All People in All Surveys (United States)

I was working for a corporation for the first time and for the first 8 months I worked for a manager who really didn't make a big deal out of corporate policy. Every now and then she would mention it but not obsessively. She quit not too long ago and the interim manager is straight out of the rule book. I was overwhelmed. I tried hard but I just couldn't get it fast enough. I was fired without a chance to make up for myself. That is so frustrating. If I ever become a manager, I will always talk to the employee before making a decision to fire them.

My first boss hired me knowing my skills and experience including background. He worked for me, as my client. He hired me, for a nice increase, current vacation time, and very fair negotiations. He left the company for a better opportunity. I was still doing a great job. I worked for this company for 2 years and was never given a raise, with the highest reviews I could possibly get. Nor did I receive any of my semi-annual bonuses as my new boss felt I was over paid and earned "too much" vacation. I never did get a bonus or raise. I was let go the day of, yet, another review. This time I was promised one month earlier that I would receive my full bonus. I was excited. Only to find out that my boss and HR were both in an office together and this was not my review, but a "General Release" termination. I found out the next day in our Large city news paper that the company was bought out. I was not told this the day before. I am really having a hard time getting my resume together and contacting people with my level of experience and I am not quite sure why I was let go. In the same sentence, I was told "you have done a GREAT job".

If you quit, were fired or your position was eliminated here is what you can say:

- You quit because there was no room for advancement. You are an ambtious person that wants to grow with the company and you didn't think there was an opportunity for you to reach your professional goals there.

- If you were fired you can explain that personal issues were conflicting your work performance but those issues have been resolved. Never say anything negative about your recent employer, in fact (with lots of confidence) encourage your interviewer to contact your previous employer for a satisfactory recommendation.

- If your position was eliminated, just say so. It wasn't because your performance wasn't the greatest, it was because that specific function was eliminated or substituted by high tech internet resources (which it's true these days).

You can also say something like: "No matter how good an employer and an employee can be, if there is no chemistry, it is not going to work". They will love to hear that (...because it's true)

It all stated many years ago when I was first out of nursing school and was made charge nuse when I was only approximately 4 months out of school. During that time we got minimimal feedback from administration and how they wanted to have things run. I concentrated on the nurses working for me, and making sure those nurses provided appropriate patient care no matter what else happened. When I changed jobs to go in the ICU at the same facility my montra remained the same.. Take care of my patients and their families as best as would could, then help the other nusrses take care of their assignments the same. I have always been oriented about what was best for the patient and the patient family. Not necessarily if it was the perfect administrative way to handle it. I even went to work with school based nursing for approximately 3 years. I really enjoyed that work - one on one with the student trying to make a difference in their daily lives. I feel like I had an impact on the students there and hopefully an impact on the way they will live their lives. I decided to go back to working full-time in the hospital setting in the ER. I had worked some relief there but decided I liked it enough to go full-time. I love how you never know what will come in the door next. It could be a GSW or a tooth ache. In between the trauma, you get really sick patients who need to be taken care of as compassionately and quickly as possible. Their family also needes a moment to try to grasp what is going on with their family member. This is where is am partly my best. Yes I can stablize a pt near the brink of death, but that doesn't mean anything unless the family can be there to be with their loved one. I had to do this last weekend - call a family in Texas and tell them their mother had a massive CVA and would not be able to recover from it. Thankfully, both brother and sister made it to the bedside before she passed away. That makes me feel good that the children were able to be with their mother at the time of their passing. That's what nursing is to me - taking care of the patients and the families. My problem evidently lied where I was too vocal and adament that a pt be moved up stairs quickly so the family and pt would be more comfortable that being in an ER. I also expected alot of my nurses to move patients efficently either toward disposition or admission. If everyone isn't working toward a common goal, it can become lost and gridlocked. Everyone has to be a team member - the doctor, nurse, resp therapist, tech, secretary, radiology, phlebotomist, house keeping, food services, etc has a job to do that helps take care of one pt. All to often there is a breakdown in one of these teams that cane affect how a pt gets cared for. That is where the Charge Nurse comes in. It is his/her duty to make sure everything runs smoothly and everyone gets the job done for the patient and the family. As a charge nurse I worked so hard to get the patients into the er and get them back out of the er as quickly as possible. Find out want was wrong with them along with the other team members, develop treatment plan, and either admit the pt to the hospital or send the pt home with the proper advice and follow up. It has been said that not all nurses appreciate what I am trying to do in moving pts as quickly as possible. They complain that they don't want their rooms filled up with pts again, that they haven't had their smoke break, etc. The floors complain that the patients come upstairs too soon even though the patient has been waiting in the ER on a stretcher for 12-15 hours waiting for their room to get cleaned. I think if you know that a patient is coming to a room you should be ready whether it comes in 5 mintues or 5 hours. Ambulance drivers not knowing what they are bring in or the severity of what they are bring in also makes the life of a charge nurse anxiety ridden. Have they diagnosed the pt correctly and started the apporpriate treatment or have they made things worse. Did the medic bring the pt to the wrong hospital. What was the pt and family's wishes. This can call for heated exchanges between the ambulance personnel and the charge nurse. But no matter in the end the pt is the one we will take care of no matter what. I always felt my job was to #1 take care of the patients and their families, #2 make sure my staff was taken care of and was doing their jobs correctly and efficiently, #3 Be the go to person for when anyone needs advice or a skill leason, #4 was there for my staff when ever or where ever they needed me. They could always count on me to be there for them. Administration just didn't like the fact that I took care of all these people so loudly that I "shook the cages" to often. I only wanted to provided the best care to the patients, the patient families, and to support and care for my staff of doctors, nurses, techs, and secretaries to the best of my abilities. Maybe I was to vocal or took to much one at one time. I would like another chance to concentrate on patient care again. I will miss the ones I concered by extended family.

Almost from the beginning, my supervisor tried to fired me, coming with remarks such as (if it was up to me I would have fired you already), from all the years that I've been working, I never seen discrimination until that day.

A few months pass by, and my supervisor complain 3 to 4 times to his supervisor about me not working hard enough or not getting along with the other employees, without talking to me first about what was the reason of the complaint. All of the sudden I was called to the office of the main supervisor, who heard complains about me, which was the first time that I heard about it. They took the word of the supervisor over mine, so out to the street I went.

On my last day working with that supervisor, he told me what a great job I did. My advice, watch your back and be sure who you can trust.

Nursing appears to be a very territorial profession and sadly, many compete for the favor of our doctors. If you ever have a preceptor who takes more smoke breaks than work assignments, ask to be re-assigned (forget about hurt feelings) your livelihood is on the line.

When switching from one department to another; when asked, be carefull how you portray the old department.

I was offered what I thought was my dream job three weeks before my wedding. The recruiter pressured me into starting right before the wedding. I finally agreed because I thought I'd found my dream job and I was afraid of losing it if I didn't start when they wanted. I told both the recruiter and the company's HR manager that I thought it was a bad idea to start when I knew I had a wedding and a week-long honeymoon coming up - not to mention the additional stress that would come along with balancing wedding planning with a new job.

Sure enough - I got sick two weeks in because of stress and my fiancee broke his ankle a week before the big day. Two days before the ceremony my new employer decided that "it wasn't working out" because I was "taking too much time off." Never mind the fact that I told my manager point-blank that my attendance would be sporadic until after the wedding. Never mind the fact that I offered - repeatedly - to work from home to compensate that. Never mind that he said he was agreeable to both things.

Lesson learned: never, ever allow a recruiter to pressure you into a situation that you know isn't a good idea. If the company wants you that bad, they'll wait. If they don't, well, then there are better jobs out there.

I landed the best job ever. I was good at it, enjoyed it, and gave it my fullest potential. Training my self, researching on the internet, and I excelled. It seems that this threatened and made my boss uncomfortable. I was wrongfully terminated. Having all proof of this it did me no good. This devistated me. Knocked me down so hard I couldn't get back up for months. So do you do your absolute best at all times or just what is required. Is it ok to go above and beyond? What ever you decide, be careful. There are others that don't like to see another get ahead, don't appreciate your efforts, and may even hold it against you. Be sure not to step on any toes. Keep records, documentation, all information to protect yourself. Weather it does do you good or not, you will know yourself that you did your best. Don't let anyone tell you that you are incompitent. Show them you are. Be confident but respectful at all times. Don't over step yourself. And biting your tongue can be beneficial to you. It's ok to go home with a feeling of accomplishment from you days work...

I was devastated! I found my dream job before 5 months before I graduated with my degree. I was so excited. I am a very motivated and positive person. Also a very hard worker and love to learn! I dedicated myself to this job. After 8 months, I was leaving for the day and they laid it on me-the office manager and the medical biller. I was in shock. I had no idea that this was coming. It was very unfair! Later I found out they fired me 1 day before they would have to pay me unemployment benefits from them, instead it went to my previous job which was 6.50 an hr! The unemployment office thought it wasn't a good enough reason to be fired and I had to wait 2 months for any money! This is the only job I have had for a medical assistant and now I can't find a job!

My advice, watch your back, no matter what...it doesn't matter how qualified you are or if you are a hard worker...it only matters if the employees work well with you...don't turn your back, you may find a knife in it!

I was hired through a long term care facility. everything semed fine, the people were nice and the co-workers friendly. then the company found out I did not have a wife but am a same sex couple. As soon as they found out this information the write-ups started. not a day went by after this that the bosses didnt find some excuse to write me up for things I was never even told about. This went on for about 2 months before I was eventually fired. the reason for firing: "You care too much for the residents"

This company was not only unfair, and cruel about a first time CNA working at their facility but downright discriminatory towards me just because i happen to have a boyfriend. DO NOT!!!! under any circumstances let your employer have private information on you unless you are willing to have them use your information against you.