Let's Rewind

So let's rewind:

It has been a while since I have made any update to speak of. This is partly because I have been so, so busy with everything and partly because I am making sure that I am breaking no rules by talking about certain things. I am still figuring out how to properly write about my experiences as a nurse, but then I remembered that I haven't really talked about the experience of getting the job I have now.

So I went forward with applying to all those jobs that I wasn't excluded from specifically and those jobs that the fine print said that new graduates would be considered. I looked through thousands of jobs. Thousands I tell you! When you do a search for new graduate jobs, you get all the ones that specifically state that they are NOT accepting applications from new graduates. Big bummer. However I trusted to my awesome internet skills to help me find a good handful of jobs to apply for.
So I ended up applying for 10 jobs, on average, when I did a big search like that. I applied to med surg, telemetry, and emergency department positions. I tried to keep track of all the job applications but that was really hard to do. Weeks went by and I hadn't heard anything other than a standard email response that the position I had applied for had been filled. I tried to keep my hopes up, but I was starting to get more comfortable with the idea that I would just have to volunteer my services somewhere instead of actually getting a paying job. I did look into joining the Red Cross and I even went to a conference on emergency preparedness. A bit too doomsday at times for my nervous disposition, but I learned a few good things about what goes into emergency shelters and other things of that sort.

A few days before the conference, on my way back to the apartment after my morning walk (good for keeping the depression of unemployment at bay), I got a call from a number I didn't recognize. Now thankfully I answered it. The woman on the other end said something about" Northwest something something job I applied for something". At this point I am really confused and I am going through my mental list of all the jobs I applied for and I am trying to pinpoint which one this was. Now it isn't that hard to see how I got a little thrown off track because the mention of a northwest something. I was born and raised in the NORTHWEST of the entire US. I had not applied to any jobs in the pacific northwest recently. As I was mentally backpedalling the woman asked, "Were you interested in this job?" Me:"Yes I was... I mean, I am. Yes I am!" And so I scheduled a phone interview with them at the beginning of the next week.

I had the jitters from that point on. It was pretty hard to focus well since I had just recently felt the bitter sting of a few bad interview experiences. (Ugh, it makes me break out in a cold sweat just thinking about those interviews.) I ended up just looking a few genres of questions and calling it good. I went to that conference and tried not to think about it.

So the day arrives and I am sort of conflicted on what to do for the interview. I mean if the interview is over the phone: Where do you sit? What do you look at? What do you wear?

I ended up sitting in the office at my desk, wearing a nice suit, my hair and makeup done up nice, and my fuzzy slippers. Good bit of compromise I think.
So I shut the door like ten minutes before my phone call and I just sit there staring at the phone, paralyzed with some irrational fear that I will miss hearing the call or my phone will explode the moment I take my eyes off of it.
The phone rings.

I see the foreign number.

My hands start to sweat.

I hate that sweaty feeling...

"Hello this is Kelsey Miles!"

You know how I answer the phone.

We start chatting and I start to get on a roll with my answers. I am able to fidget all I want since I don't have anyone looking at me. I think anyone that knows me even half as well as an acquaintance should be aware that I process energy best through movement. I'd like to mention that the questions I got actually made sense this time. You know like, "How do you learn best?" "Do you have any related work experiences? or What have you been doing between graduation and now?"

I think the most interesting question that I got went something like, "How do you handle physicians/How do you treat physicians?" I paused for a moment. This was a question I really haven't heard before. I thought about it for two moments and I was like, "Like people...with the same respect that I would give anyone else." It's true. I mean I am related to doctors. I treat them like anyone else. I guess I could also say that I believe that it doesn't really matter how many years of school you've been to or how smart you are or how many years you are my elder, I think that everyone needs to remember that it's still their behavior towards others that gains or loses them the most respect. I mean sure, I can respect that someone went to school to get a doctorate and they achieved that difficult goal, but it is still important what comes out the other side. (-end tangent/lecture)

So anyway the conversation ended something like "So I am not actually able to give you an official job offer but I will have someone from the Human Resources give you some information on the benefits package." I didn't figure it out until a bit later that I was actually being offered a job. I mean I texted Jonathan, "Uh, I think... I think I got a job?"

So that is how I got my job. I think that the next update will probably have something to do with the actual moving experience. That is a whole separate story in itself.