Hello everyone, I've been reading these forums for some time now to answer some of the questions I had, and I just wanted to write my experiences I had today as it was my first official interview with a hospital for an OR position, and maybe it will ease some stress for some people that have the same feeling as I did.
I want to first off say to be prepared for a panel interview. I got an email from the clinical director and I just went there thinking ok no big deal one on one, wrong two others including my potential boss. They asked questions such as: Tell me about yourself? Why did you pick nursing? Strenghts? Weakness? What type of experiences do you have in this field?
The key is, is to be honest and do not memorize a script to these answers and talk like a robot. I do recommend looking over commonly asked questions used in nursing interviews because the more common ones were definetely used, and just have an idea of how you are going to answer them. There was a time where I did have to take a second to recall the names of the procedures I have watched (not being exposed to these on a daily basis makes it very easy to forget terminology), but if anything this shows I am human and actually think as I speak.
Later after the interview I was sent to shadow a circulating nurse in the OR, and she was able to show me the general idea of what her job is and the facilities expectations on what they want from you as a nurse. I got along with the scrub and nurse I was assigned to, and in an interview process this is extremely important in my opinion. The purpose of this stage is to see if you are compatible with the setting and the people you were around, and they all wished me the best of luck and hoped I eventually got the job. :)
If you are like me who was a nervous train wreck going into an interview, I learned first hand that they want to work with you and encourage you to be honest and open to them so they know what they are getting if they hire you. If you are given the oppurtunity to shadow that same day, make sure you use it effectively. Management will likely base their decision to hire you partly on feedback. Ask plenty of questions, show your worth and genuine interest in the position, and do not forget to write a thank you letter to those who interviewed you, it shows you are thankful for the oppurtunity and has a lasting impression when they pick through a list of applicants. I hope this helps, I wanted to give my experience as I am also a new grad nurse in the job hunt, and I wish you the best of luck in your future job hunt.
