How do I answer this interview question?

Whispera, MSN, RN · Jul 16, 2009

You might say something like: "I was a new nurse and not ready to take on the challenge of such a busy floor, but now with experience, I'm confident I can do it." Do NOT under any circumstances say anything negative about anyone else. The interviewer won't take that to your advantage. She will want to know how it would be different now---what YOU are now, and what you can do now, that would make it work.

oramar · Jul 16, 2009

You might say something like: "I was a new nurse and not ready to take on the challenge of such a busy floor, but now with experience, I'm confident I can do it." Do NOT under any circumstances say anything negative about anyone else. The interviewer won't take that to your advantage. She will want to know how it would be different now---what YOU are now, and what you can do now, that would make it work.

Wow, that is really good advice. If you bad mouth that evil manager it will be held against you. You will have given her a chance to hurt you again, even though many years have gone by and she has forgotten that you ever existed. My advice to you is to forget that she ever existed, having a lovely life and successful career will be your revenge.

diane227, LPN, RN · Jul 16, 2009

Correct. Just say that you did not have enough experience at the time to work on such a challenging floor. NO NEGATIVE COMMENTS.

Moogie · Jul 16, 2009

Agree completely with the previous posters.

Also, can you reframe the experience that you had eleven years ago? What did you learn from the experience? What might you have done differently?

You may want to say that you were an inexperienced nurse and overwhelmed with the clinical responsibilities right out of nursing school. I wouldn't go into details, however, unless you're really, REALLY pressed to do so. Moreover, don't say that you were naive in handling the manager or the preceptor----it is okay to admit that you were inexperienced clinically and in way over your head. Then---add that you have experience---in life as well as in nursing---and that you've gained maturity and perspective over the years. Stress to the NM that you loved the short time you spent in oncology, that you enjoyed the challenges of patient care, and that's why you want to return to that particular floor. Talk about WHY you're confident that you can do the job now. How have you honed your nursing skills? How have your work experiences since that first one shaped you to become an amazing oncology nurse? Have you worked LTC? You know how to better arrange your work and deal with heavy loads. Have you worked med-surg? You have a solid grasp on general (or specific) medical and surgical care. Have you worked ER, ICU, OB? Public health? Have you gone back to school for advanced nursing education or taken continuing ed that would prepare you to be an oncology nurse?

Again, even just life experience will help you if you reframe it in a positive manner. Have you volunteered for hospice or any charitable causes that work for cancer research? Have you participated in any walkathons, marathons, community activities that have helped rekindle your interest in oncology? How have you grown as a person in the last eleven years?

I think every nurse has had some failures and low spots in his/her career. The thing is, have you learned from the bad times or are you letting them get you down? Do you feel like you're a winner or a loser? Bad jobs happen to good people but they only hurt you if you feel like you're a bad person.

Go in there and sell yourself! You can do it!

obicurn · Jul 16, 2009

This is truly wonderful advice. I know it wasn't directed towards me, but I'm taking it just the same. Thank you!!

roser13, ASN, RN · Jul 16, 2009

I think I'd even try to find a way to incorporate the fact that the oncology floor was your very first choice to work as a new grad, demonstrating your long-term interest in the specialty. But you realized that you needed more experience, etc., etc.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Jul 16, 2009

there is one question that i really dread: "why did you leave this floor 11 years ago?"
why? the truth is, i was forced to quit after only 11 weeks "orientation" (actually, "throw them to the wolves") by an evil manager who has long ago been "retired". i was never given a real reason, other than "you take too long to program the pca pump" (the same pump that killed a postpartum patient not longer after that because nurses had been too careless programming it) and "you make too many med errors" (hmm... i foolishly turned myself in each time i forgot to give the colace on time. honestly, there was only one *serious* med error where i gave an antibx several hours late when one of the other pts had serious problems.)
i was a brand new grad who had never taken care of more than 2 pts in nursing school and suddenly had to handle 7 oncology pts on a busy floor with little or no guidance from a group "preceptor" who had too many orientees to do much good. the manager had a bad reputation - everyone knew that, except for me when i applied there - and she said some things to me that were way over the top (racist remarks about pts and even her own minority nurses; making fun of my national origin. i'll spare you the details because you would probably never believe it. it's true, though).
ok, so that's the facts. i don't presume to say i was perfect or supernurse way back then, oh, no. i was way too naive and inexperienced to deal with this floor and manager. however, i did love the pts and have always been interested in oncology. this is the only reason why i even applied again! it's an all new floor, new manager, but of course she knows from my application that i worked there before. the question is obvious.
so how do i answer it?

i was a manager that interviewed a lot of nurses for jobs. things you don't want to do are trash the previous evil manager or her reputation, the equipment you had to work with or yourself. chances are that the current manager has already heard more than her share of stories from others about what the previous manager was like and, believe me, since you worked there before, there is a permanent personnel file on you and who knows what the previous manager took the time to document and put into it and that this current manager has opened up and read. one of the first things i did when employees asked for transfers to my unit was go to human resources and look at what was in their permanent personnel file. if you gave a letter of resignation or filled out a transfer form (it was not clear from your post if you have been working in this hospital or you quit the hospital and are going back for a job), it will be in that file, so the answer to the question of "why did you leave this floor 11 years ago?" is already there. if you are still an employee of this facility you have a right to see this file and can go to human resources and request to see it. don't say something different now than you did 11 years ago because they will catch you in a lie.

then, in explaining your current reason for applying, i would focus on the fact that in retrospect you were a scared new grad and you found the work overwhelming. you learned a great deal from your mistakes since and enumerate them. let the current manager know that although you left you did take with you a great deal of understanding about how to deal with what you didn't know at the time. explain how that has made you a better and stronger rn.

nursing school taught you to be a nurse, but as a new grad you were also struggling to be a good employee. that is a lot to handle for a new grad. point out that you have "grown up" professionally as a nurse. this is the list of qualities we looked for in professional rns. you should find these qualities in yourself and the manager will be looking for them in you. this is what you want to focus on that you have been developing in the last 11 years along with your mature nursing skills:

initiative – autonomy
dynamism – energy
positive outlook
responsibility
orientation to the client and co-workers (ability to provide customer service)
learning capacity
productivity
high adaptability – flexibility
leadership
team work
tolerance to pressure
analytic ability
professional development