First travel interview!

NedRN · Jan 22, 2014

Most interviews are just about convincing you to come work at their delightful understaffed hospital. They've already looked at your profile and are convinced that you have what they need. I would would ask one or two thoughtful questions, like NICU level and patient population, perhaps floating and schedule, but virtually nothing you ask will really tell you what it is like to work there. Even if you hate the manager, it may not be relevant to the morale on the unit. So go easy on the questions, just sound confident. If you have a skills concern that might be relevant to population served, ECMO, tets, whatever, go ahead and discuss patient assignment.

I'm not NICU, but if I were a manager, I might ask a clinical question just to see how fast you think: "If you see an art line with no pressure and blood pooling by the child, what do you do first?" I got hit with that question on a job interview right out of school so I sure remember it! That would be a pretty simple question for an experienced nurse.

But I think in most clinical areas, such questions by managers are rare. In 17 years of traveling, I only had one hospital grill me wanting to know step by step how I would circulate an entire open heart case. Got the job, but it was silly. Had one other hospital grill me with more typical HR questions about how I handle stress, but that has been it through 50 plus interviews.

lemur87 · Jan 22, 2014

Thank you NedRN! The interview is in an hour! If it goes well and I am offered the position I know to say I am very interested and need to discuss it with my recruiter...if it goes well will that give me more negotiating power with my recruiter?

NedRN · Jan 22, 2014

I'm a little late here for your interview, but the primary purpose for not accepting during the interview is professional. You would hate to give your word and then discover something in the contract you can't live with. Yes, you do have more negotiating oomph if the hospital wants you, but with great power comes great responsibility. Don't go nuts! You don't want to become a pariah with your agency but a well respected partner. Strive for balance, especially if this is your first assignment.

lemur87 · Jan 23, 2014

Thank you NedRN for being such a wealth of knowledge. I was offered the position! I told them I was very interested and would work thru the contract with my agency. Start date proposed in just 2 weeks!

I'm concerned about finding housing that quickly, but worse case scenario I could stay for free with family about an hour away from the facility. Not ideal, but an option if I don't find anything else right away

NedRN · Jan 23, 2014

Congrats! Hope it all works out on the agency/contract end.

lemur87 · Jan 23, 2014

How often do things fall thru between offer and contract signing? I'm fairly comfortable with the terms I know I so far (pay, etc) and it is with PPR so I think they have a pretty good name for decent contract terms.

NedRN · Jan 23, 2014

Not often. Most of the time it is the traveler that changes their mind. The hospital is not going to for a hard to find NICU RN, nor is the agency. Sometimes there is unexpectedly low census, but that would be it. Good agency, congrats again. Soon the real fun begins!