My 1st new grad interview & left confused

[sakuragirl24]

Hi everyone!

After 4 long months of applying to new grad positions, I finally landed an interview for an L&D residency program at a large hospital in California. I arrived 15 minutes early, I dressed professionally wearing a grey women's suite, and brought along a leather notepad as well as my portfolio (resume, CL, letter of recs, senior project pilot study information, certifications).

What was interesting was that the interviewers (unit manager & CNS) did not ask a majority of the questions that I had prepared for :X The interview lasted just alittle longer than the 30 minute slot going into about 35mins. They only asked me:

1) Tell me about your preceptorship / with little questions stemming from my answer?

2) Why dp you want to work for ____?

3) Tell me about your senior project?

4) What are your short term goals?

I was really anticipating scenario and "what are strengths/weaknesses" kind of questions. I answered their questions to the best of my ability and based on their body language the interview seemed okay. There was eye contact, some nods in agreement to certain things that I was saying, they took some notes.

After they asked me questions, they went into describing the residency program in detail. The unit manager the proceeded to tell me more about the culture of the unit. What challenges I may face as a new grad in their program and that the preceptors are very new grad friendly. I was asked if I preferred evening or night shifts. She appeared enthusiastic when describing her team. She asked about the hospital that I precepted at (L&D) and was also very detailed about her hospital. We have X beds, we have x births , she told me about their doctors and so the type of patients they see. She then asked me if I had any questions. I had prepared 5 questions but only asked three. Their answers were very clear and well thought out.

My last question was of course, "what are the next steps". She told me that they were at the very end of their interviews and that they will be making decisions shortly. She presented a sheet that entailed what to anticipate (reference checks, email/letter of acceptance, background check and physical/drug screenings)--which seemed like onboarding instructions to me. The base pay was also written on that sheet. She said that I would be hearing in 7-10 days and to check my email often.

We said our goodbyes and I dropped off a hand written thank you note to the receptionist. I thanked them for their time and that I appreciated hearing their thoughts on what they found rewarding in their career.

I'm CONFUSED. I know I should just wait and see but I can't help but analyze everything haha.

1) They barely asked any behavioral/scenario questions

but

2) I have this sheet with onboarding instructions and a base pay?

Is it normal for HR/managers to do these kind of things? Hand out a sheet with onboarding instructions as well as mention base pay on a first interview? What are your experiences? help please! I have a long wait to go. haha.

[caliotter3]

Don't read into this. You seem to be forgetting that you were not the only person interviewing for this position. The people making the decisions need some time to do their job. You will hear when it is time. They posted the base pay because it is no big secret and because they don't want to field multiple questions about the same thing. Everyone is always interested in the pay rate. The HR office personnel have other matters to deal with besides answering the same questions. Now if you hear nothing back in a reasonable amount of time, you have two options: 1) assume they have gone with another candidate, or 2) you can follow up to make certain there has not been an oversight. Good luck.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

In my experience interviewing people, there's a list of questions the interviewer uses, and not all of them get used. If more than one person is interviewing, they've probably decided, ahead of time, which ones to ask, depending on how much time each takes. All the questions you were asked have been on the lists of questions I've used. They just didn't get to the scenario/your behavior questions.

As for starting pay and all the other information, on that sheet....they probably give that to everyone. It's the standard, "just in case you want to know now" sheet. Remember, you're interviewing them too, so they give you information you might find handy.

Good luck in your job search!

[schnookimz]

The only thing I would suggest is to be a little more proactive next time in asking about the unit. Instead of letting them tell you all about the unit, I think you should start the conversation and be the one who inquired about the culture of the unit and number of beds etc.

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

I've never been asked a scenario question in an interview. There is no standard list of questions, you never know what you'll get.

[RunBabyRN]

I've only had one or two interviews with scenario questions. The rest, no scenarios. Different companies and interviewers have different styles. Not every interviewer will ask about your strengths and weaknesses. Plus, most people don't give their ACTUAL weaknesses, anyway. ("It takes me forever to learn something" "I'm late for EVERYTHING" "I tend to get distracted when there's 'nothing' to do")