Interview for a Patient Care Assistant PT SVCS

[Laurlaur09]

I have an interview tomorrow with my dream hospital for a PCA BSN student nurse position. I am a little nervous... the lady from human resources said all i needed was to have a professor email her telling her I have completed a rotation in Med Surg.... but do I need to bring anything else to this interview??? It's the first interview I have had not in the food industry or in a nursing home... none of these were formal.... should I make a resume should I have questions prepared??? Any help would be great!! Thanks

[NCRNMDM, ASN, RN]

I'm a third semester nursing student, and I just got a CNA II job on a med-surg oncology/transfusion unit last week (this unit also does outpatient chemo infusions, blood transfusions, ICU step-down, intermediate care, telemetry, and hospice and palliative care). I had never interviewed for a position, and I was really nervous, as you are. I submitted a resume with my online application, but I also brought a copy with me just in case they needed it. I didn't take anything else (besides a pen).

The unit I got hired on does peer reviews. This means that you spend about 15 minutes with the hiring manager initially, then you are turned over to the RNs and CNAs on the unit. You go for a tour of the unit, and then one RN and one CNA interviews you. They have a list of like 50 questions they can choose from, so you never know what you're going to be asked.

I heard things like, "why do you want to work here?" "Why should we hire you?" "How will you handle going to school full time and working at least 24 hours a week?" "How much experience do you have with prioritizing care?" "Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond a patient's requests." "What made you want to work on this unit?" "Why do you want to be a nurse?" "Tell me about your previous experiences." "Describe yourself." "What are some of your best qualities?"

The interview went really well, and I was offered the job 30 minutes after the interview ended. The people who interviewed me were incredibly nice, and they did everything they could to calm my nerves. It was a formal interview, but it felt really friendly and personal.

I asked questions like, "what's the work environment like in this unit?" "What is your nurse/patient and CNA/patient ratio?" "Do the members of this unit work well together as a team?" "Are you happy and satisfied working on this unit?" "What is your typical census here?"

Good luck, and stay calm. The interview won't be nearly as bad as you think it will!