More interviews

I didn't get the Float Pool job. Even after I sent a thank you letter and everything. But oh well, it made me a little nervous to have my first year of working as a nurse on 7 different units! Perhaps with my anxiety-prone personality, it wouldn't have been the best choice anyway. But this past Wednesday I got another interview with Primary Children's Immunocompromised Unit. It was the first group interview that I had ever had. There were 9 other females involved in this interview, and before we were taken into the conference room, everyone was chatting excitedly getting to know one another. But I couldn't help but giggle inside because I really doubt these girls want to be my 'friend' just yet since we are in competition with one another. Two girls flew in from Oregon, one came from Nevada, one from Westminster College, 3 from BYU, and 3 (including me) from the U! My two friends from the U worked there and had their capstone there, so I pretty much new they had the job, but hopefully I would be hired to since the unit has good relations with two U students.

The interview started out with everyone giving a short introduction about themselves. I was one of the first to get and kept it short and sweet, but as the introductions went on, so did the length and overkill of the intros. One of the girls gave like a speech about her values and how they would work for the unit's mission and values. It was awkward, since it was casual until that girl began her clearly rehearsed speech. Whatever.

Then there was a short game where we broke up into teams and tried to put certain inventions in chronological order. Many of the inventions were food-related, so of course I kept my team laughing by making jokes about how I love food and was just trying to lighten the mood. After it was over, they informed us that they just wanted to see how we communicated with our teammates. Hopefully they like laid back, funny people?

Eventually, I got my solo interview and they greeted me by name and remembered what I said in my intro. I attribute that to my memorable red hair and my strategically placed bow in my hair to make me stand out from the rest. These questions weren't as long or intimidating as the float pools, but they were thought-provoking.
One of the questions: Primary Children's Mission Statement includes their 4 main values: Accountability, Mutual Respect, Excellence, and Trust.
My response: Those are all great values for people to strive for, but I would definitely have to say trust. My Dad always taught me that in any relationships you encounter, you can like anyone, get along with anyone, work with anyone just fine, but only a handful of people will you be able to trust. Being able to trust someone in hospital relationships means that you know they have the knowledge to care for any patient, and if they don't, you trust that they know when to ask for help. You can trust them that they'll always strive for excellence, and you can trust that they will maintain good values and respect all individuals.

The committee seemed quite impressed with that response, and when I relayed my some of my answers to my friends they replied, "Mannn. Can I steal your answers??" I laughed and it was encouraging.

The other question they asked: Have you dealt with people with cancer or with death much in your life?

This was hard, and I don't have much experience with cancer except a summer job at American Cancer Society, which was more behind the scenes clerical work then face-to-face interactions with cancer patients. But I told them about all my grandparents being deceased, but decided to not tell them how emotional I was and how I couldn't keep it together at their funerals, but I use exercise as a way to deal with any stresses I have. I did tell them about a time I was in the room when my patient passed away from a slow progressing disease and how spiritual it was. Being in a situation where life and death seemed so connected has changed the way I view life and how I live on a daily basis. The question also made me realize how hard this job would be, because their patients are there frequently and attachments are made. This can be great because my friend who works there remarked how happy/tearful it makes her when a patient comes back after remission from cancer with a full head of hair and is able to jump around, and months ago the child wasn't able to even walk anymore. I'm willing to engage in this kind of environment though because every employee I talk to in the hospital say that the Immunocompromised Unit is the most awesome place to work.

So I guess I will just wait in the next week to see. They said it would take two weeks to make a decision because they had some phone interviews, but rumor has it they are taking 6-9 new grads, so fingers crossed!

4 more shifts until my Capstone is done, and one month and one day until graduation day!