NICU New Grad Residency Interview!

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Hello everybody!

I just graduated with my BSN! Woohoo! On Wednesday, I have an interview for a residency position in the NICU at my local Children's Hospital! This is my absolute dream job, and I have never been so nervous. Any preparation suggestions? Any suggestions on questions I should ask or things I can do to increase my chances of getting the position? I would appreciate any advice!

Thanks in advance :)

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Specializes in CVICU.

First of all dress sharp. Try to look as mainstream as possible. That means cover tats, consider removing piercings that aren't in the ear lobe.

Second. Don't and I repeat don't bring your parents to the interview. This is something that is gaining traction on some business, but hospitals are not as hip and having a parent there will be a negative. If you have parents with you send them somewhere for coffee while you are interviewing.

A lot of institutions are going with a Behavior-Based Interview. Here are some sample questions.

Nursing Interview Questions

When answering behavior based questions you should answer using the SHARE format.

S: describe a specific Situation

H: identify Hindrances or challenges

A: explain an Action that you took

R: discuss the Results or outcome

E: Evaluate or summarize what you learned

When answering these questions talk specific situations, and specific examples. Since this is your first job you don't have a vast library of stories to tell, so give the example questions some thought before you go on the interview. It is OK to use examples from clinical or even a previous non nursing job if you had one.

Second be aware of body language. You words may say one thing but your body language another.

If they ask you a question about if you ever had to deviate from protocol, the only correct response to that is that you never deviate from protocol or hospital policy because they are evidence based. You also never deviate from the chain of command. Yes you might have to escalate a situation to the next level if the next person in the chain isn't doing the right thing. But tread on this going over someones head lightly.

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Great advice here....do people actually being relatives with them to job interviews? Yikes.

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Oh my gosh. I had hoped you were kidding!

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Specializes in CVICU.

I know a nurse who works with HR who goes on recruiting trips and when she told me this I thought she was making it up. I Googled it and yes indeed it is true. Hospitals are not as progressive as Silicon Valley companies and bringing a parent to an interview will not help your app find its way to the top of the pile.

Sorry MGH2014 I did not mean to hijack your topic here. Again good luck on the interview. Like I said in a previous post, Google behavior based interviews and look at the example questions. Do your homework on what attire to wear, bring your documents in a nice clean folder, and you should be good to go. Best of luck to you. Please post here after your interview and tell us how it went.

Just a quick addendum here. NICU is a very stressful place to work. The babies are often very critical, however what is worse is there is a fair amount of "moral distress" (look it up) that goes with the territory. Your interviewer will be feeling you out on how you will deal with this. You training will cost a lot of money and they want to make sure that you are not only a good learner, but will also want to have a good feeling that you won't run for the door screaming the first time you experience the stress of the job.

One more thing. My guess is that you will probably be hired for nights shift or a day/night rotation. If you have never worked nights, it is an animal all of it's own. In my unit it amazed me the number of new grads who hired on for a day/night rotation and when off orientation were appalled to find out they had to work some nights. There was always a couple who bolted before their commitment was over because they couldn't deal with nights. I often wonder what part of "day/night" didn't they understand?

So if night shift is part of the equation with this job make sure you are honest with yourself on whether or not you can cope with working nights. With some lifestyle adjustment most people can. Read some threads here on working nights. Here is a good place to start.

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/night-shift-newbies-531465.html

The other thing the new grads on my unit were surprised to find out is that they had to work every third weekend and "gulp" holidays. "You mean I have to work Christmas????"

So take this into consideration grasshopper because yes, you will work weekends, holidays, and possibly nights. You will miss family events because of work. You will miss out on outings with friends. And yes, your first year you probably will work Christmas.

If any of these are deal breakers than don't waste the interviewers time and find a job better suited for your lifestyle. If you take this job in NICU they will expect that you tailor your life around work and not the other way around.

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I know a nurse who works with HR who goes on recruiting trips and when she told me this I thought she was making it up. I Googled it and yes indeed it is true. Hospitals are not as progressive as Silicon Valley companies and bringing a parent to an interview will not help your app find its way to the top of the pile.

Sorry MGH2014 I did not mean to hijack your topic here. Again good luck on the interview. Like I said in a previous post, Google behavior based interviews and look at the example questions. Do your homework on what attire to wear, bring your documents in a nice clean folder, and you should be good to go. Best of luck to you. Please post here after your interview and tell us how it went.

Just a quick addendum here. NICU is a very stressful place to work. The babies are often very critical, however what is worse is there is a fair amount of "moral distress" (look it up) that goes with the territory. Your interviewer will be feeling you out on how you will deal with this. You training will cost a lot of money and they want to make sure that you are not only a good learner, but will also want to have a good feeling that you won't run for the door screaming the first time you experience the stress of the job.

One more thing. My guess is that you will probably be hired for nights shift or a day/night rotation. If you have never worked nights, it is an animal all of it's own. In my unit it amazed me the number of new grads who hired on for a day/night rotation and when off orientation were appalled to find out they had to work some nights. There was always a couple who bolted before their commitment was over because they couldn't deal with nights. I often wonder what part of "day/night" didn't they understand?

So if night shift is part of the equation with this job make sure you are honest with yourself on whether or not you can cope with working nights. With some lifestyle adjustment most people can. Read some threads here on working nights. Here is a good place to start.

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/night-shift-newbies-531465.html

The other thing the new grads on my unit were surprised to find out is that they had to work every third weekend and "gulp" holidays. "You mean I have to work Christmas????"

So take this into consideration grasshopper because yes, you will work weekends, holidays, and possibly nights. You will miss family events because of work. You will miss out on outings with friends. And yes, your first year you probably will work Christmas.

If any of these are deal breakers than don't waste the interviewers time and find a job better suited for your lifestyle. If you take this job in NICU they will expect that you tailor your life around work and not the other way around.

I mentioned this to my husband and he told me a coworker of his brings his wife to every interview....to negotiate salary and benefits for him. What? Seriously?

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Specializes in CVICU.
I mentioned this to my husband and he told me a coworker of his brings his wife to every interview....to negotiate salary and benefits for him. What? Seriously?

Wow!. There probably is some utility in having an independent 3rd party negotiate salary and benefits on one's behalf. But that is only AFTER the job is in the bag. Interviewing for the job and negotiating compensation are two separate events.

The steps go like this

1. Interview for job

2. Get offered job

3. Negotiate compensation

4. Accept/decline job based on results of negotiation

I could see having a professional agent do this, and having an agent might look somewhat impressive. But the wife? I guess it's no different than having one's parents negotiate salary and benefits.

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Yeah, no. He brings her along to the first interview. He's been hired for every job he's interviewed for, so it's working for him. I just couldn't imagine. Gave me a giggle.

I have an interview with a NM Friday, after which I'm shadowing on the unit. I jokingly asked M if he wanted to come along....he firmly declined. :)

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Thank you thank you thank you, KeepItRealRN! I always fear behavior-based questions due to my lack of experience, but I have been going over every possible experience in my head for days, so hopefully I don't get too tongue tied which is always a problem of mine, and that website you provided is great!

I would never even consider bringing my parents to my interview lol and cannot believe anybody else would either! I will definitely let you know how the interview goes and cross your fingers that I do well and get an offer :)

I would GLADLY work every weekend and holiday in the year for this job and thankfully I did nightshift for my senior capstone residency, and I got used to it pretty quickly and enjoyed it. I'm not sure I could handle the day/night schedule though, so I will keep that into consideration. You are the best and THANK YOU again!

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The interview went well! They asked a lot of behavior based questions, which I was prepared for and I believe answered confidently and thoroughly. She also toured me around the NICU, which was great! She said she has a few more people to interview and we should find out by Friday of next week :/ One question though, should I send a thank you letter/email, or is this too "desperate?"

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I would send one. I interview Friday and I plan to send one.

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