What to Expect from a Peer Interview?

kimmy20 · Feb 21, 2015

I was actually wondering about the whole pony tail look as well. For my interview I wore a pony tail because I tend to play with my hair if I get nervous and I didn't want to subconsciously do that and look unprofessional. But I also read from another post that one nurse manager thinks a pony tail makes you look messy and rushed.

cocoa_puff · Feb 21, 2015

My hair is too short and silky to put up in a professional looking up-do, and it falls out of pony tails unless I use like 10 hair pins...so last time I just wore it down. Would that be okay for a peer interview?

flyersfan88 · Feb 21, 2015

Business professional, hair out of your face.

My peer interview was harder than the interview with the manager. They grilled me, as expected since they were going to be working with me. Bring a copies of your resume for everyone, have clinical situations ready to go in your head (good patient/difficult patient, etc), especially situations where you acted well under pressure. I used both clinical situations and situations from my years of retail/restaurant experience. I made sure to ask them what they look for in a coworker and what a new colleague could do to fit in best with their culture, and they seemed to appreciate that.

Also, it helps to sneak in stories involving team work. Your future colleagues want to know you're going to be an asset to the team.

cocoa_puff · Feb 21, 2015

Great advice, thank you :)

scaredsilly, BSN, RN · Mar 8, 2015

Dress professionally, but don't wear the same outfit twice, they will think its the only one you have. Low heels! I actually did see a new grad interview in spike heels-she didn't get hired and everyone laughed at her shoes! Wear your hair like you did in clinical. Your appearance should scream professional!

They are going to ask what your greatest weakness is, what your greatest strength is, what your worst clinical experience was and how you handled it, how you handle conflicts with co-workers, how you handle a difficult or non-compliant patient. At my interview they asked hipaa related questions. The one I worried about messing up was "you have a 70 year old male just diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and his wife and daughter asked you not to tell him, what do you do?" I found out later that I nailed it. I said put the request in the chart and make sure the provider knows about it, it is the providers responsibility to tell or not tell the patient, not the nurses responsibility. I consider that sort of question a "trick" question, but its really testing critical thinking skills, and they will ask quite a few to test your critical thinking.

Remember, unless you are applying for a job that requires a ton of experience, they don't expect you to know everything, but they expect you to demonstrate a capacity to learn.