Attributes for hiring nurses

[nurse_wannabe]

Hi, all. I have a class assignment to gather 15 positive characteristics/attributes that nursing employers look for when hiring a new LPN. I have so far interviewed 2 people, but I need 9 more attributes!

If you all could provide me with any ideas about what you look for when hiring, or those qualities that you like in your coworkers, I would greatly appreciate it.

This does not have to be answered by a supervisor, any ol' RN or LPN will do just perfectly!

Thank you very much! :)

[Dixiecup]

I was a DON for a few years and some of the things that I looked for were:

1. Promptness. Please don't be late for an interview.

2. professional attire. Please don't come to an interview in jeans! If you are neat and clean at the interview you will probable be neat in clean on the job.

3. This is just a personal quirk of mine but good handwriting skills. I almost would never hire someone with sloppy handwriting.

those are just a few. There must be hundreds more.

[hippienurse]

Competence

Caring

Experience

Good people skills

Confidence (not OVER confidence, tho)

Responsibility (including for nursing care, AND being on time)

Flexibility (for different working hours)

[begalli]

Big during my job interview was the ability to deal effectively with different personality types....passive agressive, aggressive, manipulators, etc. Talking about this was part of the interview process. Communication skills!

My job application included written responses to these questions (I was a new grad):

• Tell us how you have maintained your skills and knowledge since graduation.
  
• Describe an example of your own use of critical thinking skills in a clinical setting.
  
• How do you contribute to the smooth functioning of the patient care team?
  
• What do you see as the biggest challenge to maintaining clear and open communication with fellow members of your patient care team?
  

Don't know if that helps you, but I thought I'd add it anyway. You could probably come up with some attributes from these questions.

[jeepgirl, LPN, NP]

I was a DON for a few years and some of the things that I looked for were:

1. Promptness. Please don't be late for an interview.

2. professional attire. Please don't come to an interview in jeans! If you are neat and clean at the interview you will probable be neat in clean on the job.

3. This is just a personal quirk of mine but good handwriting skills. I almost would never hire someone with sloppy handwriting.

those are just a few. There must be hundreds more.

Just a quirk... but that is really unfair! Do you mean that you use this as a determinate from two employees with similar attributes such as experience, etc or would you just not hire them for this simple fact?