Why did she offer me THAT position?

[missgigius, RN]

I am graduating in May and I attended my first career fair for student and graduate nurses yesterday and I am very discouraged. I am a 35 year old African-American female (wow am I giving report or what!?? LOL) and I have 6 years of experience as a medical assistant in clinics, 7 years of hospital experience as a patient care associate on a peds unit and I was a nurse extern over the summer on an observation unit. I must say that I was extremely professional yesterday, nice black pants suit, portfolio with resumes, smiles and handshakes. I watched my counterparts do on the spot interviews and get hired on the spot. I listened in to some of the interviews as I was waiting to talk to managers and some of these people were clueless, no hospital or patient care experience or dressed in jeans. They were hired on the spot.

I went to my first area: Cardiac/Renal. That is not my first choice but I go and speak to the manager because no one was waiting. WOW!! She tried everything to dissuade me from choosing her unit!!! She made it sound like it was Hades. My confidence was almost shattered until I realized that was not the area I wanted anyway! But she didn't know that.

I finally got the chance to interview with one of the 6 managers representing the different Med/Surg units. Actually, I sat down with the Director of all the med/surg units. She seemed to like me and asked which Med/Surg I was interested in and I never really thought past General Med/Surg, so I told her that I was open for now. She told me about all the different med/surg units and then she told me about "a special, new unit that was created this summer, a med/surg unit for substance abusers. But it is not for everybody." She want me to just think about it. I have no problems with substance abusers and I know that I will deal with SA on any type of unit (I even dealt w/ SA in Peds) but I don't think that would be a good fit for me. I didn't say that to her but my facial expression said it all.

After that she told me that she liked me. She like my personality and my style. She said that she thinks that I would be a good fit in the med/surg department. My resume would be sent to all the other managers and if I don't hear from one of them in one week call her back and she would get things moving for me. She offered to start me as a nurse tech until I graduate but would actually customize my orientation to be: 1.) the new grad orientation and not the tech orientation and 2.) around my school schedule (they normally require a straight week orientation-which I don't have right now.

All of that was overshadowed by the fact that she only directly offered me the SA med/surg. My problem is why did she feel that I would like that position? Why did she think that would be a good fit for me? or Did she just offer it to everyone because it is a new unit and need staffing? Am I reading into this too much?

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

It sounds like she liked you, from your description. What do you think, are you suspecting it's because you are African American?

It definitely wouldn't be my dream unit. I guess you can tell her that and hold out for what you want.

I don't know if you have any grounds for your paranoia or not, but it's probably not anything you could prove. It might be that the other people just didn't click with you and this woman really liked you.

[missgigius, RN]

Not because I am African American, I included my demographics and work history to paint a complete picture of myself. It just made me wonder, why me? If I have the opportunity, I think I will definitely ask her.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

Good idea. Good luck!

[schroeders_piano, RN]

I think she offered you that position probably because she needs nurses for the unit. I personally don't know any nurses that would jump at working on a substance abuse unit. I've been a nurse manager/director and sometimes if you have person that has their act together(like you) and seems realtively sane, you will tell them almost anything to get them to fill the positions you can't seem to get filled.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I agree with schroeders_piano. She is opening a new unit. Needs nurses. Does not want to hire new grads that are very young and who have little work experience. She would prefer to hire experienced nurses ... but she would consider a new grad like the OP, who is more mature and has a substantial amount of work experience in health care.

The other new grads couldn't handle the SA unit ... so, she is thinking of hiring them for the more basic M/S units and guiding the OP to a position that is harder to fill.

While the OP didn't get the result she wanted ... it's actually a compliment to her. The director thought she could handle the harder-to-fill position that she would not like to put the average new grad into. She was impressed with her maturity and professional demeanor.

[Kevin RN08]

Two words ... LIFE EXPERIENCE

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

What everyone else said.

And you're gonna be getting a good job with them.

:)

[Jules A, MSN]

I also agree she needs nurses and if SA isn't an area that is in high demand I'd bet she was asking everyone. I must be an oddball because I enjoy working with that population. Please reconsider talking to her about this because I don't see how it would benefit you other than to ease your paranoia and frankly that just isn't something I'd share with my prospective employer. You might make her defensive. If it were me I'd be weirded out by someone over-thinking something so trivial. It sounded like she really, really liked you, I'd let it go.

[missgigius, RN]

This is all new to me. I do over analyze and internalize situations.

[caliotter3]

If it was me I would prefer to believe that she was anxious to staff that unit with people who could handle the job. Don't automatically think the worst. It will only bring down your spirits. You are so lucky that you are finding openings available to you. Good luck with the new job that you decide to take.

[SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN]

i read your story and i have to agree with the others. i too am a woman of color, have life experiences as well as experience in health care to include being a nurse extern. i was offered a position on a new unit that no other new grad was offered (i even ran into critical care nurses who thought the director was wrong to hire me). it was not sa but it is hard core... it requires that i cross train on the other critical care units. with that said, i took it as a compliment even though i was not confident in my skills etc. at the time.

the questions i asked about the position included the job description, the amount of training and support i will receive, if i could take a tour of the unit and meet the others, etc... if i were you i would not ask her if you were offered the job because of your ethnic/cultural background! if the responses to questions that focus on the unit and your training are not up to your standards, then the unit is probably not a good fit. go with your instincts.

i also understand that it hurts to be rejected for superficial and maybe even racial reasons. i was rejected by the main er and the main or at my hospital because the unit educator of one unit and one of the charge nurses of the other unit did not like me. initially it hurt (for like two seconds) but i got over it because i recalled that no one can decide my career but me. instead of walking a straight road i have a few obstacles in the way and will either run through them or walk around them to achieve my goals.

btw, be grateful that the nurses that did not hire you on the other floors chose not to do so... i have worked in plenty of jobs where i would have given anything for my past employers to have not hired me!!! the job i had before nursing school was a nightmare because my supervisor (not the hiring manger) was psychotic and not receiving treatment for her mental illness. :angryfire

a person liking you or not liking you is a fact of life…. it does not matter his/her reason unless it affects your well being, in which case i would fight in court. in my two cases there is a personality conflict. just know that for the most part you will find that hiring managers tend to hire based upon if he/she thinks you will be a good fit. nursing overwhelmingly is that way, so i take it that i was not a good fit for those units because of one person in charge.

on a brighter note, this director seems to like you, like my current director, charges, and educators like me! maybe this director likes you for the superficial reason of your personality not to mention your qualifications? who knows and who cares? although this is not your first choice, this could turn out to me your dream job! try to keep an open mind.

nursing is very diverse and there are many opportunities. you could start here and change into oncology, for example, later on. whatever you want to do, continue to work hard and establish career goals. if you can’t accomplish your goals locally after a few years, move on to a facility that will give you more opportunities. at least this is my plan. as i stated before, no one gets to decide my career but me. while i am working on my current unit i am going to take every opportunity to gain the certifications and experience i need to move into the type of nursing i wish to have as my career. i might even take on an additional pt nursing job (i know of nurses who did this to gain further experience and it worked for them). gl!