STUPID interview questions, add yours here

[hoolahan]

I have been on about six interviews this month, and I am appalled at the stupidity of this process.

Does anyone at all think up original questions any more?

My last interview consisted of a woman, who couod not have been less bored w the process, asking me about 25 questions. She read straight from her little list that some HR analysts designed I supposed, and continuously interrupted by chatting to people who walked by her door.

Here were some of the questions...

Tell me about a time when someone questioned your integrity.

Tell me about a time when someone accused you of something you didn't do

Tell me about a time when you missed a deadline

Tell me about a time that you did something creative for a pt

and on and on, all starting w "Tell me about a time"...

I hated this whole style of questioning. It doesn't ask you how you handle that kind of a situation, but rather puts you on the spot to recall a specific experience that demonstrates what they are looking for.

I mean, I don't have the best memory, so I wouldn't mind these questions if they sent them to me the day before and asked me to write an essay on them. But to pull out an experience like this out of the thin air, it's just...stupid!! Not one personal question was asked like, Why are you interested in working 1 in this position, 2 for this company, etc...

One doctor said to me... "In this day of nursing shortages, you could write your own ticket so-to-speak, so why would you want this job? Later, what other positions have you interveiwed for if you don't mind me asking. Uh, I DO mind you asking, but do I say that??? Of course not, if I want the job, so I am forced to answer.

Another interview, three diff people, a HR person, then the supervisor, then the director, all came in and asked me the same exact set of questions from their little sheet of paper. Why couldn't they just ask me in a group,so they could all get the answers at once? Is this some kind of a stupid "test" to see if I am consistent?? How dull!

I don't like this cookie-cutter style of interviews. Very meaningless. Any recruiters out there? Can you explain the rationale? Don't you ever feel silly asking those stupid questions??

[New2ER]

How about this one, "Have you wanted to be a nurse ever since you were a little girl?" No lie. And then a lot more like the ones you got. Verrry frustrating...

No sir/ma'am, I originally went to engineering school but realized 2 years into it that girls shouldn't be doing that kind of work! *giggle* *giggle*

Would that be an appropriate response to that question.

(I actually did complete two years of engineering school BTW).

[New2ER]

Also don't be afraid to decline the job if they hassle you too much. Lots of times the interview DOES provide insight into the general atmosphere of the facility or management style. Ewww.

I was recently searching for a job long distance and had set up an interview with a company. I gave them the day and they picked the time. I sat with both phones (home and cell) for 2 hours and never received a call.

The following day I received voicemail saying that they had called but that my phone was busy. The obviously had my number and neither of my phones rang or had voicemail. Oh well, I figured I didn't want to work for that company after that.

[AprilRNhere]

An interview I had set up a phone interview..not one job related question..all personality type questions..45 minutes of things like..

"Are you addicted to happiness?"

"Who do you like more, your mother or your father?"

"Are you a habitual smiler?"

"When you have a party, do you clean before bed or in the morning?"

"Have you ever paid a bill late?"

I wasn't offered a job...or even a second interview.

[EmmaG, RN]

An interview I had set up a phone interview..not one job related question..all personality type questions..45 minutes of things like..

"Are you addicted to happiness?"

"Who do you like more, your mother or your father?"

"Are you a habitual smiler?"

"When you have a party, do you clean before bed or in the morning?"

"Have you ever paid a bill late?"

I wasn't offered a job...or even a second interview.

I'm sorry, but I would have hung up on them. That is ridiculous.

[EmmaG, RN]

As far as these ridiculous questions about vegetables, bicycles, mom vs dad, bending the truth, etc... unless the answers are given to a psychologist for review, wouldn't this amount to practicing psychology without a license? That's considered a felony in some states (maybe all).

[flashpoint]

I was once asked..."If [insert company name here] were a dance, what would it look like?" I replied that it would be smooth and fluid and well choreographed with an occasional bit of free style thrown in. The interviewer laughed and told me I am a suck up. I laughed back and thanked him. The interview was for an occupational nurse with the manufacturing plant where my husband works…I found out later (at a company party, while drinking tequila with the plant manager) that I was their second choice for the job…and the biggest reasons I didn’t get it were that the other nurse was willing to do it for $5 less an hour than I was, that I said I can use Microsoft Excel but am not really a fan, and that they had concerns about two department heads being off work if something happened in one of our families. (Can you say run on sentence?) :)

Some of the goofier questions we ask (or are on our list of “approved” questions)…”Do you speed when you drive? How many miles per hour over do you go?” “How many call ins do you consider to be acceptable in a year?” “Have you ever had to threaten someone to get them to do what is best for them?” “If your charge nurse asks you to do something that is within your scope of practice, but is normally not done by CNAs (LPNs, MAs, etc.) how would you react?” “If you have higher or different training that your charge nurse (like paramedic or RN school) and she is not handling a situation successfully, how would you react?” The last one came about because we had an LPN just freeze when a resident coded (the only cardiac arrest of a resident without DNR orders at that facility in 25 years) and a CNA who is also an EMT just jumped in and took over. I think what she did was right more than it was wrong…everyone else in management disagrees.

[Jo Dirt]

What's something you have done in your job you knew you shouldn't have done?

What's the worst mistake you have made on the job?

Answering questions like that could seal a person's fate. I'm like, are you trying to find reasons not to hire people or what???

[tictac]

I just had a 2 hour interview on Monday with 2 nurse managers. It was nothing but "tell me about a situation in which...." I honestly don't know how they expect you to remember all of these situations on the spot like that. They wrote down every word I said on this chart thing. Luckily, they were very friendly and eased the tension a lot. They said I could take a break at any point, offered me water and chocolate between questions, and said I could go for a quick stroll around the unit to regroup if needed. I declined those offers because I wanted to get it over with ASAP. They said I did a good job.

[Sarah Bellum]

My husband was asked what was the the last book he read. I think it was in the ad for the job, not the interview.

[texas2007, BSN, RN]

I got asked "what does nursing autonomy mean to you". I fumbled around in circles on that one. Also got asked "how did you handle a conflict with another student or professor". And they didn't believe me when I said I hadn't had any conflicts with anybody. I don't spend enough of my time with those people to have major conflicts worth remembering, and if I had, I certainly wouldn't be comfortable sharing them to a room full of strangers.

[MIA-RN]

before i was a nurse I interviewed for a phone-answerer at an alarm company.

The guy was so wack-o....most of the interview was him telling me about his failing marriage, his acid reflux, and his moral outrage at the local school who's annual halloween costume parade around the block included a teacher dressed as a nun in a Groucho Marx mask. He was very upset and told me all about his plans to call the school and the media and his local parish etc.

Never talked about my qualifications or much about the job.

He called and offered me the job the next day.

Of course I declined, having just called my son's principal and warned her exactly what kind of plans this man had for the school lol. Yep, my sons' school was the one involved in the parade lol.

[Valerie Salva, BSN, RN]

During a recent interview, the interviewer told me the departed nurse had left the position due to child care issues. He then asked me if I had children.

Isn't it illegal to ask that?