Florence is Famous!

I’ve had a right old week of it – in a good way of course! 

I actually started the week trying to be sensible. It’s a bit weird really, I usually do things based on gut instinct but I thought I’d try to be a bit grown up and keep all my options open. 

I’ve been seriously considering the future of my nursing career (like a grown-up) and had already arranged a lengthy call with Recruitment Panda who, to be honest, have been my rock while I’ve been going through my mid- career crisis. 

Trying to be sensible and not wanting to have all my eggs in one basket, I also arranged another call with a different recruitment agency that we met at the job fair as well, mainly to convince my mother that the blisters on her feet weren’t for nothing!

I won’t lie. The call with the other agency was a bit scary. The woman with the deep raspy voice fired questions at me so quickly that I almost expected a buzzer to go off and for her to announce how many questions I’d got right. It was all done in a matter of minutes and she said she would send me some vacancies through for me to consider, and if I was interested she would arrange the interviews for tomorrow. She didn’t ask if I was free, but then I got the feeling she would drag me to the interviews this second if we weren’t on the phone. 

It was like very weird speed dating. 

The email pinged through before she’d even had time to tell me I’d won the star prize so I told her I would take a look and ended the call. 

To be honest, I wondered whether she’d sent me the booby prize when I opened the email. There were four jobs listed that, based on her inquisition, she felt were most suited to my skills and experience.

There was one for a Quality Manager for a medium sized care home group. It required a nurse with ten years experience in the care home sector and at least 2 years multi-site experience. I made a mental note to check what date of birth old Raspy had written down in her haste; 10 years ago I hadn’t even chosen my GCSE options!! 

The second one was for a Band 7 nurse on an oncology ward – was this woman serious?? Had she listened to anything at all that I’d said in the three and a half minutes that she’d allowed me to speak?

I cast my eyes over the other two on the page and was fuming by the time I’d finished. A Community Mental Health Nurse was never going to be my thing (just by virtue of not being qualified as a Mental Health Nurse) and I’m sure I never said anything about relocating to Aberdeen either. That was the last job on the list so with a magic, furious finger I deleted the lot.

I spent the next ten minutes mentally beating myself up (you don’t need to be a mental health nurse to do that). Why had I wasted time on that crock of old crap? Good job it had only been 5 minutes of my whole life! 

I just had enough time for a quick cuppa and the multi-pack of toffee crisps that I’d been saving for moments of stress before my scheduled call with Recruitment Panda…… 

That was a week ago, and this morning I am going to the first of two interviews that I eagerly agreed to. For the past week, my consultant at Recruitment Panda has been on the phone every day, suggesting different things for me to think about in preparation for the interviews.  After the initial call, she sent me the two vacancies over that she felt suited not only my skill set but also reflected my core values. The first was for a ‘Community Leader’ position within a local care home. Their vision and values screamed of integrity, so how could I not go take a look? They were looking for someone ‘dynamic and passionate’, a person who would ‘challenge the norm when it comes to the care of our senior generation’. Even their language was respectful – I doubt they call the residents doubles and feeders!! 

The second interview is (wait for it) in a hospital! The vacancy is for a Band 5 Staff Nurse who ‘is looking to expand their knowledge and skills within the field of elderly care’. It’s an assessment ward, where patients spend time being assessed by the staff team before moving to a permanent home. Sometimes that is back home, but most of the time they move somewhere where there is more support. I’ve heard of this ward quite a lot during the past year when I’ve been working the agency, and I’ve also met a couple of the staff who would come out to the home during the first few weeks of moving in, if we had any concerns or problems. I love the way that the ward tries to support the homes so that placements are successful, although I suppose it helps them to help more people if patients aren’t continually returning.

If I’m honest, I quite fancy the hospital post. I think that it would give me the chance to learn new skills without having the added responsibility of being ultimately in charge. My Consultant at Recruitment Panda thinks that I am equally capable of doing both, so it may boil down to my preference and my famous gut instinct!

We’ve arranged to meet after the interviews, to catch up with a hot chocolate and a sticky bun. She says it’s all part of the service, but she also added that a little bird had told her about my blog – apparently, she shared it with the team at Recruitment Panda and they think it’s ace!! 

Who’d have thought a year ago? Florence Writingale – famous blogger (and nurse!) 

Now which one of my readers has been talking out of school???!!