What are good questions to ask at interview?

[tarotale]

Hi, I have an interview on next Tuesday at another hospital in different city, so it's going to be a big relocation if I accept the offer, plus I would have to pay almost $500 for breaking apartment contract, so I want to know as much about that unit before I accept the offer.

I have listed: salary, raises, shift diffs, benefits, relocation assistance, apartment relocator services, patient-nurse ratio. Also I plan to cautiously scope out and ask staff nurses how the nurses like the unit/hospital because I know that angry/sad nurses equals crappy work environment with bad management.

If there are any other good questions to ask or scope out before finalizing an offer, please let me know. Thank you!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

1. Why did this position become available?

2. Please describe your idea of the ideal candidate for this position.

3. How do you like working for this organization?

I would personally lay off the salary/benefit questions until the end of the interview because you do not want to come across as a nurse who wants the job solely for the money.

[tarotale]

you know TheCommuter, those are some really good questions. and yes, I have heard that it is courteous to avoid salary/benefit kind of questions until the end. Do you think it would make the interviewer defensive if I asked how this job became available? and I think if I asked him/her how she likes the unit, I am pretty sure she will say it is super awesome and perfect so she can hire a new nurse, so I think that question would be more for regular staff RN. What are your ideas?

[llg, PhD, RN]

I notice that most of your questions are "What's in it for me?" type of questions. I strongly recommend asking some questions that show you are truly interested in caring for the type of patients that you will be serving in that job. Ask about the common diagneses, the typical types of patients you will see, etc. Also ask about the types of services available for those patients. How are the patients' needs being met? Patient satisfaction scores? etc.

Also ask about the joys of working with those patients in that place as well as the types of challenges of working there. What do people like about their jobs?

Use your questions as an opportunity to show the hiring manager that you care about your patients and are truly interested in providing good care to them. Hiring managers generally prefer to hire people who actually want to do the work they are being hired to do -- and are therefore more likely to do a good job and stay longer than someone who is just interested about "What's in it for me."