Tips for Davita phone interview

lawandaluxnurse, ADN, BSN · May 10, 2016

Read up on the company and the core values, they like you to know about the company etc. Check out Davita.com and you should be able to find the info there. Be postitive and also educate yourself about your position whether is be acute or chronic. Good Luck!

heronurse · May 10, 2016

Thank you! Its tomorrow and I'm nervous! I dont want to mess this up.

westieluv · May 10, 2016

I had a phone interview with them about a month ago before my face to face interview at the local clinic. I spoke to someone named Tracy whose call came from Baltimore, per my caller ID. She was incredibly nice which put me at ease. We discussed my various areas of nursing experience and why I was looking to return to the world of chronic dialysis. It didn't feel high pressure, and she did not quiz me on any of the mechanisms of dialysis or anything about the company or its culture (not saying at all that they don't do that, or that it isn't a great idea to be up on it, just that she didn't with me). It was not bad at all. I hope yours goes as well. I start at the local clinic next Monday.

Best of everything to you! Let us know how it goes.

heronurse · May 10, 2016

How long did the interview last?

westieluv · May 10, 2016

I think between 20-30 minutes at the most, probably closer to 30. She did not seem to be a clinical person, more like an HR person. Some of the questions I asked were what days and shifts the position required, how many chairs in that specific clinic, how many shifts they ran each day and how many days a week, if nurses routinely put patients on their treatments or just the techs, and which nephrologists rounded at that clinic. However, those questions were based on my personal experience working at a chronic Fresenius clinic, so they wouldn't expect you to ask those questions if you haven't worked in dialysis before, although those are good things to know.

I asked about the number of shifts because some clinics run three shifts a day and some only run two, and some run patients on MWF only while others run patients six days a week, every day except Sunday. That helped me to know what my days off and start and finish time might be. I will be working in a six day a week, three shifts a day clinic and my shift will be 5am-5pm, three days a week including every other Saturday. I asked about which nephrologists round there because there is one particular nephrologist in this city who is universally despised because he is NASTY all the time to everyone and I did not want to work with him again if I could help it. Fortunately, it appears that he has retired since I last worked in dialysis. :) I asked if nurses routinely put patients on their treatments because at the Fresenius clinic where I worked the nurses had to take turns putting a row of patients on first thing in the morning so that they could save money by having one of the techs come in later but it was very stressful because I not only had to put three patients on fifteen minutes apart but also assess and check the machine settings on eight other patients at the same time before they could be started by the techs, which I thought was too much. Fortunately, this Davita clinic does not have the nurses put patients on in the morning, just focus on nursing duties like assessments, checking machine settings, and getting medications ready. That makes a huge difference to me and would possibly have been a deal breaker.

A few days after I completed the phone interview I got a call from the local clinic manager to set up a face to face interview at the clinic and both she and her head nurse interviewed me together.

heronurse · May 11, 2016

Oh okay. It looks like the senior recruiter will render the phone interview tomorrow.

Its such a short notice thats why im very nervous right now

heronurse · May 11, 2016

I just finished my phone interview and I think it went great. According to my phone the interview last approximately 7mins. Not a laid back interview and pretty straight to the point. The interviewer also gave me the actual interview which is going to be next week! Im very excited and nervous too!

westieluv · May 11, 2016

Hooray, good for you! I'm glad it went well and I hope your face to face goes just as well! Hopefully, you will be working in dialysis very soon. :)

heronurse · May 11, 2016

Thank you westie for the tips! I'll keep updating this thread too on my journey!

heronurse · May 13, 2016

Any tips for the face to face interview? I was told its going to be a panel interview

MizChelleRN · May 13, 2016

Sometimes "panel interview" just means the manager pulls in some of the other employees (so they can feel you our as a potential coworker!). Sometimes a couple managers get together because we're both hiring and we interview you at the same time and fight over who gets to hire you (!). Sometimes I pull education in to interview with me because the second interview for me is with them, so we cover your first and second interview at the same time. It's just like any job interview. Relax, breathe, take your time and be yourself. You got this!