Being Told I Was Not A “Good Fit”

Most people associate the word relationship with a romantic attachment between two individuals. But in the workplace, it is associated with both the employer and employee individual and collective relationships. In the article, The Three Phases of Relationships: Which Phase Is Your Relationship In? by Douglas Counseling, he focused on three phases of a relationship: connection, disconnection, and repair. In this post, I will share my experience of a travel nurse assignment that ended on great terms, but when I attempted to return the following year, I was not rehired. I will also incorporate the three phases of relationships through my shared experience.

1. The “Connection”

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I truly enjoyed the NICU travel nurse assignment in Oakland, CA. Out of all my travel nurse assignments, I felt the closest connection with my colleagues and had the greatest rapports with everyone on the unit. I even extended my contract because I really liked working on that unit, and I also wanted to explore California further. The director approved my extension, and I stayed for another three months. She later asked if I wanted to extend my contract again since it was ending soon, and because she had heard positive things about me from the entire NICU team.

2. The “Disconnection”

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I declined the offer to extend my contract a second time because I wanted to explore other travel nurse assignments elsewhere. I stated that I did not mind circling back around and working on the unit in the near future. I went on another assignment in another state, then took the holidays off to be with my family. After the holidays, I saw the same Oakland, CA travel nurse assignment job vacancy post. Therefore, I decided to submit an application to that hospital again, since I’d been there before and had a great rapport with the entire staff (…so I thought!). Unfortunately, the disconnection occurred when my healthcare agency recruiter informed me that the director stated, “I left on bad terms, and the NICU team thought I wasn’t a “good fit”.

3. The “Repair”

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I was quite shocked with that statement! In the beginning, I was upset, confused and disappointed. I tried to repair the situation by reaching out to a charge nurse on that unit, who stated there had to be some type of mix-up and she would look into things. But at that point, I began to think that everything happened for a reason and decided to explore other assignment options. Although I was still confused and a little disappointed, I simply started praying and remembered my own worth. After I prayed and moved on, I received four new travel nurse assignment job offers elsewhere.

Have you had this experience at a job before? Let me know down in the comments and share this post! 😃