While most of my instructors and denizens at nursing forums say, "apply in person for jobs," I've had mixed results with doing that. Some are receptive to me; some are rather PO'ed that I did that; and few have landed me an interview. Yesterday was one of the successes--it went well and landed me a second interview in a few days. It's skilled nursing/LTC, but from the sound of it so far, it's a great facility and I will be learning a lot. And after my enlightenment of the other day, SN/LTC doesn't sound anywhere as much of a put-off as it used to...especially since I learned from a reputable source that one of the hospitals that I've been applying to is on a sacking spree. Even long-term employees (nursing and otherwise) are being let go.
That doesn't mean I've stopped applying there. But I'm being rather selective about what hours I'm available. I don't want to get a night shift job, rearrange my life, and find myself fired in 3 months. I'm not rearranging my life around no job security, thank you.
Anyhow, the SNF just picked up my friend for a job (different units) and she filled me in on how her interview went, so I've got all weekend to prep for it. Hopefully they won't hire someone between now and Monday. Ok, I'm paranoid, but with this economy, anything can happen. The Perfect Nurse could show up on their doorstep today, everyone happened to be free to interview her, she'll land the job, and on Monday they'll be picking up the phone to make the "Dear Meriwhen" call as I walk through the door 15 minutes early for my interview.
I could have scheduled the interview today, but I was due to volunteer at the clinic. I'm glad I didn't change my schedule for a few reasons. First, I felt it reflected upon my work ethic and showed the SNF that I am responsible and take my commitments, even volunteer ones, seriously. Second, it was a very busy day at the clinic and I got to do a lot of patient teaching as well as learn more about the charting system. Last, I made a major networking contact...major as in within an hour of meeting and getting to know a bit about me, she was making calls to the HR department of the hospital she was affiliated with--and I hadn't asked her to! I would not have dreamt of being that rude....but she took it upon herself to do that. If the skilled nursing job interview doesn't pan out, hopefully she can help me out. At the least, maybe she'll allow me to list her as a reference.
Overall, a very good day. I'm so proud of my friend for landing the job...and I feel responsible for it too: after lunch, I was going to the SNF and told her, "come along, you have nothing to lose!" She didn't know I was going but decided to come along, and the rest is history. It was nice that we were interviewed for separate units so we would not have had to compete against each other. But if I did have to lose out on an application to someone, I'd rather it be her. She's a good person and deserves it.
Hopefully someone will think I'm a good person who deserves it too and hire me somewhere.
In my travels, I've come across a few people that were surprised that I volunteer as a RN because they felt that it was "risky" to my license. I thought about that too...and realized that the greatest risk to my license would not be from volunteering itself, but from doing things out of the scope of my practice. I'm a nurse, a RN to be precise. If I go in and start medically diagnosing patients, prescribing medications, filling prescriptions, then yes, I'm out of my scope as those are not nurse duties. If I try to start a PICC line or intubate someone, then yes, I'm out of my scope as I do not have the training for that. If I provide patient education, help develop a care plan, take vitals, help the NP with procedures, those are all within the scope of my practice as well as things that for the most part I am qualified to do. I don't see how evil volunteering can be. If anything, as long as I follow the key rule of always staying within my scope, the benefits far outweigh the risks.
So this weekend: more interview prepping, getting out to enjoy the weekend since this is the best I've felt in a long time, and kitchen appliance shopping. My dishwasher has finally given up the ghost and so it's time to get a new one.
