Need advice on LPN job interviews...

Published

Hey all, a brief summary on myself:

I graduated from my nursing program in May 2010. I failed the first time I wrote the CPNRE exam the first time I wrote it in may. I then studied for the next exam in September. I passed. Now, I just got my resume/cover letter ready to be handed out.

The only dilemma is, I'm a little nervous about the job interview(s). I recently turned 20 years old and despite my age, I've never had a real job before (Don't judge me for this).

I'd really love some genuine advice on here. What type of questions do they ask? How long will it be? I feel that I'll end up forgetting what I've learned from nursing school when I'm face-to-face with the 2-3 people who will be interviewing me!!!

Cheers

Up Vote Up Vote ×

LTC, Active Treatment, HomeCare? What type of job are you interviewing for?

They will ask about diabetic care, every interview I've ever been on has asked about that topic.

Personal challenges and how you've overcome them.

But unless we know what type of nursing job you are interviewing for we can only give you the very basics.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Well i'll be applying everywhere... mostly hospitals and LTC

About the diabetic care, can you give me an example of what they'll ask?

and thanks for the reply!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Home Care.

Google "job interview questions nursing"

Up Vote Up Vote ×

You'll be fine. They won't care that you've never had a real job before - on my resume, I didn't even have work experience down - all I had was my nursing clinical experience like where I did my psychiatric rotation, pediatrics rotation, etc. Sure, an individual can put down that he/she has worked at Starbucks for the past 15 years, but unless it's in the field of nursing or something with patient care, I wouldn't put it down on my resume.

It might even be a few weeks until you get a job interview with a manager! You have plenty of time to relax and prepare. My interview lasted about 45 minutes. There'll definitely be the general questions like why you're in nursing, why you want to work at that particular unit, how do you cope with the stress of nursing, etc. I guess it'll depend on the unit, but there might be "situation" questions like what do you do if your patient suddenly...etc, etc, etc.

At the very end, when they ask you if you have any questions for them, make sure you have at least five questions written out (or memorized) to ask. Here's a good post with some great questions.

Best of luck!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, LTC/Geriatric.

There will likely be scenario type questions. "You are the team leader of 3 care aids and have 24 residents. A care aid shows you a reddend area of a resident's coccyx and while you are assessing it in the resident's room, by yourself, you hear another resident yell "HELP". What do you do?" Stuff like that.

There may be nuring math questions on drug calculations (there was at my initial interview).

Personal strengths and weaknesses.

Best of luck!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thank you all for the replies! I really appreciate it.

I just phoned one of my classmates who got a job recently. He told me that he had to write two quizzes for basic nursing assessment. After that he had to write a basic english quiz. Is this really how they do it at some places? The biggest fear I have is having my mind go blank on answering a basic question. Maybe i'm stressing out over nothing.

Ahh...i gotta start busting out the books and review, because theres a lot of things that I forgot :(.

I'm going to start handing out my resume/cover letter out on Monday. I pray that I will get a phone call and that my interview will go smoothly.

Breathe...I got this.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion