I had an interview this morning with a long term care facility in my area--a decent one by reputation.
I had sent in my resume about a week ago, and was so happy to be called for an interview. I have been out of nursing for 20 years, am looking to get back into long term care. Took a refresher in the fall. Passed NCLEX this Spring. Hid nothing on my resume, including when I graduated and the last year I worked in nursing.
My interview lasted about 7 minutes and mainly consisted of the DON telling me that not only would I not get a job at her facility, but I wouldn't get one anywhere that provided skilled care. She softened up a bit then, and said that she was just being honest, and that maybe I COULD do it, but it would be really hard, and she would be setting me up for failure if I were hired. She suggested I try to find a day program or assisted living to work my way back into the field.
Since my resume is very clear about my experience, I'm not sure why she bothered to call me in. Needless to say, my confidence is pretty shaken as this is my first interview out of the gate. I'm wondering if I made a mistake in even trying to do this. I do need to find a job with benefits, and maybe just wasted my severance period in school and studying for NCLEX.
It sounds like she is pretty inefficient, or someone at the facility where she works is. Why on earth would someone have set up an interview with a potential employee only to tell them why they won't be hiring them? It wasted your time, and it wasted her time. Most places just send you a letter or an email thanking you for applying and then telling you that you don't fit their needs at the current time, blah, blah, blah.
Hang in there. I was out of nursing for just over six years, which I realize isn't twenty years, but still, when I began applying for hospital jobs, which is where all of my experience was, you would have thought that I had been out of nursing since 1960 or something. I also took a refresher course, and I eventually got hired at an inpatient hospice facility which was a great place to work. When the right interview at the right facility comes along, everything will click and they will see the positives instead of the negatives. I think you sound like a really hardworking, committed kind of person who would make a good employee. Those refresher courses aren't easy!
Best of luck to you, and I hope you find a great job very soon. :)
She sholdn't have had you in without reading your resume. What a tool.
Exactly, and who wants to work for a facility that is run like that? I'll go one step further and say that this woman should not be any kind of a supervisor if she is this poor at time management and preperation for interviews. Again, all she did was waste everyone's time who was involved and made you feel terrible at the same time. How presumptuous of her to say that you wouldn't be able to cut it. She didn't even know you! Besides, all you really need to cut it in LTC is a strong back and an even stronger pair of feet, since you never get to sit down. Oh, and the ability to stand at a med cart and do nothing but pass pills for hours on end helps too.
You dodged a bullet. Yes, it's a blow to the ego to be put down like this but think about the way you would have been treated had you been hired. I think she would have made your self esteem plummet even more by continually questioning your competence.
Please don't let this rude individual get you down.
Girl let me tell you.....dont you let people discourage you. I always say if I listened to what people said to me my whole life I would be turning tricks on a corner. People have tried to discourage me my whole life from doing things including going to nursing school. I dont give a damn what anyone says to and about me. You keep right on looking. Next time someone tells you that you cant do something or you wont get something....you ask them who died and made them God. God knows me, he made me, and everything I get is going to come from him and not some arrogant fool in a human resources dept. Good Luck
There's nothing wrong with you and this is her problem. If that had been me, I would have stood up, looked directly at her and said, "Well, then I guess I won't waste anymore of your time", and walked out. That is a person I would not want to work for. Besides LTC's are nightmares to work in and not a great way to reintroduce yourself to the nursing world. I don't care how good they say they are. Been there, done that.
There's nothing wrong with you and this is her problem. If that had been me, I would have stood up, looked directly at her and said, "Well, then I guess I won't waste anymore of your time", and walked out. That is a person I would not want to work for. Besides LTC's are nightmares to work in and not a great way to reintroduce yourself to the nursing world. I don't care how good they say they are. Been there, done that.
Amen! I work at a LTC facility now because I could only get contingent status at the inpatient hospice, but I had an interview last week to go back there because they have a full time position open now, and if that doesn't work out, I have an interview at a local hospital next week as well, which is amazing, since, as I mentioned in my earlier post, I haven't worked in a hospital in about six years, even though the facility where I work now has a lot of subacute patients (but long term staffing....) and I am having to do most of the same things that I did when I worked on a med/surg floor in the hospital.
Anyway, I just worked the past four evenings in a row. I work the 3-11 shift. Today when I got out of bed, my feet were so sore and swollen, it felt like I was walking around on balloons. My hips and legs ache, and they never did at any other nursing job that I ever had, and most of my co-workers complain of the same thing. I have 23 patients with roughly half of them being subacutes who need a lot of extra care (tube feeds, wound vacs, CPMs, IV ATBs, etc.) and two huge med passes and dinner. I am on my feet for eight hours straight and can't take a break or I would never get out of there remotely on time. I HATE this job so much it isn't funny, even though I love the residents and my co-workers. I can't even imagine having to do this for much longer, if I found out that I had to, I don't know what I'd do, but I'd do something!
Seriously, LTC is okay for a jumping off point to get your feet wet getting back into nursing, but it's not something that the faint hearted like me could ever stand to do long term.
One of my co-workers was out of nursing for 20 years and decided to come back. She took a refresher course and was hired my hospital and works on our ortho surg unit. She had a full orientation and has worked with us for about 6 months now and is a good nurse. She is more or less a "new grad," at least in experience level, but good none the less. You're gonna be okay!
westieluv
948 Posts
It sounds like she is pretty inefficient, or someone at the facility where she works is. Why on earth would someone have set up an interview with a potential employee only to tell them why they won't be hiring them? It wasted your time, and it wasted her time. Most places just send you a letter or an email thanking you for applying and then telling you that you don't fit their needs at the current time, blah, blah, blah.
Hang in there. I was out of nursing for just over six years, which I realize isn't twenty years, but still, when I began applying for hospital jobs, which is where all of my experience was, you would have thought that I had been out of nursing since 1960 or something. I also took a refresher course, and I eventually got hired at an inpatient hospice facility which was a great place to work. When the right interview at the right facility comes along, everything will click and they will see the positives instead of the negatives. I think you sound like a really hardworking, committed kind of person who would make a good employee. Those refresher courses aren't easy!
Best of luck to you, and I hope you find a great job very soon. :)