Feb 12 2009
75% luck and 25% hard-headed determination
The economic recession has become palpable as friends both within and outside of nursing have been unemployed for months now. Soon-to-be RNs are beginning to ask, “How did you find your job?,” but I’m afraid the answer isn’t helpful: It was 75% luck and 25% hard-headed determination (I’ve changed these percentages after protests about not giving ourselves more credit), because last year the job hunt was already frustrating. For every one new-grad position in the Bay area, we were told there were 200-plus applicants.
Looking back, I can’t find my story of how I found my acute care job. I thought I wrote about it, but I seemed to have left off at the tiresome job search. As I said, “For two weeks I gradually descended into an unnatural, feverish state as I churned out letters, e-mailed connections from two years ago, hovered around nurse manager’s offices, and called managers until someone picked up.”
Well, one day a manager did pick up her phone. I asked her if she had any positions for new grads.
Manager: “I actually do have one position open for 24 hours a week.”
Me (tone is ecstatic): “Can I please fax you my resume directly?”
Manager: “You should fax it to HR.”
Me (tone is urgent): “I have already, several times, but they keep telling me there aren’t any positions and you know how online applications just get lost in the shuffle. Can I please send it directly to you today?”
Manager (hesitates): Hmm, um, what school did you go to?”
Me: UCSF.
Manager: UCSF? Hm, OK. Fax it to me.
Within one week, I interviewed, and in the second week, got the offer. Did my nursing school make any difference? Perhaps. Was my urgency and persistence a factor? Probably. Did I happen to call the right person at the right time? Definitely.
Here’s another story that underscores the theory that this process is 75% luck and 25% hard-headed determination. During lunch today, a friend, who was in my MEPN class, retold how she found her job in pediatrics at UCSF. I’ve paraphrased her story here:
- [My husband] says it wasn’t luck; he says I fought for the job, but I think it was mostly luck. I remember I’d already applied to many new grad (Peds) programs as early as December, but I hadn’t heard back from anyone. Then I heard that [classmate A, B, and C] all had interviews for the Peds program at UCSF. I was really baffled because none of them were going to specialize in Peds, but I am, and I applied early, online, because they [HR] said it was first come first served… More time passed and I learned that the classmates who got interviews all went to the managers’ offices.
- I started to feel upset and frustrated because I’d done everything the recruiter assured me was the right thing to do, and I didn’t go to the managers because I was trying to respect their time, but still I wasn’t getting called. I wrote a long and up-front email to the recruiter bringing up this matter and the contradictions.I also went to see my advisor, who is a head person in the Peds units. I told her everything and asked her, ‘What is going on? What is the real process?’ I must have been really worked up because she immediately picked up the phone and called a Peds manager and said, ‘You have a couple positions coming up right? I have a student here and she is smart, committed …” etc. The positions had not been posted yet, but my advisor said I could arrange to see the manager.
- Right after I left her office I decided to drop in on the manager, because I was determined. I happened to be in the elevator with her! Right away she said we could have a quick interview. After 10 minutes she said, ‘I like you. Come back for a formal interview.’ Within 10 days, I had my job. I couldn’t believe it.
