitated to the ER, cardiac units, and now he manages a VA outpatient clinic. But foremost he is a great, empathetic nurse, who would have done amazingly well as both a delivery or a NICU nurse had he wanted to/been encouraged to. Twice in the ER settings he was the nurse on point to deliver babies. Nobody cared in an emergency, I guess!

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On 8/21/2019 at 4:54 PM, labordude said:

TL;DR - Recruiter told me they don't hire dudes. Firestorm ensues. I get a PRN job.

Recently I did an online "Talk with a Nurse Recruiter" session as I have moved to a new city and I'm looking for some PRN work. This was a fun conversation (organization name and recruiter name protected) as you can see below where I'm told that the hospital doesn't hire male RNs into women's services or NICU/SCN/Nursery.401714447_croppedandobfuscated.thumb.png.4ebb0910e33cdf3f8e7acfabeca2c3f5.png

Once I was done with this nice, but uninformed recruiter I sent off an e-mail AND snail mail copies to the SVP of the entire system as well as the president, CNO, and VP HR of the local facility. Oh boy did that set off some fun. Less than 24 hours later I had a call from a system level HR director telling me that she doesn't know what that lady was thinking and that certainly wasn't correct information. I played up how caught off guard I was by how blatantly she told me they won't hire male RNs (even if she thinks it, don't say it! especially in a recorded chat room, that's just not very smart). Also, it apparently only applies to RNs because they will consider male STs.

Long story short, ended up interviewing, shadowing, and getting a job offer because as it turns out I'm pretty awesome and the staff wanted me to join them. I may have also bribed them by offering to bake cookies, but that is totally beside the point!

Isn't what the recruiter was doing considered discrimination?

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
On 8/26/2019 at 11:08 AM, Beldar_the_Cenobite said:

Isn't what the recruiter was doing considered discrimination?

Yes, and illegal.

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Specializes in NICU/Mother-Baby/Peds/Mgmt.

Worked in a big city NICU several years ago and one of the parents didn't want a male nurse to take care of their daughter, I think it started when he had to change her diaper. She was about two pounds at that point. A male nurse who was a great nurse btw. He considered it a bullet dodged. I was glad I didn't work in that room and rarely got floated there.

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Specializes in L&D, OBED, NICU, Lactation.

Got a letter from the president of the hospital today who wants to meet with me. Haha!

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