Oh, frustration! I know I am obsessing about wearing the correct attire to Monday's interview so that I do not have to think about just how stressful the interview will be (not to mention the production of moving clear across the state if actually hired). I know it, but, well, here I am sniveling to you all.

Here's my dilema: I just tried on my one and only fine business suit. It is gorgeous and it did fit very well when I purchased it a few years back. I did not need to look in the mirror to know that it was now too snug. Snug, did I say? My word! The thing looked as if it had been spray painted on me. Wearing it I resemble nothing so much as an intellectual seal about to enter a boardroom. Or a sausage about to be fried!

Oh, woe is me.

So what shall I do? I have a black, modest, mid-length, sleeveless travel knit dress. Over it I can wear an office-appropriate coral jacket. The effect is a bit too casual for the position for which I am applying. My other option is a another black, mid-length, sleeveless dress made of some sort of stretchy material with a rather fancy jacket. It is modest but more in keeping with a dinner party than a first interview.

Any suggestions or advice? The area in which the critical access hospital is located is very isolated, poor, and has a strong ranching history (past and current).

Grumbling and wishing I had more hours in my day - and a personal shopper!

Joy

I you feel confident enough, you can just go with the first option and just admit that you bought the suit years ago and it no longer fits as well. Do it in the right way and people will be greatful for you honesty.

Do you have any friends that you can borrow off. A black skirt from one, a fitted busness shirt from another with your jacket. Phone around right away, you never know!

Good Luck.

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'Think not of yourself as the architect of your career but as the sculptor. Expect to have to do a lot of hard hammering and chiselingand scraping and polishing. - BC Forbes'

Thank you, P/J, for your kindness and your great idea.

Now, P/J and Everyone Else, please accept my apology. I should not have allowed my preinterview jitters to foster this thread. My wardrobe, logistics, and time constraint woes (not to mention my increased pulchritude) really should not have been aired. Although... now that I think of it, you should have been here. You would have had a very good laugh with me as I stood trying to breathe in what is a fine but now completely unwearble suit. Even now the parody I was of the ill-dressed and panicked interviewee makes me laugh!!

So... how about if you pat me gently on the shoulder before you walk away wondering just what kind of crazy person has gained access to the NV forum!

Thanks!

Joy

I think we have all been there though. I know that I have had to go to job interviews (I had one a couple of months ago) and found that my cloths don't fit, as I haven't warn them since the last one years ago. In fact the last interview I went to a few months ago was a surprise call and I had lent all my business shirts to my partner and had to go scrounging for a tidy enough shirt for the interview.

The other event are weddings and funerals. As I get older I seem to get invited to more and more (on a more regular basis that is).

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'Think not of yourself as the architect of your career but as the sculptor. Expect to have to do a lot of hard hammering and chiselingand scraping and polishing. - BC Forbes'

Joy, forgive my bluntness, but that is nonsense.

People grow to know one another through the intricacies of everyday life.

I regret that I was not able to help you with this problem! You would not have wanted it anyway - I am fashion illiterate. I have to ask my friends to go shopping with me to help me pick out stuff.

Having said that, I have no shortage of good vibes for you today! Please tell us how your interview went!!

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Tell us what happened at your interview. :-)


MJ

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Sanity is madness put to good use. George Santayana.

http://nurse-ratcheds.blogspot.com

Ah... P/J, Geena, and MJ, you made me cry! Thank you for showing me such fine courtesy and kindness!

The interview with the VP of patient care services and the HR person went very, very well. At least, I think it did since the V.P. asked when I would be available for a group interview! YaaaHOOOOO!

Now just so you will know, I did wear the more fancy outfit. The only thing I regret was wearing the equally fancy shoes. Remind me next time to remember that trotting all around the hospital in heels is stuuuuuuuuuupid. If I had known those people better I would have popped into the OR to grab a pair of blue booties or just snatched a pair of those really ugly nonslip socks from one of the unit carts. When I return in a couple of weeks you can count on me wearing very sensible flats! Heck, next time I'll go in my stocking feet and just tell them that the airline lost my shoes! Oh, that won't work since I chartered a plane in and out of that isolated town. Oh, well...

Speaking of the chartered plane, there is a charming custom between tiny airfields and private planes. The airfield will lend at no cost to you, the person who apparently has bottomless pockets as evidenced by the chartered plane, a car to use for the day. This the good folk did for me. They also supplied a map and verbal directions into town. I left them with great confidence. I returned five minutes later to say that the engine light went on, the fuel gauge read empty, the steering wheel had about 4 inches of play in it, the turn indicators were sleepy, and the windshield wipers had rebelled. (I did not tell them about the cow dung on my shoes and coat since I should have been watching where I was going as I walked to the car.) Anyway, imagine an overly dressed and rather prissy-looking matron standing there in the middle of cow country, looking most uncomfortable and trying not to breathe the air. I do not know how those good ol' boys controlled their faces, but they did. All but one that is, and even he decided right quick to change his expression from glee to solemn concern. What the head honcho told me was - and I quote - "Don't you worry none, Ma'm. There's plenty of gas in the car. The engine light always goes on. It ain't raining. And it's only 7 miles to town."

I made it to the interview with 2 minutes to spare!

Thanks for caring.

Joy

Have you heard from them again?
When is the group interview?

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www.angelaposeyarnold.com

No, Angela, I have not. The inital phone interview with HR was a week prior to the Monday, 2/25, interview with both the VP and HR described above. At the end of the 3-hour interivew the VP said she would call me "in a few days" to set a time/date for the group interview.

The whole idea of serving as a nurse manager for either the critical care (ED, ICU, OR) or the acute care (med/surg, LDRP, swing) in this isolated, trauma level 4, critical assess hospital makes me nervous. I am excited, nervous, and a little sick to my stomach. The responsibility is as great - and as scary - as is the opportunity.

Tp borrow from something I heard a long, long time ago: I have thrown my hat over the wall. Now all I have to do is gather the courage to go after it!

Thanks for asking.

Joy

I'm glad your interview went well, Joy! I'm waiting with you as well for the call!

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