RE: Head Nurse interview, HELP!!

Zoe Davies RVN — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 20:52:33 GMT

Any new x x

RE: Head Nurse interview, HELP!!

murphy-x — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 11:19:52 GMT

Thanks Mark! I personally think the interview went well, and I am now just waiting to hear back now as bosses have been off for the christmas break. Fingers crossed they have agreed with me! :)

RE: Head Nurse interview, HELP!!

Mark Hedberg — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 09:34:16 GMT

First off, congratulations! If your bosses are encouraging you to apply, you're quite right, they think you may well have the chops for this job.

If you have a good relationship with the bosses, it's no crime to ask who will be conducting the interview, and what kind of interview they intend to run. It's in their and your best interests to help you be as prepared as possible for the interview.

It's not cheating, I promise. You wouldn't start nursing a patient without reading the notes, would you? Same thing with interviews. You can explain how you're not looking to get any unfair advantages, but you'd like to be well prepared to present a good impression to the interviewer. Which is what any sane person would want to do at an interview.

The fact that you're asking for advice is an excellent point in your favor - far too many new bosses or prospective new bosses think they need to know all the answers to be a good boss.

Chances are they're unlikely to ask you clinical questions - after all, if you didn't know your job, you wouldn't be working for them, never mind interviewing for a promotion!

You might consider asking them a few questions as well - such as what they'd like to see the nursing team accomplish under your leadership. Why did the old head nurse leave? Alternatively, are you the first head nurse they've ever appointed? It's worth asking them what issues have come up to make them decide they needed a Head Nurse in the first place.

How will they assess a successful head nurse, in short?

It's hard to be more specific than that. If they're using interview questions they inherited from their boss, or an old management book from the late 1970s, you may get some random cliche questions, like what animal you are, or how many golf balls fit into an airplane, or something designed to 'make you think outside of the box'. Occasionally you'll get the old 'you have 3 patients in the room, one has a broken leg, one has diabetes, and one is in for vaccination, which one is most important?' and the 'correct' answer is 'all of them'.

Short, short, short answer? Find out who's the interviewer and ask what he wants to know about you. If you get crucified for this, you didn't want the job anyway.

Good luck! And when you've got the job, PM me and we'll talk about what further training or qualifications will help you get to grips with being a Head Nurse.

Cheers,

Mark