what to ask at the interview

Sheri FNP-C · Sep 9, 2009

I made a lengthy list of interview questions. At my first several interviews I would jot down notes to answer my questions. On my final interview, I asked a very few basic questions because I just knew it was the job I wanted and everything else would work out. Many questions depend on your specific circumstance.

I asked things like:

Generally, the hours and on call responsibilities

Number of patients seen per day and how much time for well child checks vs. sick visits

If they could accommodate a 4 days per week schedule, but still offer medical insurance

What type of person would be a good fit for the practice

Their feelings about working with an experience RN, but brand new NP

Until I found "the one" I was asking quite a bit about specific hours, who I would go to with questions, how insurance credentialing was handled, the typical patients I would be seeing (at one internal med office NPs weren't allowed to do physicals only interval visits), etc. Details about what I would and wouldn't be doing. The list went on and on.

Good luck at your interview. Is this a pediatric surgeon? You could always say that you have no recent OR experience, but you would love to go observe. They would think you are observing the surgery, but instead observe how everyone interacts with the Dr. and you may get some interesting insight into the kind of person they really are rather than seeing only their best interview behavior.

Have you looked into jobs at pediatric clinics near you? In my area, they have a really hard time finding people willing to work with the medicaid population. The job I accepted is a private peds office, but they do take medicaid so we have about a 50/50 mix of Medicaid and non-Medicaid patients. I love it, but they told me recently that even being 50/50 they have a hard time recruiting for all positions.

pedspnp · Sep 12, 2009

no she is a pediatrician but she is doing a c/s that morning. Where do you live where they have a hard time getting people to work with the medicaid population, that was my favorite group in clinic I leave sunday for the interview so I will let you know

Sheri FNP-C · Sep 12, 2009

I live in NY. Here, the pediatricians do not go to the OR under any circumstances! I worked in maternity for several years before becoming an NP and the only peds people we saw were NICU.

pedspnp · Sep 12, 2009

i thought it was strange that she would be doing the c/s maybe

core0 · Sep 12, 2009

i thought it was strange that she would be doing the c/s maybe

Lots of places Peds covers the NICU and attend any C/S for resuscitation.

David Carpenter, PA-C

Sheri FNP-C · Sep 12, 2009

Really??? That is shocking to me. Maybe because my experience has only been at a regional high risk OB center with a level IV NICU. However, it just seems like general peds doesn't even begin to cover the potential acute care needs of say the baby born to a 23 week pregnant woman that strolls in fully dilated and delivers without time for a transfer to occur. I thought completion of a neonatal fellowship was required of NICU MDs! Thanks for the insight.

pedspnp · Sep 13, 2009

The town that I am interviewing is a real small town and there are only 2 pediatricians in town I will let you all know on monday wish me luck:heartbeat

core0 · Sep 13, 2009

Really??? That is shocking to me. Maybe because my experience has only been at a regional high risk OB center with a level IV NICU. However, it just seems like general peds doesn't even begin to cover the potential acute care needs of say the baby born to a 23 week pregnant woman that strolls in fully dilated and delivers without time for a transfer to occur. I thought completion of a neonatal fellowship was required of NICU MDs! Thanks for the insight.

Most level one nurseries are covered by general pediatricians. Its only the really big centers where neo's cover all the nurseries. Small towns with FP doing C/S and peds doing resuscitation's are not uncommon. Ideally they are shipping their high risk moms to tertiary centers but the baby doesn't always wait. When I was a tech in the NICU we would sometimes send out both teams (high risk OB and Neonatal) if there was any doubt about whether the mother could wait.

David Carpenter, PA-C

pedspnp · Sep 15, 2009

ok got my answer, the pediatrician sits in on the c/s . which i i got to observe my ahem interview went well it was mostly how well did i react with the staff which was great, small town NW Oklahoma offered 69,000 to start pus CME and paying for my spouse to travel with me, paying for Licensure, 2550.00 in moving expenses 3weeks of vacation in addition to CME also paying for my husband to go with me. This job is 10 hours away from where I live so it is a separation from my husband, He is fine with this I am can not find a PNP job in St. Louis as a PNP w/o experience, we are prior military so I am used to the separation, and can survive on my own, when I called a friend tonight she wasl like great but how can you leave your husband to take a job out of state and made me feel like total failure. help