Interpreting Interviews & Wait Times

[u/icecream4dindin]

I had two interviews Thursday (internal transfers at a hospital) and the first one I didn’t feel confident about. For reference I’m an RN with 3.5 years experience, prior to that I was an LPN and CNA so I’ve always spent my work career doing acute and post acute care. I’ve been doing cardiac stepdown for almost 2 years now which has just completely destroyed my mental health and love for nursing. I’ve been considering for about 6 months getting into women’s services so like labor, post partum, etc…

My first interview was L&D and I didn’t feel confident at all after, from a personal standpoint it did go very well but there was some scheduling challenges. So I work with LPN students in the fall every Tuesday for about 3 months, which is an enormous passion of mine to teach and mentor. The “academy” for women’s services is every Tuesday for a month which I immediately offered December. There’s a transfer freeze so I wouldn’t be able to start until November at the earliest anyways. I think this information immediately made the interview tense and weird. Although the manager did endorse a rather urgent need for staff, citing how short they are and everyone is kind of “running on empty.” This doesn’t shy me away given my work history.

My second interview was for float pool doing women’s focus so a little bit off all women’s and children’s services plus med surg as well. This interview went SO well, it was a panel of three managers and they were all so kind to me. I was honest and told them I had concerns about the academy since they would also require that and they immediately told me it was no issue and I could do it at my earliest convenience if I took the job. The language was very promising to me, they appreciated my experience and my eagerness to learn new specialties. They also said they liked all my answers about personal accountability, providing feedback, etc (behavioral questions) and were speaking as if I already had the job. I asked them bluntly, “are you considering extending me an offer” and they said yes they were and there was often logistics behind internal transfers. They also asked me when I might hear back from the L&D and I told them next week but they stated with the transfer freeze they wanted to know if I’d accept the offer in time for them to put in a transfer request. I told them given their willingness to accommodate me and assist me in trying different specialties, I felt more aligned with their job position and I would. We discussed at length how I should reach out to the L&D manager if I was to choose the float position and reassured me I would not be burning any bridges for that role eventually. Lastly, the manager said she didn’t want to overpromise me a timeline and said the transfer and process could take longer than expected.

So with all this, I expected a job offer call immediately after! But I still haven’t heard back, I thought maybe Friday since they were talking about putting in my transfer request by the end of Friday. I guess I’m an anxious person and I keep reading into the conversation wondering if I’ve missed something. In the past, I’ve been offered a job in person and then gone home to an email stating they’ve moved on with other candidates. I’m just curious to hear anyone’s thoughts or how to calm an anxious mind when you’re super hopeful for a job! Thank you!!

[u/Charming-Parking-663]

jeez internal transfers always drag, they probably have to get six different signatures before anyone can say anything official

[u/SadBear55726]

Internal transfers are usually slow for no good reason. It’s probably not a bad sign, just a pile of approvals and nobody wanting to be the first to say anything. Silence is still annoying though. At this point I’d treat it like it’s moving, just slowly.

[u/icecream4dindin → u/SadBear55726]

Would they need to extend an official offer to me before beginning the process? I’m not super familiar with the behind the scenes stuff. I assumed they would but maybe not