Post Interview

[oompaloompaninja]

I had a phone interview not too long ago with the director of the unit, and the HR rep of course. The director seemed very uninterested from the start even before the questions started so I'm wondering if that would mean I'm not going to get the job? Even though interviews are tedious I'm used to the interviewer being a little more engaged in conversation to get to know me and my personality better so it felt much more smooth going and not feeling like I'm standing on the edge of a cliff throughout haha. Have any of you experienced similar interviews and had it work out alright?

[klone, MSN, RN]

It sounds like she did what's called "behavioral interviewing" - the idea is that the best predictor of how an employee will act is by looking at how they acted in similar situations in the past. So they will ask you about how you handled yourself in various situations.

It's anyone's guess whether you are in the running, but I wish you luck!

And hopefully the nurse manager at is not a member here, because you provided a lot of really identifying details in your OP.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

I recommend you remove identifying details from this post. If you were in the running before you probably won't be if this is seen.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

You blew it with "Of course I said that a lot of the time the patients would get upset if the nurse was stressed with a lot to do and made the patient feel like they were being passed over". Never let them see you sweat.

Better luck next time.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

My hospital group does basically 100% behavioral interviewing. There are no "tell me about yourself" or "what are you strengths/weakness" questions. All the questions are "Tell me about a time when..." They are more likely to get an honest answer to these rather than someone's scripted response to the strength/weakness question--and they will still get a pretty good idea of a person's actual strengths and weakness.

As for your joke--as a former ER nurse, I totally get it and I chuckled. However, I can see why the NM may have been a bit put off by this comment. What you said is not false, and I'm sure she knows plenty of frequent flier; however, it can leave the impression that you may be a bit too judgmental about these folks. Not saying you are, but it can come off that way in an interview. Obviously you can't change the past, but I would say to leave that comment out of future interviews.

No way to really know if you are still in the running. I've had what I thought were great interviews and, yet, never got a call back. I have had so-so interviews where I was offered a job. Have a little patience with the synopsis email--2 hours is not that long if someone has to type it up, etc. in the middle of an otherwise busy day. In a day or 2, sent the HR person and NM separate thank you emails. Express your interest in the job and throw in how you were impressed with something about the hospital/unit (something more substantive than then vacation policy).

Good luck!

[oompaloompaninja]

Thanks for the feedback, I made sure to make it a light joke and to reassure that I was only joking. I had been sure to be careful about the wording, so I think I had said something similar to how sometimes it makes you wonder whether they find it fun rather than making it sound accusatory, as regardless I still treat all of my patients with respect and dignity. I was unsure of the time period for these things and certainly wouldn't be upset about waiting a day or two for a response, it's just the lack of initial timeframe that has me feeling a little iffy about it. Thank you for your feedback and as others requested I did edit my post to have less details so thank you for making me aware, I had only the best intentions in mind. It's hard not to worry when you're wanting to start working on a career that you're excited about