INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

One of the easiest and most pivotal things you can do for your interview is to prepare for it!

Remember ten nursing scenarios that can be applied to situational questions. For example, “Tell us about a time you were creative.” Having at least ten scenarios on the top of your head will make you feel more prepared and relaxed!

Below you will find the questions I prepared with. I knew my answers inside and out and even customized them to each hospital. You MUST know the hospital’s mission statement and how you align with them.

Tell us about yourself.
Why do you want to be a nurse?
Why do you want to work here?
When did you make a mistake?
When did you do something you were proud of?
How have your mistakes in nursing school impacted your nursing practice?
How has schooling affected your nursing practice?
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
How do you resolve conflict?
How do you prioritize?
Who would you delegate to in __________ situation?
Tell us about a time you went above and beyond.
Tell us about a time you asked for help when needed.
Why should we choose you?
What are your values?
Have you ever experienced the death of a patient?
How would your peers describe you?
What drew you to nursing?
Tell us about a time you inadvertently caused conflict.
What can you bring to our team?
What is your area of greatest opportunity?
If I called your previous supervisor what would they say about you?
How do you define a leader?
What questions do you have for us?
How do you describe your ideal situation?
How do you set priorities?
Who is your career model and why?
What are the most important lessons you have learned thus far in your career?
How much supervision do you want or need?
What nursing publications do you subscribe to?
What are your goals for going back to school?
Give an example of a time you were a leader.
Can you give some examples of your creativity.
Why our institution?
Can you describe a time you intervened for a patient and what happened?
Can you describe a situation where you thought you were right and others thought you were wrong? What did you do about it?
Describe a time your work was criticized and how did you handle it?
How would you describe your role in a recent code?
What was your most critical patient situation?
How do you handle stress?
Have you ever been fired?
What would you do if you were caring for an alert patient who suddenly got acutely confused and disoriented?
What have you been doing since you have been out of nursing school?
How have you prepared to return to nursing?
What would you do if you found an elderly patient on the floor in his room? How would you document it?
Have you worked with many foreign nurses?
How would you handle a situation in which you couldn’t read a prescriber’s orders?
If you were offered your last job again would you take it?
How do you keep up with changes in your profession?
What is your most important achievement as a student?
Did your clinical experience include putting in a urinary drainage catheter or starting an intravenous line access? Inserting or removing a nasogastric tube, or caring for a patient with one?
What nursing skills have you performed?
What was your favorite clinical experience?
What was your least favorite clinical experience?
What charting have you used?
What are your favorite sites for reliable healthcare information?
Tell me about yourself beyond nursing.
What are some of the challenges you are anticipating as a new grad in this specific setting?
Why this unit?
What would you do if you were trying to implement a change on your unit, and your team members all had a negative attitude and were resistent to change?
What leadership experience do you have?
If you were stranded on an island, what three things would you want to have with you and why?
If you were packing for a trip and couldn’t fit everything in the car would you rework the items in the car or simply take a larger car?
What is your five year plan?