prepare for job interview

[huyenchau]

Hi every one,

I'm in the Midwest, job market is very bad. I graduated this May from a top ten university with a BSN degree and and a few honor awards. Plus, I have ten years of experience working as a nurse in another country. I am bilingual. I'm so frustrated that the job market seems to close in front of me. I've been applying for multiple places and have had three interviews so far. The first interview was great but people told before they even met with me that they did not have any opening for RN. THey would keep me on file The second interview was a phone interview phone interview with a recruiter from a health care system which is miles aways from where I live. She said "I'll call you in a week or two, if you don't hear any thing from me call me back". I'd been waiting and called her back after two weeks. She said "I sent the report to the recruiter manager and she'll contact you". The Manager hasn't called me yet. The third interview wasn't went well because I was so discouraged to hear that there were 56 cadidates for 2 openings. And yes, I received their letter today saying that they chose someone else. I probably did something wrong during the interview and really want to prepare for the next one. Please, anyone, give me some tips of how to prepare answering their questions such as strong points, week points, how to solve conflict with co-workers, why you want this job...I meant, my answers were not bad. I did research before the interview, read interview books, predicted the questions, learned the answers....still I failed. Please share your experience with job interview.

Thanks,

[KAYBDT6, BSN, RN]

Don't give up :)!

[Lamie]

I just graduated from an LPN program in August and got hired after my first interview. I have no prior health care experience, but the interviewer was more concerned about work ethic than anything else and it helped to have great references.

I made sure I wore a NICE (as in silk or light-weight wool) skirt suit, matching shoes that were in top-notch condition, my hair was out of my face and neatly set up, makeup was light and neutral, had my nails done, and made sure my breath was fresh. So far for the appearance part - first impressions do count.

I prepared for the interview by reading several websites that listed possible questions that could be asked, such as listing your strengths, weaknesses, etc., and I mentally reheorificed my answers. What really impressed the interviewer was that I came prepared with additional copies of my resume and a list of references with addresses and phone numbers (printed on high-quality paper), copies of all my certificates, licenses, awards, etc. I also contacted all the people I listed as a reference to make sure they were OK with it, and to get a feel if they would give me a good review. Even my old bosses from almost ten years ago enthusiastically agreed to vouch for me. That made all the difference and two days after the interview, I was offered a job!

Now, I had another interview right after that one and it did not go well at all. They were not impressed by all my efforts and clearly just wanted someone with lots of nursing experience, which they should have been able to tell from my resume I do not have. I could tell that I more than likely would not hear from them again because the interview was short and they did not care to get my list of references, etc. Oh well, I liked the first job better anyways.

I wish you the best of luck! Looking for a job is hard work and emotionally draining, time-consuming and just plain annoying. Don't give up, you have a great background and eventually, something will happen.