Ride Along Interview

[kikiB]

Hello!

I am a new grad RN who is actively job seeking. I had an interview with a home health company a few days ago and felt the interview went well, and they told me that they had other candidates they were interviewing later in the week. Today they called me to schedule a ride along as a part of the interview process and will be doing so with with the other applicants as well. I have never heard of doing a ride along or shadow type experience as part of the interview process. I am unsure of any ways to make myself stand out or what to expect.

In school when we did ride along or shadow type experiences it was a hands-off type situation in which we just observed, asked questions, took notes, etc. Do you guys think this will be the same expectation?

What exactly do you think they are looking for?

Does anyone have any tips?

The market is EXTREMELY tight over here and this is only one of two interviews I've had in my 4 weeks of actively applying to SNF's, Home health, Hospitals, and everything in between and I REALLY want this job.

[idodialysis]

I would think they want to see what sort of questions you will ask about what the nurse is doing and why as well as how you interact with both the nurse and patients you see.

[BiotoBSNtoFNP]

When I shadowed for potential RN jobs, it was hands off and I just observed. They wanted to see if you asked appropriate questions and how your personality meshed with the other staff members.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

A shadow is a great experience to see how things REALLY work. You will be mostly observing. Be sure to use this chance to ask every RN you run into stuff like, "How long have you worked here?" "What do you like most about this job?" "What do you like least?" "How is the teamwork here?"

Not only are you going to look really interested, but you'll learn quite a bit about the unit culture if everyone is honest with you.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Surprised a home health company will hire a new grad. Have done your research on the company?

You definitely just need to be observing. Any tasks you perform are not covered by your employer. Do offer do carry equipment, etc. If they want you to perform ANY nursing duties.. it's a red flag.

[kikiB]

Thanks for all the responses! This company has a very good reputation within my community and have a long and thorough preceptorship period as well as slowly ramping up new grads from one pt. a day once on their own. It's a fantastic opportunity and they said they just wanted to "get a feel for which candidate would be the best fit". Is there anything I can really do to edge out the competition or is it just a matter of building rapport with my preceptor and clients?