New Job.....New Outlook

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Friday, March 22, 2013

When I finally arrived back in Riyadh and headed back to work I felt I was suffering from the inevitable "back to work blues"  but in reality it was just becoming painfully obvious how miserable I'd been at work the last few months. When I came into nursing I said I would do the bedside thing for about 3 or 4 years before heading back to school and doing something else in nursing. All those years travel nursing and then the year in Australia extended that a bit because I was having so much fun doing other things.

But it hasn't taken long since getting here to remind me that it probably was time for me to make a move in my career. Lucky for me my room mate spotted a job posting that she thought would be perfect for me. I had about 5 days to put together a new CV and an application form and get it submitted (good thing Mom is such a wiz with Microsoft word)....and I almost didn't do it thinking there was no way I would get the job, but super glad I did. I got called for an interview at the end of December and I have to say, it was a very intimidating interview.I didn't know the department or who would be in it or even what the job was entirely so it was hard to prepare. Plus it'd been a really long time since I had to do a face to face interview. Mostly I've done phone and Skype interviews so this was a bit of a change. I was pretty nervous.....and it showed but I got myself together as it went and I finished strong.

Even with the strong finish, I really thought I blew the interview (I guess lots of people feel that way) but I very happily got called for a second interview a week or so later. This one was with the Director of the department. I guess I was the committee's pick but the Director wanted to meet me in person. I felt a bit better for that one having already been through the process. I then had one more sit down with the Manager (they wanted to see if I could write memos and stuff because of my lack of "administrative" experience, they weren't sure I could do it) and then it was decided the department wanted me.

Of course that didn't mean I got the job. I would be moving from a Grade 8 position as a Staff Nurse I with Nursing Affairs to a Grade 10 position as the International Outreach Facilitator with the Health Outreach Department so when a transfer and promotion is involved it has to go to a committee. Health Outreach decided they wanted to hire me but the committee decided that there were other candidates who had more years experience than me, so I got the upsetting news that my transfer was on hold. It did make me feel good however the Health Outreach really wanted me (they liked my personality and stuff like that) and they were appealing the decision while I was in Tanzania.

However when I got back, I still didn't know I had the job so I arrived back on the unit a little unhappy. Lucky for me (and everyone I work with) I found out about 2 hours into that first shift back that my promotion had been approved while I was gone and I would start my new job next week. In a matter of minutes I went from super unhappy to super happy and excited. It also meant that I was down to my last 5 shifts of bedside nursing.

So Saturday, March 16th I made the move from bedside nursing to administrative nursing.....and I was really excited about it....and not just because I get to wear new clothes. My job mostly entails me talking to hospitals outside Saudi Arabia in order to get second medical opinions for our patients. I'll also help initiate transferring patients if need be and I'll figure out the other things as I go. A week in, it's pretty good so far.

I'll update you in a few months and let you know who I feel but for now I'm loving being able to say I'm King Faisal's new International Outreach Facilitator. Sounds fancy right?

Julie