Interview Advice....URGENT...please help me out!

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Ok..here's the deal. I am currently an LPN student...out of school for 10 weeks then back to finish my degree. I also have my CNA license and have had for 7 years.

Anyway, I have an interview tomorrow (Wednesday) for a part-time CNA position at a hospital...it will help with extra $$ for school, they are willing to work around my school schedule when I go back at the end of summer break, and it will GUARANTEE me a position as LPN once I finish school and take my state boards.

Here's my delima, I have not had a job for over a year, and haven't had to go to a job interview for a few years!!! so I need some advice on the following:

1. What should I expect (in general) for the interview?

2. What kind of questions can I expect to be asked?

3. What kind of answers do they look for?

4. What questions should I be asking them?

5. What is the avg. pay for CNA's in hospitals (& differential for night shift)?

6. Any other advice??

Thanks!!!!

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You might want to do a search online for "behavioral interview questions." These seem really popular lately. Cannot guarantee they'll ask them, but I have a couple friends who had recent interviews at hospitals that were all behavioral questions.

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

agree with above post. I just graduated, and all of my interviews were behavioral based.

For example, describe an incident where you had a conflict with a co-worker/manager/pt, how did you resolve it and what was the outcome.

etc, etc, etc.

Good luck

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

first of all, a cna is a certification and not a license. one of the things on the list i have that you absolutely do not do at a job interview is misuse terms in your speaking that you don't understand in order to impress someone else. that caught my attention immediately when i looked at your post. if you stated, "i also have my cna license and have had for 7 years." at an interview with me my antenna would go up and i probably wouldn't be interested in hearing anything else that you had to say.

when we interviewed for jobs we were looking at the person's attitude and behavior and we had this list of qualities that we were looking for:

  • initiative - autonomy
  • dynamism - energy
  • positive outlook
  • responsibility
  • orientation to the client and co-workers (ability to provide customer service)
  • learning capacity
  • productivity
  • high adaptability - flexibility
  • leadership
  • team work
  • tolerance to pressure
  • analytic ability
  • professional development

what kind of questions can i expect to be asked?

  • what are your professional objectives in the future?
  • how do you manage work stress?
  • how would you express your frustration?
  • how do you react when someone criticizes you?
  • what are your best qualities?
  • how do you face tasks you dislike?
  • how do you react to the critics if you think they are not justified?
  • what kind of people do you dislike?
  • what is most difficult communication problem you have had with your colleagues?
  • how do you manage stress?
  • describe the relationships you have with your work mates?
  • what have you learned from your mistakes?
  • describe the perfect nurse.
  • how would a friend of yours describe you?
  • what do you think about policies and rules?
  • do you consider yourself a person with self-initiative?
  • do you have an analytical mind?
  • what do you do when you have difficulties solving a problem?
  • what is the most boring task you have ever performed? how did you manage it?
  • what is the most interesting task you have ever performed? how did you manage it?
  • tell me about your last teacher, boss, supervisor.

any other advice?

  • do not talk about your personal self or try to show off.
  • do not show your superiority in the situation.
  • do not show your agreement or disagreement with the things an interviewer says.
  • do not compare yourself with other candidates or other persons who might have been in the same position during this trial period.
  • don't let them trick you into participating in gossip. don't respond to gossip--just keep your mouth shut.
  • do not interrupt the person you are with without reason (the interruption is accepted only with a specific purpose).
  • do not use or talk about technology you don't understand or know anything about. just admit you've never worked with that equipment before.
  • do not talk about irrelevant things
  • do not volunteer information until you are asked for it.

what is the avg. pay for cna's in hospitals (& differential for night shift)?

this is not a subject to discuss at the interview. you should do this research outside the interview. they will usually tell you what the position pays at the end of the interview as well as what the benefits are. it is something to bring up only after an offer of hire has been made to you and you want to negotiate a salary.

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first of all, a cna is a certification and not a license.

what is the avg. pay for cna's in hospitals (& differential for night shift)?

this is not a subject to discuss at the interview. you should do this research outside the interview. they will usually tell you what the position pays at the end of the interview as well as what the benefits are. it is something to bring up only after an offer of hire has been made to you and you want to negotiate a salary.

daytonite,

wow! thanks for all the help...in response...i did know that it is a certification...i guess i was typing so fast (and including the info. about my lpn class) that i wasn't really thinking clearly...but thanks for pointing that out; now i'm sure not to "mix it up" at my interview!

also, understand completely about not asking about pay at the interview...i don't think that is professional either...i'm just wondering if they do make an offer...what's an acceptable rate of pay, and how much is average for negotiation? i don't want to start negotiating and ask for too much (for a hospital setting).

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
i'm just wondering if they do make an offer...what's an acceptable rate of pay, and how much is average for negotiation? i don't want to start negotiating and ask for too much (for a hospital setting).

most likely, you won't have a choice. they will make an offer of employment and give you the pay rate they are willing to start you at. it will be based on your experience. you can ask for more, but if they say no and give you reasons why they won't go any higher, i wouldn't pursue it or they will withdraw the offer of employment.

when i was working in management, they actually sent people out, call them corporate spies if you want, to get information on work hours, job duties, benefits and pay. they all did this. it is one way the facilities stay competitive with each other so the pay rates are pretty much the same at all the facilities in the area where you live. if they were not, everyone would quit and work at the one that pays the best.

then, again, the ones that pay the highest aren't necessarily the best places to work. sometimes they have to pay the highest in order to keep staff working there because they might be such bad places to work!

take it from me, what i learned in over 30 years of nursing jobs was that the best ones were where the people i worked with were the nicest to get along with and the pay was secondary. teamwork and good behavior trumps high wages any day. that is partly why a good interviewer is going to ask questions designed to detect someone who is

  • negative
  • lazy
  • a lone wolf
  • corner cutter
  • has disdain for authority
  • not a team player
  • a gossiper

because in the long run this person ends up causing trouble of one kind or another as an employee. the fact is that when we work for a place our time and labor belongs to them. when they say "jump!" we are pretty much obligated to say, "how high?" and do it. too many do not get that.

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Daytonite,

Wow! Thanks for all the help...in response...I did know that it is a certification...

I should not get too excited at the mix up not everyone pulls the shutters down this. For some reason the toys fall out of our (nurses) strollers when we hear a CNA say licensed. Of course if MDs dismissed a nursing license the way some RNs dismiss a CNA qualification the nurses would go crazy. Oh wait they DO go crazy.

Good luck in your interview. Good luck with school.

Peace

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