Best Questions to Ask a Potential Employer (Faculty)

[Mary C, MSN, RN, APRN, CNM]

I am interviewing for two faculty positions at small, private for-profit colleges. I have a MSN and 4 years of experience, 3 in L&D, 1 in a pulmonary ICU step-down.

One opening is for maternal-child health, the other is for a fundamentals. I am going to ask the interviewer if they have an established mentoring program for new faculty members.

What else would you ask at your interview if you had the chance to repeat, or did you ask that was extremely valuable?

Thanks!

[nursie_nursie_415]

... can't recall the details of my interview for my facility's new grad program (which was SO many years ago), but I do remember asking, "What are some of the challenges new graduates face when transitioning from the program to working on the floor?" The reason I remember this is because one of my interviewers replied that he believed "time management" was the most apparent challenge for new grads, to which I replied that I felt time management would be one of my stronger attributes because of my past experience in an acute setting. The conversation opened up from there & somehow he got me talking about my time management "failures". I honestly was not prepared to discuss any of this but luckily he was very warm which helped me to feel relaxed. Also, at the beginning of the interview it was somewhat comically implied that he was a bit tired of interviewing so many candidates so I took that opportunity to relieve him of the talking.

The point is, be prepared to follow-through on the questions you decide to ask. Hope this helps.

[iamaca2000]

Some of the ones I wished I had asked were in regards to expectations outside of the classroom. For example, I wished I had asked more specifics regarding office hours, how many committees I was expected to be on, how many faculty meetings there were, etc.

I also wished I would have asked how far in advance I would know what I was teaching and if I had any say in what I was teaching. In one position I found out 4 weeks before the next semester I was going to be teaching pathophysiology with no prior experience teaching that course. Needless to say my evaluations were not the greatest for that class.

I hope this helps.