I didn't end up having to call about the behavioral health hospital manager job. The recruiter texted me that they went with an internal candidate. She immediately followed that text asking if I'd be interested in working as a floor or admissions nurse. Either job would be 12 hour shifts... at night. 7 PM to 7 AM.
Fuck.
Not gonna lie, that hit hard. Returning to work as a nurse manager, working 8 hour shifts in the late afternoon and evening, Monday through Friday, sounded about as ideal as I could ask for. I let the disappointment overwhelm me for about an hour before picking myself up and making sure I responded. At the very least, this was another possible job and I needed more of those.
I answered as professionally as I could, thanking them for the opportunity and interviews and stating both my disappointment in not receiving the job and my understanding of them going with an internal candidate. I then followed that up with a text saying that I was impressed with both the staff and the hospital and did have some interested in working as either a floor nurse or an admissions nurse. I added that I'd likely prefer the admissions role, but that I'd need more information to make an educated decision.
It took her four hours to respond which was a little crazy making but she finally texted back that the COO, the gentleman I'd interviewed with before, would 'love to chat with you' and discuss the role and responsibilities of both the floor and the arrivals positions. To save me driving, they set this up as an MS TEAMS meeting and the head of the admissions team would be in on the discussion.
It sounded good to me, figuring it would be a short conversation. My main question about the admissions role is just how busy is it at night. I can imagine all the work that goes into an admission, especially when most of the staff isn't on hand, but just how many admissions occur at night. And if it's not that busy, am I just sitting around doing nothing? THAT would be crazy making.
I figured that so long as they admissions role sounded okay and that I wouldn't be left just twiddling my thumbs for hours on end, I'd happily do this job. After all, I did admissions at the local prison, 'welcoming' inmates from the county jail and being their first introduction to the prison healthcare system.
I'm going to have to stop saying this but... I'm well qualified for this job. Hell, they were interviewing me for the position two spots above this. They should feel comfortable with me doing this role.
When the recruiter got back with me regarding the time, it was with the full email TEAMS invite. The only thing that throws me is that it's titled "Virtual Interview". I thought this was just a discussion, not an interview. But hey, like I said, unless I get bad information I'm willing to do this job. Having this be an interview could save time.
Anyway, that's tomorrow morning. Best case scenario, I get offered a job on the spot. Worst case, I get bad vibes and have to wait weeks for an answer.
The other thing happening is with the contract company hiring for the prison system. I checked in with them and they still haven't heard whether I passed the background check or not. That puts me a full step behind even getting my application in front of the HUM.
Last thing about this possible job... night work. I did my last series of clinicals in nursing school at night. At the time I figured my first job would be the 'shitty shift' and I'd be working nights anyway. It wasn't bad when I could set the days up right. The important thing was not having class the day before AND the day after. Ideally I'd have nothing the day before or after so that I could sleep in until around 4 PM, get up, get around, go to clinicals, get home around 8 AM, and go to sleep for a few hours. I wasn't trying to maintain a night shift mentality as I still had school, but it's not like I was struggling to stay awake.
But that was 15 years ago. How easily am I going to work on a 12 hour night schedule now? The only reference I have is being mandated to work overnight at the prison and I'd almost always worked a full shift before and was ready to sleep when the night shift ended. I had trouble staying awake and was NOT at my best.
I think regardless of my body clock, these will be hard days nights if I take them on. But as the recruiter said, this would get my foot in the door and make getting a job as a house supervisor or RN Manager more likely.
UPDATE 01/30/2026
I had the interview. I think it went well. It was only briefly with the COO, but he did tell me that he specifically recommended me for this position. The director of the department I was supposed to meet with has been out on FMLA for several weeks so I met her stand in, a program director for the same company. He was cool. His work history is that of a counselor and not a nurse, but understood that this is a nurses position and he's worked in admissions before.
He was able to describe the position and... yeah... it sounds like it will be boring. Thankfully they don't have nurses work alone there, so there would be two of us working the shift. At least I'd have someone to talk to.
He seemed very impressed with me, especially after I described what I did at the intake center for the prison system. It's a similar job.
Now, my judgement of how people feel about me has been off. I haven't walked out of an interview feeling that I've done bad, yet I haven't got a job yet. BUT, this guy went into what the schedule would be (12 hour shifts, three days in a row, different days every other week in a repeating fashion) and said he would be sending my information on to HR to make an offer.
So... yay?
Afterward I went to the company's career website and found a new listing for this very position. It still doesn't list the pay, but it DOES list a $10,000 sign on bonus. I sent a text to the recruiter asking if I'd be eligible for that and she said 'You absolutely should!'
So... yay!?
I also should hear about the contract to work in the state prison early next week (got the approval on the background check and my contractor is finding out if the position is still open), and I got a sheet to fill out for the federal prison seeking an interview, but it lists the pay and the pay is WAY too low. We'll see how those play out, but if I had to choose between the three, assuming the pay between the federal prison and the behavioral hospital are roughly the same, I'd still go with the behavioral hospital.
No comments:
Post a Comment