Humbled

As I mentioned in previous posts, I have been offered an amazing job. I have been accepted into the critical care internship at Gargantuan Hospital. Gargantuan is a Level I trauma center with over 1000 beds. My home unit will be the coveted CVICU. This is THE job I said I would turn down any other offer for.

Looking back over the journey I've taken to get here--from the depths of despair as a chiropractor unable to even provide for his family to a new grad nurse intern on one of the top units in one of the best hospitals in the country--I am struck by how visible the hand of God is in all this to me.

I know several of my readers are atheist or polytheist, so I hope this post doesn't come across as too preachy. That isn't the intent at all but my Christian faith is a very important aspect of who I am, so I feel I need to record this experience as I've lived it.

It's been no secret that I've schemed and planned to get this job for months--actually over a year and a half now. From the moment I heard about my externship in my Jr. I semester, I coveted it. I sought out the manager after spending the day on the unit as an "off unit experience" for my Jr. I clinical. I made my case for wanting the externship, and he told me to email him the following October when the position was posted.

I cultivated a friendship with a student a year ahead of me who was currently in the externship. Granted we have much in common, and he truly is a good friend now, but my purpose in the beginning was to open doors for me.

When the time came, the extern position was posted for only 2 days, and I was offered the position even before the end of the interview. I had secured the job before anyone else in my class at school even knew the position existed. I vowed to keep an open mind and considered staying on at that unit after graduation, but really the whole reason to work there was to gain valuable experience on an ICU so I could move on to a bigger hospital and a bigger unit. I wanted all this within the educational confines of an externship rather than working entirely as a grunt tech. The experience I gained was invaluable. I learned and did things that many working RN's don't know how to do.

I schemed and pleaded my case to get into the clinicals that would pave the way to such a desired position after graduation. I suffered through Med Surg clinicals at a large county hospital to be able to put the name on my resume. Before Sr. I semester even started, I uncovered who my clinical instructor for critical care would be and I wrote emails to her to ensure I got placed in the CVICU at Level II hospital, again for the name drop on the resume, and to build relationships to possible secure a position after graduation. For Sr. II, I again scrambled and plead my case and managed to get into management and Capstone clinicals at the only large hospital on the clinical list for that semester (Gargantuan Hospital). Only 10 of us out of 110 students got into that clinical group--but it was a must-have because Gargantuan Hospital has a reputation for hiring out of Capstone.

I worked my ass off to keep a high GPA in classes that I could have simply passed without studying at all, with no work at all. I joined professional organizations and attended meetings. I spent time doing community service through volunteer work. I volunteered to work as a standardized patient for an ACLS class, missing a baseball game with my family, because the class was sponsored by Gargantuan Hospital and I would have the chance to interact with the education department.

Only God knows how many prayers went his way regarding my employment.

And through it all, God has simply directed things and made it all fall into place in an eerie sequence of events. Happenings that don't seem to make sense at all, and lead me to believe that someone has been watching over me with a greater purpose for my life.

For example--remember Amazing Children's Medical Center? I applied for their summer externship position. The person I interviewed with all but handed me the position during interview, saying, "If any other hospital offers you a position, be sure you call me first." I canceled a family vacation and didn't sign up for summer classes because I firmly believed I would be getting an offer from them. You may remember that no job offer came. Others in my class were selected instead. And I was devastated. That program was supposed to lead to a job for me after graduation.

And you remember me applying for Level II's critical care internship a month ago? One of the panel members I interviewed with was actually the manager of the unit where I did my critical care clinical--one who approached me at that time to find out my plans post graduation. I rubbed elbows with the ICU managers during a recruiting event, and I had an awesome interview. I fully expected a job offer. And I did not get one, while others in my class did. People that I couldn't understand why would be selected above me.

But God knew just what he was doing.

Amazing Children's Medical Center? They still haven't interviewed for their critical care internship. In fact I've heard through the grapevine that they haven't even nailed down a budget for their interns yet, so they don't even know if they are hiring anyone. The people hired into their externship are still waiting to know if they'll have jobs or not. Meanwhile other hospitals are hiring and filling their positions. They'll be sifting through leftovers if they aren't offered the jobs they were all but promised.

And the Level II internship? The people they've chosen to fill the positions speaks poorly of the entire hospital. Certainly not people I would trust to work near, let alone depend on to have my back in tough situations. That's not even mentioning whether I'd allow them anywhere near a loved one in a health crisis.

In fact, I was recently rejected even by the large county hospital. A hospital that's so desperate for nurses they are giving out sign on bonuses in this economy. And they didn't even bother to interview me.

And so God has orchestrated my hiring into an amazing hospital, onto a prestigious unit. A place with an amazing culture where it seems every time you turn around, you meet an employee who has been there for 20+ years. A hospital with such a great reputation in the community that I have never heard anything but good things about it.

More importantly, God allowed me to scheme and plan. He allowed me to beat my head against the wall. And then, when there was nothing left for me to do--when I had exhausted all my human antics and vain attempts--he simply put me where he'd planned for me to be all along.

A week before I interviewed for my new job, the manager wasn't planning on hiring anyone--their census had been too low. But when the numbers for the last quarter came through, their census had picked up so much there was room for not only me, but another new grad as well. If that isn't a sign of God's abundance and provision, I don't know what is--he provided twice what was needed.

And so I here I am. Broken and humbled. And well cared for.

My grades, my work experience, my resume, and my networking may be the justification for my hiring, but I know quite deeply that they are not the reasons why.