Job Interview: What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Discussing your strengths and weaknesses can be nerve wracking. How do you go about it? What's your biggest weakness?

How do you answer this question? What are some examples of strengths in nursing and weaknesses that have a positive spin?

For strengths: I am big on teamwork, flexible, calm under pressure, motivated, enthusiastic

For weaknesses: In the beginning, I has time management issues (like every new grad) and used to save my charting until later and then I had a ton of charting and was leaving late! Now I document as I go and feel like my time management is much improved. I also developed my own "brain" sheet so that I would be able to better manage my time.

I don't feel like that is "spinning it" per se. I feel like it is a true weakness, but I am doing things to improve it. I think that is the key. Blurting out a weakness without saying how you are working on it or make something up that sounds too good to be true is a huge misstep IMO.

They want to have a skype interview and a week later a in person interview. I'm very nervous as I don't know what they are going to ask me or what they're looking for in the Skype interview. I have never worked in the OR but I worked in Med Surg Telemetry before and Psych, also did a bit of home care and Doctor's Office perdiem work.

What kind of questions will they ask me? Do I have to know anything OR related? Any technical questions? What can I do to make a good impression? I'm really panicking right now because I really want that position and don't want to blow it!!

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Most likely, the questions are going to relate mostly to standard interview questions and your personality traits. Here's a link to a thread with other links to other threads (confused yet?) that talk about the qualities we look for in a coworker.

I doubt there will be questions about OR specific things; rather, more along the lines of strengths/weaknesses, teamwork, how you handle an emergency situation, etc.

Remember that while they are interviewing you, you are also interviewing them. You definitely want to know about the orientation and resources for new nurses, and finding out ahead of time about the call requirements and policies can help you figure out if you can meet or make arrangements to meet the requirements. Main concern with call being response time and where you live- we used to have someone who had to stay in a hotel or with a coworker when on call because she lived too far away.

Some questions they asked me in my interview:

1) tell me what you think an OR nurse does.

2) what qualities do you think are most important in an OR nurse?

3) why OR nursing?

4) and what kind of OR nursing would I like to do.. It was for a big system.. So they had OB, children's, and trauma hospitals and why?

Then pretty much general interview questions.

Well my interview went well. Haven't heard if I got the position yet. They said we will know in about 10 days and HR will let us know either way. I was nervous but was able to hold a nice convo with the 4 ladies that interviewed me.

It was sort of like a conference interview 2 of the head department managers, A unit manager and a last years internship nurse.

They asked me:

What do you think an OR nurse does?

What are your strengths and weaknesses? (This one was expected so I practiced before hand)

Tell me about a time when you had a conflict with a co worker and how did you go about it?

There are different ways to do one thing. Give me an example of something you've done in 2 different ways to get the same outcome. (This one caught me off guard. I sort of went blank and gave an example of how to feed a patient via pump or bolus will get the same outcome of getting nutrition to the patient)

Tell me about an emergency situation you encountered on your previous jobs and how did you handle it? This one was easy.

And basically they took turns chit chatting. I asked them a few questions. Overall I felt like it went well. I really hope they select me. Im sure there must be quite a few candidates to chose from so I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Thank you all for the tips. Although I am not in the market for a new job, I have decided to make a document to highlight both so I have it available should I need to find a new job. This question is always my weakness, lol. It can be hard to state your strengths without sounding cocky. On the flip side, its hard to state your weakness's. for myself, its my interpersonal skills because i have zero tolerance for people not doing their jobs, or not treating their patients as they were most important (in my eyes). So with this I always struggle on how to answer this question. So anybody who has idea's on how to state this would be great. Thank you.

Specializes in NICU.

This is such a awesome thread! I am prepping for my very first nursing interview and now because of the information I got from here I feel like I am a bit more prepared!

This question was giving me nightmares but I feel like I can now answer it confidently ! Thank you all !

I find it interesting all the comments from actual HR people meanwhile when you read everything about interviewing it says not to give anything negative about yourself. So confusing! The last couple of interviews I went on I felt that alot of the questions focused on negative things and how I handled them. How about asking what was the greatest memory you have as a nurse!!! Also, do these recruiters who are interviewing you have a healthcare background? When I answer some of the questions in detail it seems they have no clue what I really mean. And I found the more interviews I went on, they all started asking the same questions.

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

The BEST answer is one based on the truth ... expressed in terms that show that you are aware of your limitations, but are successfully working to improve that area so that it won't be a weakness on the job.

Experienced interviewers who use that question are experts at recognizing "bs" and will penalize you heavily for trying to fool them with a fake answer.

So ... to figure out YOUR best answer to those questions ... start my making lists of your REAL strengths and weaknesses. Then think about how to discuss those weaknesses in ways that show you are improving in that area and are conquering it. When discussing your strengths, include how that strength will help them meet the goals for the unit/institution you are hoping to work for.

Asking about weakness is typically asked to assess how well you self reflect and work on personal growth. They don't expect you to be perfect at everything. Sometimes it helps to frame it as something you are working on...e.g sometimes I struggle with time management, but I developed a personalized brain to help me stay organized and have gotten positive feedback from my last supervisor. Or that you still get anxious relaying concerns to the provider but have found it helpful to use SBAR. More personalized responses are better than something generic like being "overly detail oriented."

With questions addressing your strengths, it can never hurt to give an anecdote about being conscientious or being a good team player. If you can figure out what the mission statement/philosophy of the place you are interviewing at, it's even better to tailor your answer to that. Focusing on evidence based practice is typically good for a teaching hospital, whereas smaller, faith based organizations might appreciate hearing more about how you connect with your patient. I've used these guidelines the past few interviews and it's served me pretty well.

Interviews are stressful but get better with practice. Don't forget that interviews are a two way street, it's okay to ask questions and determine if it's a good fit for you. Hope this is helpful, best of luck!

"I get nervous speaking in front of people and not good in communication skills '' do you think it would be okay as my weakness ?

Specializes in Rehab, Ortho-Spine, Med-Surg, & Psych.
Chink02 said:
"I get nervous speaking in front of people and not good in communication skills '' do you think it would be okay as my weakness ?

Hello!

You will be surprised that most of the education you will give to your patients will come naturally from you. YOu will do a lot of teaching about anatomy, physiology, and medication purposes and side effects. As you work in an unit for several weeks, you will find some things repetitive, but new to the patients. Your confidence will build and at the same time you will help your patents understand and avoid risk with the medications they go home with.

It's a process. If you are meant to be a nurse, the skill will develop beautifully!

Don't be afraid of being worried about it, but reiterate that your commitment to serve and peer support, will guide you through it and succeed!

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