Tips for 1st interview with no experience

[Amber07]

Well I just recently passed the NCLEX and started sending out applications yesterday. I now have two job interviews set up for the next two days. The one on Thursday is for Maternity which is the position I really want. However, I really don't have much clinical experience and after reading about some of the questions asked I am getting really nervous. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions? What kind of questions can I expect to be asked?

[Wren]

Amber,

Your interviewer KNOWS that you can't know much about Maternity...you are a new graduate!! They expect to train you so relax about getting too many clinical questions.

What they WILL want to know is what kind of work ethic you have, will you "fit" with the team, can you ask for help when you need it, will you work hard, will you be a team player? You can best address those things by being calm, friendly, smiling...make it easy to interview you. Give examples of how you have been a valuable employee in the past even if it is not nursing. If you were the evening shift manager at McDonalds...mention it as an example of accepting responsibility. Never, ever (as in never) complain about an old boss, old co-workers! No one wants to hire a future unhappy or pot-stirring employee!!

The interview is NOT the time to ask if you have to work Christmas or in any way complain about your potential schedule. Your interview is for selling yourself...you can hash out the details with the HR Department later when they call to make you an offer. That is the time to tell them that you have take off a week for your Aunt Trudy's wedding in August. :chuckle

Tell the interviewer how excited you are to be starting your career and why this specialty is your chosen one (practice a few lines to summarize that). Let them know that you realize you have a lot to learn but you will be reading/studying on your own and look forward to learning on the job. It is fine to ask about their training/orientation program and it shows interest on your part. Impress your interviewer by sending a handwritten thank you note as soon as you leave...be sure to get his/her card so you can spell the name correctly!

Good luck with your interviews and please let us know when you get a job...and you will!!

[kcalohagirl]

Believe me, you are not the first applicant they have ever seen that doesn't have a gazillion hours of clinical experience.

Why are you excited about the position?

What other jobs have you had that you were passionate about?

What experience in your life made you want to go into this particular area of nursing?

If you did have some experience in that area in nursing school, which particular part of it really lit a fire under you?

In short, what makes you want to do this? What makes you want to go into this particular field more than something else that you may have had more experience with while you were in school?

If this is truly your passion, why?

Speak truthfully, speak from your heart. In my (limited) experience, most nursing programs only provide their students with a basic and limited overview of mother/baby, neonatal, etc. I think that if a hospital knows that that is truly your passion, they may be very willing to give a new grad a shot. Especially since they wouldn't have to break you of any bad habits. LOL

Best of luck.