[glamgalRN]

Hi Everyone!
I am about to graduate from nursing school and have an interview for a NICU in my area. What I know about the unit is: it's a 30 bed level 3+ (not sure what the "+" means!) Patient:Nurse ratio of 2:1, sometimes 3:1, depending on the patients. The orientation is 8-12 weeks long (does 8 weeks sound short to anyone?) I would be working nights. I was told there's a low turnover rate and the reason they're hiring is they are expanding the unit. Also told that the nurse manager loves new nurses.
I REALLY REALLY want this job, and although I have no experience w/the NICU at all, I worked in L&D as an extern this past summer. Besides the standard questions, what questions are specific to the NICU that I should ask? I really want to make a good first impression w/the NM and let her know that I did my research!
Words can not even begin to describe how excited I am!!! Hopefully the interview will go well.
Thanks soo much!!

[Jerico]

Ask regarding:

Percentage of time you will be in Level II and Level III
Ask if they have neonatal pharmacy specific pharmacy services
Ask if they have dedicated neonatal RTs, if they are round the clock.
Ask if they have dedicated neonatal nutritionist.
Ask if they have round the clock neonatologist in house.

Ask how much of your training will be didactic (book as opposed to clinical experiences).

Good luck. I went straight from nursing school to NICU. Been great.

[glamgalRN]

Jerico- Thanks for responding! I'll let you know how it goes! I'm so excited!!

[WeeBabyRN]

I went into NICU straight from school. A lot of NICU nurse managers like new grads, being as they are nursing blank slates with no bad habits to break.

Just be yourself during the interview. Good luck, keep us posted on your progress!

[WDWpixieRN]

Great post!! I'm graduating in May and got the phone call today for an interview with a NICU. I'm so excited and SO petrified as this is a job I think I would really love in nursing.

Good luck to you!!

[glamgalRN]

Soo.. I had my interview!
And boy did I blow it! The whole week leading up to the actual interivew I was practicing questions that the Nurse Manager could ask me, and she didn't ask me any of them!! She only asked me one tough question, and she was looking for a specific answer which I did get to eventually but it took about 5 minutes of me babbling on about god knows what! I can't even remember, it was like an out of body experience!
She also could tell I was super nervous. Actually in the middle of the interview she told me to relax and that it was obvious that I was nervous. She was very nice and down to earth which did help a little bit. I tried to relax but when I get nervous I use my hands to express myself often and I saw her looking at my hands! Oh God!! I really messed it up! The more I think about it the worse I realize it went!
In total I spend about a hour with her. She let me tour the unit and it only confirmed the fact that I want to work in the NICU. I've applied at another hospital in the area, but there aren't too many open NICU positions. Aw, I was so excited about joining you all on the NICU allnurses site!
I've been on one other interview before, and I did great, but I think the reason I did so well was because I didn't really care if I got the job or not (I did end up getting that job, but I turned it down.)
I asked her when I could expect to hear from her, and she said that she has a few more inteviews for the end of the month, so I won't hear for a while. She did tell me that she does have a few positions open, but then again I realize she's not going to hire/train 4 new grads all at once!
THANK YOU for your excellent questions. I did ask them and I think she was impressed with them. You guys are great! I'll keep you posted!

[glamgalRN]

Good luck on your interview! Let me know how it goes!

[Galore]

I'm sorry it didn't go as well as you hoped, but you never know...I think we are always our own biggest critics and it's easy to pick apart the interview afterwards. Do you mind sharing the tough question she asked? I'm interviewing for a NICU spot next week and I'm getting kind of nervous.

[gudiarani]

I have an interview in the NICU at CHOP in a few weeks and I'm totally nervous. What else should I know before going in? I just want to be prepared because I would really LOVE if I got this job. It would make my first real nursing experience AMAZING.

And in response to above, what hospital is this? I haven't seen a single NICU tell me their orientation is less than 14 weeks. 8 weeks is ridiculously short, even for less intense specialties, which NICU is NOT. I don't know about anyone else, but relatively speaking, I wouldn't be very comfortable at all with only 8 weeks of training before being thrown on my own as a new nurse.

Good Luck on your dream job in the NICU though! It's nice when you have a self-affirming experience telling you why you want to do what you thought you wanted to do.

[texas2007]

Glamgal, you never really know how well or poor the interview went until you hear back from the unit. When I interviewed for my current job, I was 500% I did not get it. I felt like I flubbed several questions, the interview was short and the tour was minimal. When they called me two days later I really felt like they were going to tell me they were "going to pursue other candidates". Boy was I surprised when they offered me the job! It's a good sign that she spent an hour with you, why would she spend that much time with someone she wasn't seriously considering hiring?