Interview at Sanford

Be sure to clarify your orientation options, what floor you are interviewing for, and the resources for new grads.

Be prompt, dress business conservative, and have an extra resume w CV. I was taught to make a nursing portfolio in school, I brought mine with as well.

Good luck!

I'm so excited to say that I am interviewing for not one, but TWO nursing positions over at Sanford in Fargo tomorrow! Yes!!! Almost two years have passed since I have started nursing school and now everything is coming to fruition!

That being said, does anyone have any pointers and/or questions that I should ask them?

I graduate on March 17th (yes, St. Patrick's day).

Hi, sorry if this is too late! When I interviewed, I asked them to describe a typical day on the unit. I feel like that helped me narrow down my choice since I was offered a position on three different units. Good luck to you!

They're really looking for you to provide safe care and critical thinking. If you don't know something you better be telling them that you will look it up in the policies or that you're going to ask a more senior nurse for advice. Ask about your floor acuity and patient ratio. Ask about why kind of orientation will it be. It is also very important to ask if you will be primarily assigned to one preceptor. When I started I had mainly 1 preceptor but I know some new hires who are having several and I feel that this hurts new grads.

What unit are you interviewing for? Sanford is desperately hiring nurses so I think you'll do fine but keep in mind that if you aren't a good fit on that unit they may have you try out for another.

Update: Sorry, it's been a chaotic term so far!

I interviewed for three positions: Observation, Medical/Surgical, and Cardiac Progressive Care. I was offered all three positions!!

I know all three would give me great experience, but I had to choose Cardiac Progressive Care since I eventually want to wind up in Cardiac ICU.

Thank you all for your wonderful insight! I asked a lot of questions and for my Cardiac Progressive Care interview, I mentioned evidence based practice and the nurse manager really seemed to like that. She was wondering why Cardiac Progressive Care was my last choice and I told her that I did not know that step-down units would hire new grads and that I eventually want to be in Cardiac ICU. She understood and we talked for about an hour. That was, by far, my longest interview to date, but it was a great experience. I cannot wait to start!

March 17th will come soon enough, but I need to focus on learning first and pass our ATI Comprehensive Predictor.