oh, what a relief it is!

Monday morning, around 0930 my phone rang. I looked at it and recognized the name attached to the number. It was her.

Within the past few weeks there have been many ups and downs in my professional world. I even went so far as to interviewing for a central scheduling position at The Hospital, that I was willingly going to take if it had been offered. Heck, the schedule would have been perfect. M-F, 10-1, with the possibility of going full-time, maybe. I'd been told my nursing background created interest in me for the position. I was excited.

Prior to that I'd applied for a FT RN position for the skilled unit at the nursing facility attached to The Hospital. I received a call, then, informing me that I had to choose between that or going forward with applying for the new grad program to start in July, that at that point wasn't a solid possibility. So, after thinking on it over that weekend I chose to move forward with the application for the skilled unit. At least then I'd have my foot in the door. Last week I received an email informing me the position had been filled. One of my friends, who works there, informed me that the night nurse had spoken up and taken it.

Of course, all of this came after applying and interviewing for the RN position on the ortho/peds unit in late-March/early-April.

This Monday morning my phone rang, it was her, the HR rep, and she had good news. I thought she was calling to offer me the scheduling position. Wrong!! She offered me the RN position on the ortho/peds unit! FT nights, start date June 6th! I've been on cloud 9 ever since!

Now that's a way to start a Monday! Mountain moved.

0740

That's the time my phone rang this morning. It was the HR person from The Hospital. She had "good news and some interesting news" to share with me. First off, they're trying to figure out what can be done to support a new grad on the unit. (Have I mentioned that in July I will no longer be a "new grad"....gah!?) <--can't wait. They want to hire me, but it's not as simple as "you're hired!"

Must there be such things as budgets, and personnel considerations...the current state of the US economy?

Secondly, I need to retake the pediatric pharmacology and general pediatrics assessments that I took last time I'd applied for a postion at The Hospital. I missed passing both by around two points. This didn't shock me too much. Actually, I was pleased considering this would have been around January, and at least a year, or so, after I'd studied peds. It shocked me in that I expected to miss it by a lot more.

So, I have five days to retake it according to the assessment instructions. To avoid waiting too much longer to find out if I'm hired or not, I'll only take, at the most, the next 2-3 days. This gives me time to brush up.

As far as the current job goes, I finally received my schedule when I worked this past Friday. Normally schedules should be provided before the month they're posted for, right? Not at the fine establishment I'm so lucky to be working at. As a matter of fact, I'd gone in a week ago this past Thursday, so on the 31st, and asked for mine. No-can-do, it wasn't completed yet. Hmmm, with only being put on it for two days, exactly what was so hard in completing it? Yeah, two days. Two lowly days is all that I was scheduled for, for the month of April. Now, I did request to be put on as PRN (as needed) and they've just hired a bunch of people, therefore fully-staffed, so I'm not as needed as needs be. [--stop here before going on and on about the wonderful...oh, just stop!

Today we have one of those teen-who-needs-to-learn-lessons-the-hardest-ways-possible-because-of-his-own-bad-decisions kinds of appointments with a robed individual. We're actually looking at a deal, but considering he swears up and down that he didn't take part in one of the charges, or at least directly, we might be able to fight it being that there were no fingerprints taken. And wouldn't ya know it, it's April 11th.

Really, by the time my youngest graduates high school my skin should be as thick as that of a rhinoceros', that, or I'll have a one-way ticket to a state institution.

...and maybe I'll be more than a "new grad"...

slumpalicious

If Weird Al Yankovic wrote me a song based on my current life situation it would be entitled "Slumpalicious" and he would sing it to the tune of "Fergalicious". That's where it would end because I by no means make any boys go loco. Well, maybe I drive my male offspring crazy. sometimes.

Anyway...

I've been in a bit of a slump lately. Things have not gone the way I thought they would have at this point in my life. In particular, I thought for sure I would be employed by now - I'm not. I thought I would have a date to take the NCLEX - I do not. It's all pretty frustrating and what makes it worse is I have little to no control over any of it at the moment. My fellow new grads and I, from my school, are still awaiting the entry of our transcripts into the SBN system. There are no new grad positions open anywhere and as the days go on we're further and further from being considered new grads. Without test dates we're unable to test and therefore have yet to be licensed.

It's ridiculous. I know my program was not the only program in the state, but come on! We've heard other new grads, from other programs, have received their ATTs and have subsequently been able to schedule their NCLEX dates.

Aside from all this I'm just feeling down in the dumps. I'm not used to being at home all the time with little to no social interaction. It's like a catch 22. Need to study for a test that I have yet to know when I'm taking it, and I can't get a job...

I've applied many places. Most places want a year or more of experience. If it's not been a requirement I've gone ahead and applied. I've even applied for a couple of non-RN jobs. One position was for an EKG support associate and one is as a medical assistant. At this point beggars can't be choosers.



I'm even considering a job that's not even in the medical field. It would be doing what I did before nursing school and that's working as a teacher's aide. There's also a social service assistant position open at a local nursing home. Honestly, I just want to work. Fortunately the social calendar is filling up over the next month. Tons of stuff is going on and I look forward to it.

Of course, then I still have NCLEX to study for...

resounding bleakness

Last year around this time I was obsessively looking at the area hospitals' job search pages. At the time you could be sure to find new grad postings.

Now?

Not so much.

In fact, the only thing comparable is the RNA (RN applicant) position open at a local university hospital. It's for a renal/respiratory unit. It's not really my cup of pee, I mean tea, but at this point, I'll take anything! That reminds me I need to check out another university's job postings. It's further then most of the others, but it's better than nothing.



A huge medical center, that is set to open in a couple of months, is hiring for various RN positions and I did come across one on their women's and children's pre/post-partum unit. I applied for it. The chances of me getting that job are so bleak it's funny, but what the hey. It's good practice filling out the applications.

It's so bad in this area that even the people I know who work in our local community hospital as externs or clinical techs (that are also graduating next month) - the one where we're doing our preceptorships - aren't even guaranteed positions. In fact this very hospital just laid off 35+ people in various departments, to include department heads, this past week. All I ask is that they leave the nurses alone! I mean there's enough competition out there with the hordes of all the other new grads that are also currently searching for jobs, without throwing in nurses who have experience.

I will work anywhere...hospital, doctors office, school...I am not picky!