The last 'Get To Work' post was in September. I had an interview scheduled for September 24th and still hadn't heard back from the recruiter. I've avoided another 'Get To Work' post as not much has changed and instead just added updates in my 'Update' posts. Let's play catch up then.
I had the interview. It went fine. It was with the HUM, the Warden, and a woman from human resources who used to be the Warden's secretary. I've worked with all three of these people before. I got a chance to explain what happened with me leaving, going to the state hospital, my migraines, me leaving work, two years of hell/healing, and me being ready to return to work and loving the idea of coming back to that facility where I'd been both a floor nurse and a supervisor and had started my nursing career. On the way out of the interview the HUM told me that they were going through a whole thing with hiring a nurse who had worked for 'us' before. She'd worked with us as an LPN then quit to pursue her RN license after I'd moved on. They now wanted to hire her back but the HUM told me that it was a whole issue in re-hiring a former employee and it was taking over a month.
That's an important conversation as I put a lot of weight on it. I figured she was telling me that it might take awhile for them to hire me.
The normal process for interviews and hiring, specifically for state employees (not contract nurses) is that after all of the interviews they select their candidate. HR then contacts their references and so long as the references check out, they make an offer to the candidate. They then contact all of the other interviewees and let them know they went with another candidate. That normally takes a couple days, maybe a week. After the first week without hearing anything, I got a good feeling as taking longer than normal might mean they were in the 're-hire' state of me. In other words, it was taking longer than normal.
So I waited. I waited for a full month. I figured it wouldn't be out of line to at least inquire about the position, so I send an email to the HR rep that had set up the interview and asked her what the status of the job was. On October 29th, five days after I sent in the query and the morning I was heading down to Texas on a vacation, I got an email... they went with another candidate.
To say I was surprised is a major understatement. I was flabbergasted. How the fuck did they interview someone else and take a month to let me know they went with another candidate.
After freaking out for about an hour, I finally calmed down enough to send an email to the HUM.
Understand, the HUM and I have worked together on and off for over six years with half of them as HUM and Supervisor. She's not just a person I'm seeking employment from, she's a work colleague and a work friend.
I won't go into all the details as it was a longish email, but I emphasized that I wasn't upset at her and could easily understand why she'd go with a different candidate rather than me. And that's true. I've been in those interviews before. I've been part of opening up a job specifically to hire a contract nurse in as a state employee, and having to interview several people that have NO chance of getting the job. Maybe this was that. And the HUM isn't a mean spirited person. So I emphasized that I wasn't upset with her or the staff at that prison. But I asked if something was going on. I explained the interaction with the recruiter, getting told that I participated in an interview that didn't happen, that I lost out on a job to another candidate when no one else was hired, that the recruiter basically ghosted me and then simply 'sent my email to the central HR', and now getting this interview and waiting for a month only to be told they went with another candidate. I asked specifically if there was a black mark on my record or if there was someone telling her to NOT hire me.
That was now a week ago and I haven't heard anything back.
I can think of a dozen different explanations for all of this but none of them makes full sense. They all require actions that are well outside of normal. And as much as I want to know what's going on, that doesn't help me get a job, and getting a job is my main goal right now.
So, where does this leave me? I think there are four possibilities:
- I've been blackballed at that prison. Either the HUM or the Warden have put their foot down and I'm simply not welcome back there.
- I've been blackballed by the department of corrections. One of the Director's of Nursing or some other higher up position has listed me as not welcome.
- I've been blackballed by the state. Something happened when I left/quit and I now can't return as a state employee.
- This is all a big misunderstanding on my part, everybody is busy, they really did have someone they wanted more than me but are welcome to me coming in when there is an opportunity, and I just have to keep applying.
The second option is also likely because of the way the recruiter ghosted me. I mean, her whole job is to get people into positions. I simply cannot believe that of the nine or ten prisons that are within driving distance of me, that NONE have any open RN positions. And that they haven't had any openings in the almost three months since I contacted her.
So, where does this leave me?
First, I'm not going to simply give up on what I've already done. Sometime this week, likely today, I'm going to reach out to the HUM again. I need her to at least respond to my email even if she doesn't answer the questions. She can at least acknowledge that I reached out. I'll judge her on what she says as I'm already judging her on the fact that she HASN'T responded in a week. That's just mean spirited. I'll also reach out to the recruiter again. If she wants to stick to the 'I sent your email to the central HR' line, I want a person that I can contact at 'central HR'. I want someone to say that they either have NO open positions or that I am simply NOT a candidate. I won't be left in this grey gloom of not knowing.
Second, I'll reach out to the State Hospital. I'll do this in two ways. They still have the job listing for the manager position there, so I'll put my application in. I'll also reach out to the manager I emailed before, the one that said they were on a hiring freeze. Hopefully she was playing straight with me and they're now hiring again.
Third, I'll look on the state jobs site and strongly consider other state nursing jobs. I don't think there are any currently, but I haven't looked through them with actual consideration in awhile so it's at least worth a look.
Fourth, I'll look at other 'correctional' nursing options. This will be federal and jails. I know there is at least one federal prison that's close by and several former state nurses work there. There are also jails in nearby counties that would technically work, though I believe they farm their nursing care out to third party companies which means shitty nursing. But it's still correctional nursing, so there's that.
Fifth, there's contract nursing. This just came to me yesterday, but I can always look into who the state is hiring contract nurses through and see if they can get me in for a job.
I think those are enough options to go with. Contact the HUM, contact the recruiter, apply to the state hospital, contact the manager at the state hospital. I can get those things done today and feel that I made some good progress. Then tomorrow or Friday I can look at the state website, the federal website, and investigate into the county jails. Next week, if I don't feel there's any movement on any of those fronts, I can move toward the contract nursing position.
I can't express just how pissed off this makes me. WHY!?!?! Why don't they want me back? Why are they not responding to me?
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