Looking for a nursing job?

I've been dragged, er, lucky enough to be asked by my boss to meet some of the interview candidates at the Hotel.

Part of my job is to also ask questions on our standard questionnaire (which is very short).

While I'm not Ask Annie, I am old (or "seasoned" as the PC people say) when it comes to interviews. If you want real specific HR information for yourself, you'll need to get an HR guru in your own state, as laws vary.

So here are my general tips.

RehabRN's top tips for interviewing success

1. Show up on time.
Not too early (we had one candidate show up at the end of night shift) and not late. NOTE: you may need to leave early to make sure you get to us on time, don't get stuck in traffic, find a place to park, and find the room.

2. Dress professionally.
Neat and clean are especially important, whether you are in scrubs or a suit.

3. Know the job description from the posting.
They may not give it to us to give to you (happens a lot). This is a valuable chunk of information that can help you ask questions of the job.

4. Answer the questions we ask you.
In the worst ever interview, one person was so slow in responding we thought he/she was asleep. He/she was the first interview of the day at 0900, so we're not sure if he/she just finished night shift, or was stoned. (it was hard to tell).

You know it's bad when your manager pleads, "Please, you must answer the question." (this actually happened.)

5. Be able to talk about your job and how you do it.
As the old saying goes, "It ain't bragging if it's true."  We don't know anything about you if you don't tell us.

We will check to see if a reference backs up your storyline. Make sure you have good ones (and at least one manager).

6. Have questions to ask of us about the job.
We can't tell you everything, but we can give you an idea of what you'll do. Preparation is key.

7. Leave your attitudes at the door.
Especially if it's bad or entitled.

8. Never assume.
Never act like we will just hire you because of your RN license and/or your impressive resume. Just because your spouse works in another department down the hall and a job at the Hotel would allow you to carpool is another thing that is not guaranteed to get you hired.

We may not hire you if you are not a good fit with the rest of the personalities, I mean, team, at the Hotel.

Need more information? Check out these sites:
http://www.hrworld.com/features/interviewing-cheat-sheet-092507/
http://humanresources.about.com/od/interviewing/ 
http://careerplanning.about.com/od/jobinterviews/

Best of luck in your next interview!

One day

When I retire, I may have to write a book entitled, "The Poop Chronicles". Some days are so FOS, as the radiologists say.

Recently, WildDog, who is getting pretty old, now only relieves himself on our front porch (next to the bushes) or in the driveway. He's gotten pretty adept at surrounding the RehabRN family truckster with feces. Most of the time, Dahey cleans up after him quickly. 

Not so much this weekend. Dog poop turned into smashed dog poop in the driveway. Now, we have to get out the scraper or maybe even the dreaded hose.

And while most of you may go to boring old staff meetings where certain members of the "interdisciplinary team" only show up if there is food available and a show, we are different. The game of choice for our team: complain about the nursing staff BEFORE the manager gets to the meeting. Don't wait, don't give a recap, leave the recap to the office manager to do that.

I wonder what those industrial psychologists would say about our "team dynamics".  Poopy, was my first thought, and it wasn't because incontinence in therapy was mentioned, either.

Lots of fertile ideas, and they aren't all poopy.

That is all. Enjoy your day!

Friday the 13th

It's come and gone.

A little fire, a little ice, a lot of interesting stuff. How many fire alarms did we have today? I have no idea because I stopped counting after the first four. Old buildings are interesting.

I just wish the doc who was in my meeting hadn't fallen asleep with boredom. Dad (the chief of his section) made no efforts to keep him awake. I was the bad nurse, as I commented when he went by, "Hope I didn't disturb your nap too much." Like an insolent child, he glared at me. I really wanted to say, "I have lots of practice with a little kid." but I was nice.

It wasn't all bad, though. My husband even got me lunch today on his day off. I worked with some really nice patients. I felt like I got things done.

The day ended, and it was beautiful outside. It was worth the wait.

Enjoy your weekend, wherever you are!

Is it the end?

It certainly is almost the end of the weekend and the end of the year. I will miss that, the weekend part, anyway.

WildDog is getting slower and more incontinent. Not sure when/if his end will come soon. I thought about it the other day when I wrote the Christmas letter. We have had WildDog since before Bubba was born, and he was about 5 years old when we got him. He is getting gray around his muzzle, too.

Even though, he's an old dog, he loves the head scratches and ear rubs.

My car is making all sorts of noises. Dahey is in charge of investigating that. What joy! It's older than Bubba and almost as old as WildDog.

I'm thinking it might be time to just buy a little compact to go back and forth to work, since I'm lucky enough to be close to the Hotel.

Plenty to think about...