Confessions of a registered nurse (Confessions of a student nurse): The job hunt

The first interview...

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 20:20:04 GMT

Although it is 84.5 degrees in my apartment right now, I am shaking as I write this. A nurse in a Dallas hospital emailed me a few days ago to let me know that they were doing their June ER internship in September. I immediately applied for the position and called the woman in HR. My interview, my first as a graduate nurse, was this morning at 11. I went into the hospital and immediately fell in love. It was a beautiful place and every employee I saw was friendly and said hello. There were four interviewers (pretty intimidating!) but they were all incredible. They were friendly, patient, and did everything they could to make me feel less nervous. No matter how stupid my answers were (I think there were at least a few dumb ones) they smiled and let me know I was doing ok. At the end of the interview as I was shaking their hands, the lead interviewer told me they were interviewing three more people for the position, so they would let me know by tomorrow evening. Dang, at least four people for one internship slot? Not good odds. I got home and called the HR woman to get the last names of all of the people who interviewed me so I could write them thank-you letters. As she was looking up their names she paused and said to me, "Katie, I'm glad you called- you saved me a phone call. I was going to call to offer you the job." WHAT?! She said it so casually that I almost didn't catch it. I got the job? It's only been an hour and there are still three people to interview!? I guess they liked me! Just thought I'd share the news, now I need to get back to my happy dance.
Thanks for all your encouragement and tips guys!

Interviews

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 14:14:25 GMT

The problem I have with job interviews is that I never seem to know when to stop talking. The interviewer will ask a simple question, and I will respond with a simple answer. I will stop, smile at the interviewer, and we will sit there in an uncomfortable silence. Why isn't she responding or asking me another question? I better keep talking! Unfortunately, this is when I get myself into trouble. I have nothing to say but to fill the awkward silence, I talk. One of my "silence fillers" at my first job interview a few years ago was, "I don't know if that's what you wanted me to say." What?! Where did that come from? That's what I was thinking, but it was not supposed to be said out loud. Great, now she really thinks I'm an idiot. I better say something else so she knows I'm not. So I said "Sooo........" Uh, the word "so" without anything behind it is not the astounding comment I was planning on making. And of course, while I was going through the agony of not being able to look intelligent, the interviewer just sat there smiling, letting me dig my own hole. I studied psychology, I know the way to handle this- I should sit there and be comfortable in the silence just like she is doing. But why does my mouth not agree with me!? I have a phone interview later on today. Maybe I should just answer the question and then cover the speaker on the phone so my wonderful additions will not be heard?

Still no calls...

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 21:37:29 GMT

Mike thinks I haven't heard back from any hospitals because of the email address that I have on my resume. Do you guys see anything wrong with partygrrrrllllll@hotmail.com? I didn't think so. Just kidding, that's not my email address!

I actually thought of the perfect way to get an ER job. I'll have Mike injure himself- we have the perfect staircase for that at our apartment- and then I can take him to the ER. Once there, I can wow all of the doctors and nurses with my vast knowledge, then ask them for a job. Foolproof, right?!

I have figured out why no one is calling me back for a job- in Dallas, most large hospital chains make Graduate Nurses enter an internship program. These programs are 8-14 weeks and teach all of the important information for the area you want to go into. I think this is a wonderful thing for hospitals to do- I could definitely use additional classes before being responsible for someone's life. However, I think that the hospitals should offer these internships when they are convenient to ME, not to the May and December graduates. If I want to work as a nurse, I will have to wait until January. Looks like I better start practicing saying, "Would you like fries with that" in the mirror...

Great first impression

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:00:08 GMT

Last night I decided to work on some online job applications. I started with one for a large Dallas hospital with an opening in the emergency room. I went through the first few pages of the application, filling in the majority of the blanks. When I reached the "References" section, I decided to stop and wait to finish the application until I have contacted all of my references. I want to warn them in advance that they might be getting called. The online application did not have a save button, so I just hit the "X" and closed the whole internet window.
I woke up this morning and got ready to finish my application. I had all of the necessary information in front of me, including the approval from all of my references. I opened my hotmail and saw an email from the hospital I was in the process of applying to. I opened the email expecting it to be a form letter thanking me for starting an application. I was wrong. It was a personalized letter from the human resources department letting me know that the application I had submitted was incomplete. I know it's incomplete, I haven't submitted it yet!! Apparently, I had submitted it, and now look like a complete idiot. Who would submit an application without a work history, education history, or any references?! I'm sure that's what they were thinking when they wrote "REJECT" at the top of my application. This whole job search thing is not going as planned....