Greatest weakness ?

AZBlueBell · Mar 3, 2015

This is a hard question for sure. I am also very critical of myself, maybe you could word it something like "I can be critical of my actions but I use it as a tool to learn how I can do things better in the future".

LessValuableNinja · Mar 4, 2015

The best advice I can give is, "There are tens of thousands of articles on this subject. Read ten of them."

Butterflyxx0621 · Mar 4, 2015

The best advice I can give is, "There are tens of thousands of articles on this subject. Read ten of them."

I've probably read about 50 of them. I understand about being honest and upfront about your weakness which is why I always have been, but I'm not always the best at phrasing things in a politically correct way

LessValuableNinja · Mar 5, 2015

Welp, give me three weaknesses, and I'll pick one and translate it into something I'd want to hear as a hiring manager :)

I'm just getting back into nursing, but I was out in the business world for a long time doing interviews and so on.

Butterflyxx0621 · Mar 5, 2015

Welp, give me three weaknesses, and I'll pick one and translate it into something I'd want to hear as a hiring manager :)
I'm just getting back into nursing, but I was out in the business world for a long time doing interviews and so on.

Thanks for the help... 3 weaknesses and I am being completely honest. Experience, there's certain things I have not had an opportunity to do often in my about 2 years of nursing. As a result my confidence could use some work, although it definitely continues to improve the longer I am practicing and I've been told I have a great poker face. Lastly, separating home and work. Right now I case manage for home hospice, so it really does seem like you are working 24/7 at times.

LessValuableNinja · Mar 5, 2015

Okay, I'll use experience as an example.

Your experience is all in home hospice?

Let's say you want a hospital job and are applying for med-surg. You land an interview because your friend works at the hospital.

The nurse manager asks the dreaded question, "What's would you say is your greatest weakness."

Perhaps you answer something like this:

Well, I think I have to look at that question in the context of this position, and what I think would concern me if I were looking at an employee with my background in a hiring situation. If I were looking at an employee with my background, I'd probably think their greatest weakness is their experience. They did rotations in med-surg back in nursing school, but it's been a couple years and I'd be wondering if they had the right skillset to work effectively on a busy med-surg floor. I've actually thought about this a lot, and wanted to be able to work on my weakness so that when I did get a chance at a position like this, I would be more ready for the position and able to alleviate a hiring manager's concerns. About three months ago, I started taking CEUs specifically related to med-surg nursing, both to refresh my skills and also to learn new skills and information, what's current based on nursing research. I've taken CEU courses in chest tube management, ventilators, wound care, medical crisis intervention (insert a bunch of more appropriate topics here). So I've taken about 50(?) CEUs in med-surg topics, and I'm scheduled for ACLS next Monday. I know that I'll still have a lot to learn but I promise that I'm a very hard worker and that I'll do everything I can both while at work and outside work to study the best practice methodology for being a great nurse here, I'll take criticism well and learn from it, and that I'll learn as much as I can as quickly as I can.

Or something like that. As a hiring manager, I went from "Ugh, home hospice nurse thinks she can hang on med-surg," to, "Little bit of an experience deficiency, but she's doing all the right things to prepare for the job, and came prepared for the interview."

So you're acknowledging that you don't have the perfect type/amount of experience, but also showing that you're correcting that as much as you can already on your own, and that you're eager to learn more and be a great nurse/employee on the floor.