Interview help-questions in this format

[BrandonM77]

So I had a interview with this hospital for a different position a few weeks ago, and went through both stages of the interview. The second stage was something I never experienced. It was a peer interview with 3 of the charge nurses. The hard part was the format in which they asked questions. It went as follows.

...tell of a situation in your past experience that "so and so" relates to this "topic" and how did you overcome/handle it.

I've never encountered questions as this where I was suddenly on the spot racing though all the memories of my past 5 years in healthcare to remember a story that pertains to the topic at hand. They asked 10 questions in this format in regards to various topics such as hippa, communication boundaries, conflict resolution, task management ect. I can't recall them all.

Well anyway coming up in a week I have another peer interview in the same hospital for a different position, my dream job... I assume the questions will be in the same format as the peer interview of the first position since it's the same hospital. Does anyone have advice for how to prepare for these type questions also is there any websites with practice questions in this format where I may be able to prepare myself. Final question should I wear a suit to this second stage interview with peers, I wore a suit with the initial interview with the director of the icu and one of the managers. Thank you for any help or advice you can offer!

Brandon

[RN403, BSN, RN]

These are the threads/website that I used to prepare for a recent interview:

https://allnurses.com/nursing-interview-help/how-answer-most-748905.html

https://allnurses.com/nursing-interview-help/few-more-common-793986.html

https://allnurses.com/nursing-interview-help/more-common-nursing-797911.html

...the website I used was hospitalsoup.com and searched for practice interview questions.

I also took a small index card with me and wrote key words on it so that if I blanked I could reference it to tell my story and/or tell them my strengths, weaknesses, etc.

Hope this was helpful...Good Luck!

Oh, by the way, a lot of the comments in these threads listed have great examples of the questions they received during their interviews which is helpful as well.

[BrandonM77]

Thank you very much, I've actually been reading a lot of the other threads to practice questions and I hope to go into this one prepared, the first interview I know I rocked I could see it in the directors face. They called me 2hrs later to set up the 2nd stage but from what I heard this is the most important stage, peer interviews decide if you get the job

[Student Mom to Three]

Google "behavior interview questions". I had an interview at a VA facility and it is the format they use. Things like "tell me about a time you had to present an idea verbally... How did you approach it and what would you do differently next time?"

They can be very difficult to answer. I didn't really get asked about my experience, etc. I was just questioned about how I had managed various situations in the past. I felt like I bombed pretty badly. At one point I actually talked out loud to myself "Come on, Student Mom, think, think harder". I guess they liked that because I will be starting soon!

I have heard repeatedly that people hire those they would enjoy working with so be friendly and personable and let your personality show!

Suit? I don't know. I hate suits and have never worn anything other than pants and a decent shirt to interviews. But, I hear from some on here that it is important. I wouldn't wear one, but you do what you need to be comfortable.

Rock the interview! Good luck!

[thinwildmercury]

Yes, those are the standard questions asked in healthcare (and probably other) jobs. My tips is to think of patient and coworker interactions that have stood out to you. Think of a time you made a difference for a patient, had a difficult patient, made a decision under pressure, etc. What happened, how did you solve it and what were the results? Just have several stories in your head of several different patients and scenarios and usually one of them will be relevant to each questions they ask you! You will most liekyl be cauht off guard on a couple questions no matter how much you prepare but being prepared makes a huge difference. That's awesome that you rocked the first interview without preparing!! I would have frozen up in your shoes haha