Writing a thank you after a REALLY casual vague interview

[jra2127]

I will be graduating in May with my ADN. I have been an LPN on an acute care telemetry floor at a small hospital for 8 years. Today, I had an interview at the same hospital in outpatient care. I don't know how it went, but the manager was not kidding when she said it would be casual. Her and another nurse on the floor took me into a room where someone had been preparing Nurses' day gifts, so things had to be moved off the chairs to sit down.

I had studied interview questions, but it was nothing like that. They ask what I knew about their unit and filled in what I did not know. She explained that there was no one my age on the unit (I am 35), they have a very low turn around, hardly ever have open position and everyone has been there over 12 years. I did hand her my resume and references at the end. She looked it over and commented about my nursing school 4.0 gpa. I told her that I owe my gpa to the experience that I have as a LPN.

There was not anything that stood out bad, it was just very vague and informal. I did not feel interview grilled at all. It felt like a conversation. So now I want to write a thank you. I am going to email her because she emailed me several times before the interview. During the interview she explained that it is a busy floor with a wide spectrum of patient and that my be difficult for a new grad. I want to address this because I don't feel that I did during the interview.

How is this for a rough draft: Thank you for meeting with me today. I appreciated the time you took to tell me about your unit and your needs for a nurse. I can understand your hesitancy to look at a new RN for your unit, but I hope you will find my LPN experience as useful. I think that you will find my experience has taught me organization and time management skill. I look forward to talking with again and please feel free to call or email me with any questions you may have.

Suggestions, please?

[Baubo516, RN]

Hi jra2127! Congratulations on your interview!

My suggestions are in caps because I can't figure out how to make them color...

"Thank you for meeting with me today. I appreciate the time you took to tell me about your unit and WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IN a nurse. I can understand your HESITANCE to look at a new RN for your unit, but I BELIEVE THAT my EIGHT YEARS OF LPN experience WILL PROVE BENEFICIAL TO YOUR TEAM. My experience has taught me organization and time management skillS, AS WELL AS MANY CLINICAL SKILLS THAT I HAVE HONED OVER TIME. I HAVE ENJOYED WORKING AS AN LPN FOR THE PAST 8 YEARS, BUT I AM EXCITED TO BEGIN MY NEW ROLE AS AN RN. I look forward to talking with YOU again. Please feel free to call or email me with any questions you may have."

Feel free to use or not use... just trying to make it sound a little more assertive. I wanted to suggest something like, "I am a new RN graduate, but I am not a new nurse," but I could not figure out a way to make that sound assertive and confident instead of argumentative! :)

Good luck and I hope you get it! Let us know!

[jra2127]

Thanks for the suggestions. That's the same problem I was having with the wording. I was kidding dumb-struck by the informality of the whole interview soi don't want the end with an overly aggressive or too formal of a thank you.

[Baubo516, RN]

What did you decide? Did they offer you the job? Just curious.... :)

[jra2127]

Nope. They offered it to someone with outpatient experience. Thank for your help