Tips for your First Interview

Hello everyone,

I'm a new grad (graduated in December 2010, passed boards in early April). I'm looking and applying for jobs like a mad woman. Today was my first in person interview for a post-GI med/surg floor. I think I totally bombed it because I was so nervous! I met with a clinical nurse leader, staff nurse, nurse manager and a grad nurse that had been on for about half a year. I really had no idea of how to prepare for the interview (what questions they would ask, etc) so I wanted to share with everyone what was asked me so that hopefully you guys can do better than I did! :)

Some questions I was asked were:

Tell me about yourself, Tell me about your experience in nursing school (such a general question), How have you handled a patient/family scenario positively, How have you handled conflict with coworker/staff member, Where do you see yourself in 5 years, If you just received report on these 3 patients which would you assess first (priority question - NCLEX style ), How do you handle conflict?, How would you confront a coworker who has recently starting treating you coldly when you were polite coworkers before, What are your strengths, What are your opportunites (I found out 'opportunities' means 'weaknesses' haha).

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_reply_to_%27What_are_your_strengths_and_weaknesses%27_in_an_interview

I guess in hindsight they were pretty standard questions for a nursing interview! But my nerves man... Happy job hunting everyone! Hope this helps