Nursing Job Interview   by Saurya Ghosal

Nursing profession has seen a remarkable change in the past few years. Today, the demand for Registered Nurses or RNs has increased considerably. It is seen that many candidates loss their job because of their poor performance while attending nursing job interview. If you looking for a good career in the nursing field, it is better to be well prepared before you attend the nursing job interview. Let us look in detail how the nursing job interview is conducted and what are the possible questions.

Nursing Job Interview is the way by which a hospital or a health center finds the right candidates as nurses. Like any other interview, nursing job interview comprises of a set of questions meant to assess the candidate on her skills and abilities to see if she suits the job better. Every nursing job interview is a two way deal where the hospital is evaluating the candidate and the candidate in turn analyzing the whether the hospital is the right place to work.

As any other interviews, nursing job interview also starts with some general questions about the candidate such as the candidate's family background, education, and interests. The second and third set of nursing job interview questions will be meant to know the candidate's work experience, nature, capacity, ideology, and ability to solve problems.

Answering to the fist set of nursing job interview questions related to your family, qualification, or future planning will be quite easy. But to answer the second set of nursing job interview questions, a candidate has to pay special attention and have to be well prepared to answer the questions correctly.

Let us check the main nursing job interview questions which are commonly asked by the interviewers in most of the nursing job interviews.

These are some of the main nursing job interview question interviewers often ask:

Why did you choose nursing as your profession? Why do you want to work for us? Do you have any previous experience? Where did you get your training? What are your positive traits or strengths? What is your greatest weakness? What you can do for the company others people can't? How long did you worked in (ER, OR, ICU or particular specialty area)? What area would you prefer to work? How do you feel about shift work? What type of person do you find difficult to get along with? What is your personal philosophy of nursing? Why you left your previous job? How long will you stay with us? Where you see yourself in another five years?

Most of the companies provide you the option to ask any questions about the company in which you are about to join. The case is also the same with nursing job interview, from the beginning till the end you will be given the option to ask as many questions you want to know more about the job. Asking question about the job and the organization is thought to be a great way to show the interviewer that you are interested to know more about the organization. It is not good to ask about the pay or benefits during the first interview. You can ask these when you are offered the job, before you decide to accept the offer.

These are some question you can ask the employer during the interview.

What is the ratio of patients to nurses? Do nurses have 8, 10, 12, or 24 hour shifts? What about the scheduling process? How is the scheduling done for the unit? How will your performance be evaluated? Who will evaluate it? What are the current challenges that your company faces? Whether the hospital has any nursing library? How can you earn CEUs there?

The above mentioned are some of the most common question for nursing job interview. But how well a candidate listens, responds and presents in a nursing job interview is all what matters when it comes to her selection or rejection. It is all about acting smart but rationally!