A Story for the Books

This is a story that I just don't ever want to forget. I have worked so hard to get where I am and everything all seemed to just come together all at once! It may not be interesting to you, so I won't be offended if you stop reading now, but it's a story I want to remember! :)

Last Friday (06-10-11), I had an interview for a position in the NICU. My dream job. I worried and prepped for that interview for days on end! I was supposed to meet the nurse manager (NM from now on) downstairs in the lobby of the hospital near the piano, so when I arrived 10 minutes early, that's where I stood. I made the mistake of standing right next to a huge sign in the shape of a teddy bear and people were asking me all about it! I had no idea what it was for, but one man in particular kept up a conversation with me and come to find out, his wife worked in the ICU unit I did my internship in last summer! She ended up coming down to meet her husband and I got talking with her and found out she was great friends with my preceptor, too! Such a small world :) I was still talking to them when the NM walked up and the man just kept saying, "Oh, she'll hire you, she'll give you a job!" I think I was mortified, ha! I had never met the NM in my life and here is this guy telling her she'll hire me! I was so embarrassed....not a great start to the interview, I'd say!

I came prepared with my resume and she asked me a bunch of questions and even though I had prepared, I was still a nervous wreck! I had some questions for her and then she gave me a tour of the unit. I could not read her at all. As she was walking me out she made the comment, "I have 5 positions, but I don't think our budget will allow 5, I will most likely only be hiring 2." I pretty much took that to mean...."don't be offended when I call you and tell you you didn't get the job!" Ha! She told me she had interviews all the next week and I could expect to hear from her either way sometime the week after that. Like I said in my last post, I rehashed every. single. thing that went on in that interview--poor David! :) He assured me I was fine and that I did great and I just convinced myself otherwise.

Flash forward to yesterday. I had an interview in the MS-ICU where I did my internship last summer. My granddaddy drove me down, just like he did for my interview last year. I interviewed with my NM boss and nurse educator that I worked with! I hate to admit this, but I didn't really prepare as much for this interview. I knew that they wanted me (NM had been e-mailing me quite a bit and kept saying he "couldn't wait for me to be a part of their team" and they had been "waiting a while" for me to graduate and pass etc.) and I had already prepped my answers from my last interview. They were just as friendly as I had remembered them and they asked me 2 PAGES worth of questions! And they both wrote my answers down! What?! I had my answers ready, but I couldn't believe they asked me 20 questions, haha! I figured that once they were finished, I would hear from them pretty soon.

Pretty soon turned out to be right after the questioning was over. The NM told me they already knew they wanted to hire me. I could. not. believe. it. I was being offered a job on the spot. Fortunately, the NM is a great guy and he knew I had interviewed with the NICU and basically told me he wanted me to be 100% sure if I chose to come to the ICU. In his experienced opinion, if you entered a job with any doubt in your mind that you may have wanted something else, you won't be happy. I agreed and he gave me until Monday to give him an answer.

I was ecstatic...I had a job if I wanted it! But I didn't know what to do about the NICU position. I knew I wouldn't hear about that job until the following week and I wouldn't have enough time to find out if they wanted me. I had a long talk with my granddad on the way home and we thought it would be good if I went ahead and e-mailed the NM of the NICU who I interviewed with. So when I got home, that's the first thing I did. I basically just told her that I had interviewed and received an offer from another unit in the hospital, that my passion was the NICU and I didn't know how to handle this situation, but I was wondering if I was being considered for a position in the NICU.

In my head at that moment, I really thought I would hear back from her in a few days and she would either say, " I'm sorry, I can't share that information with you" or "I'm sorry, but we are looking for someone else." (Would make my decision an easier one, though!)

In REALITY, this is what happened: I sent the e-mail. Literally 2 minutes later, I got a phone call from the NICU NM and this is how the convo went:

- NM: Can I please speak with Erin?

- me: This is her. (The period seems to serious, the exclamation point seems to excited...I was somewhere in between, haha!)

- NM: Erin, this is _____. I just received your e-mail and I was calling to tell you, you better stop interviewing for jobs, haha! I want you here in the NICU with us! I am officially asking you if you would like to accept an offer to work in the NICU.

-me: Oh my gosh! Thank you so much (smiling and jumping up and down as quietly as I could....)!!! That is wonderful!

-NM: Your interview was phenomenal, by the way.

-me: Thank you so much! This is so great!

After that, I started freaking out a little bit and asked her if I could just have the night to get my thoughts straight and I would call her tomorrow to let her know for sure. She was so kind and agreed.

This morning, at 9:30am I ACCEPTED my first ever nursing position in my dream job after having two people really, really wanting me to come work for them. I am just in shock. I have worked so hard for this and I am so excited to start this new phase in my life! When I spoke with the NM this morning, she said, "I told ____, I can't do anymore interviews until I know we have Erin! We really need her!" I guess I did better on the interview then I thought--and David loved that he had been right all along ;)

To say that I am humbled is an understatement. I just can't believe all of this happened to me in a 24 hour period! I can't wait to see what the future holds!!