How do long distance interviews work?

llg, PhD, RN · Mar 26, 2018

Each hospital has its own procedure -- often depending on how desperate they are for people in the position you are applying for.

1. For a new grad, they are unlikely to pay your expenses for a trip to their facility as there are probably a lot of applicants that would cost them less to interview and hire.

2. Some hospitals will do phone interviews and not require a face-to-face interview.

3. Other hospitals will do a phone interview as an initial screening and invite you to interview -- but they won't pay for your trip. They figure that if you are planning to move to their community, you will be coming there to find housing, etc. If you are not already planning to move there, then you will be a very high-risk hire and they don't want to invest the money in a high-risk situation. If you want the job badly enough, you'll pay and they won't have to.

4. Experienced nurses with special skills and credentials that are very rare and highly needed, they will fly you in, put you up in a hotel, etc.

oompaloompaninja · May 7, 2018

The hospital that I just interviewed with did a phone interview. The hospital is in Iowa and I live in New Mexico. However if I pass the interview then I will have a 2nd interview which is face to face where I go out to meet them. I'm unsure as to how expenses are covered, it depends from hospital to hospital. I have read that a lot of hospitals will reimburse you for the travel expenses if you keep the receipts which makes more sense to me considering they asked you to come all that way, but as I said I'm not completely sure about that part. But yes, most hospitals will conduct a phone or video interview at the very least, if not ask for a follow up face to face interview if they like you.