Stupid Questions To Ask A Newly Graduated Nurse Practitioner During An Interview

[DNPgrad2022, ASN, BSN, DNP]

#1. What do you want to do?

I would like to do the job that I applied for, sir. What kind of question is this? I applied for a primary care nurse practitioner job. Why else would I be here? I could have applied for a job in housekeeping or neurosurgery, but I chose THIS job. What do I want to do? My job! Should I have recited the duties listed on the job listing?

#2. What else do you want to do?

Que creepy response from the twins in The Shining… I would like to work for you… forever…and ever…and ever. What does this mean? I want to go skydiving. I want to learn how to mold clay. Is it not good enough that I only want to do THIS job? I just graduated! Shouldn’t I get acclimated to this job before I start multitasking and pursuing other endeavors? Is this really the time to mention my bucket list of goals that include opening my own practice and not working under a physician? Seriously, what answer are they looking for?

#3. What experience outside of nursing and clinicals do you have in Internal Medicine?

This was a real question asked by a physician during an interview. What experience in Internal Medicine do I have outside of nursing and clinicals? Was he asking if I practiced medicine outside of nursing? Was he asking if I used recreational drugs? Did he think I was a drug dealer? I have supplied ibuprofen to my coworkers multiple times. Was he asking for my personal medical history? Should I have fabricated a story about an illness that required medical treatment and summarized my thoughts about the care that I received? My CV and resume did not mention any previous employment history involving administrative work for a clinic and I doubt he wanted to hear about my adventures in diagnosing mental illness in my customers while bartending in my twenties.

[Tegridy]

They probably just want to hear how you communicate more so then the actual answers provided. 

[offlabel]

Contrary to the prevailing narrative, advanced practice nursing is not nursing. It's medicine. People in medicine think differently than people in nursing. They have to. Doesn't mean that one group is better than the other...just means the jobs are very different. Probably just wanted to see if there was a transition in thinking going on...or not. 

[Guest1144461]

I line up stuffed animals and place the, around my house doing mock exams with rounding and presentations to myself. I get way too enamored with my note formatting and seem excited when I see hyponatremia.

That's my internal medicine extra-curricular time

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

On 9/27/2022 at 2:37 PM, Numenor said:

I get way too enamored with my note formatting and seem excited when I see hyponatremia.

?

Hyponatremia can be quite exciting. It's a challenging condition for sure.

OP, I understand your frustration. I always wonder with the "where do you see yourself in five years"- which I have been asked approximately 10 times over two careers and numerous jobs, why can't I just want to be doing the same job with five years of experience? But given the number of jobs I've had (rarely have I left of my own accord- layoffs and organizational changes), I'm not usually doing the job five years later.

There are HR questions that they just ask to check off a box. Just looking for communication style I think.

[Checkers08, BSN, MSN, RN]

On 9/29/2022 at 5:49 PM, JBMmom said:

 

I always wonder with the "where do you see yourself in five years"- which I have been asked approximately 10 times over two careers and numerous jobs, why can't I just want to be doing the same job with five years of experience? 

Not an NP but I remember my first interview for a job as an RN in the ED when they asked me the "where do you see yourself in five years" question. I answered that I wanted to be the best nurse I could be five years from now. They looked completely dumbfounded and said that I was the only person who didn't answer that I wanted to go to school to be an NP or CRNA. It still makes me chuckle over a decade later.