Wondering why you can't get hired or promoted: Resume + Interview hints!
I've been reviewing resumes in my department and can't believe the resumes I've received: misspelling, words crossed off, no cover letter, including personal information about family life. Read to learn "Why am I not getting hired?!"
I was taught in LPN and BSN program how to prepare a resume. Is this a lost art being skipped??
Also agree with our BB members that calling facility and finding out who is department manager, then forwarding your resume to them along with hr is great idea.
I work in smaller organization than hospital but has taken me over two months to get open positions advertised and three weeks to get resumes sent to me...those that sent to me directly have interview same week.
Resume Writing
Resume writing and interview tips for nurses from Univ. of Pennsylvania:
If I called a member of your current staff and asked them to tell me about you, what would they say?
What actions would you take if you came on board?
How do you lead?
What's your secret to getting subordinates to follow you?
How do you motivate employees?
How do you reward employees?
Describe your management philosophy and management style.
Some managers supervise their employees closely, while others use a loose rein. How do you manage?
How have you improved as a manager over the years?
How many people have you fired? how do you go about it?
How would you deal with an employee who broke a policy (ie: late for work)?
How would you deal with an employee who was not open and honest in communication?
It is very hard to attract (critical care, er, or, ob etc.) nurses to this area. What are some strategies you might use to have enough qualified nurses to be sure patients get quality care in the facility?
What single professional event made you most proud to be a manager/leader?
What event made you least proud to be a leader?
In prior positions did you have budgeting responsibilities? If so, what was the size of your operating budget?
Do you know how to figure fte's?
What is your definition of empowerment?
What is your definition of quality assurance (QA), and who should be responsible, for QA?
Tell me about a time when your manager made a decision you disagreed with. What actions did you take and why?
Tell me about a time when you had to handle a disruptive employee. what did you do? what were the results?
Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an irate physician, patient, employee etc. how did you handle it and what was the result?
How have you managed to foster a successful team in your past positions?
What methods have you found successful in determining the priorities when you start in a new facility?
What methods do you use to foster open communication with staff and management?
Tell me about a work incident when you were totally honest, despite a potential risk or downside for the honesty.
How did you handle a recent situation where the direction from above was unclear and circumstances were changing?
Describe how you motivated a group of people to do something they did not want to do.
Who is your most effective subordinate and your least effective subordinate?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? What have you done to develop each of these subordinates?
Tell me about some of the people who have become successful as a result of your management. What was your role in their development?
What are the major training and development needs of the people in your department? How did you identify them? What are you doing about them?
Are there any techniques you have found useful in identifying particular subordinates' needs and potentials? Tell me how they worked with a particular person.
What do you do differently than other managers? Why? Examples?
What is the farthest you've had to bend your standards in order to succeed?
What job duties would you like to avoid if at all possible?
Describe a time in which you weighed the pros and cons of a situation and decided not to take action, even though you were under pressure to do so.
All of us have been in situations where we assigned work to other people and they didn't do what we intended. Can you tell me about some of those? What were the circumstances and how did you handle it?
Have you ever had problems in getting your subordinates to accept your ideas or department goals? What approach did you use? How effective was it?
Have you ever needed cooperation from groups that did not report to you? What did you do to gain cooperation? What were the satisfactions and disappointments?
Is there a trait or characteristic about you that you find is frequently misunderstood, that surprises you when you find out that people think that about you?
What 3 things do you hope to accomplish in your first year?
What do you expect of those who report to you? If candidate responds with a one word answer (for example saying, "support" you can probe further by asking the candidate to describe three behaviors that she/he would view as being supportive.
If you had an unfavorable plan (I.e., budget) to implement, what would you do to get the managers' buy in and support?
With the current nursing shortage, what are two solutions you would like to see put in place?
What kind of support do you offer managers, directors and front-line staff, knowing the stress of the nursing shortage and the increasing acuity of our patients?
Tell us about a high level innovative idea/change that you implemented. Was it or was it not successful?
Questions to ask the employer:
What unique challenges has this unit faced over the last year? (I.e. successes, failures, etc.)
What sets this organization apart from it's competitors?
How long is the orientation phase and what can I expect?
Will I work with one preceptor throughout or will I have several different preceptors?
How does the administration view nursing in terms of importance to the hospital?
How much independence do nurses have in being creative problem-solvers?
What kind of professional advancement is available to nurses here?
What are some of the attributes of working for your hospital?
If I were to get a job offer from another hospital, why would I want to work for this one?
What is the criterion you will use to select the person you are looking for?
What kind of support can I expect from the nursing educators and preceptors?
How does the hospital handle new grads that might be slow in becoming oriented to their new jobs?
How long have you been the manager of this unit and what is your nursing background?
How many nurses have quit and how many hired for this unit in the past 6 months? How long have some of the nurses been working on this unit?
Who will be precepting me? Can you tell me something about them? Will I always have the same preceptor or will there be more than one?
Have you ever had a new grad who didn't seem to work out? How was it handled?
If for any reason it seems that orientation is just not going well for me what will happen and who should I talk to about it?
Questions about the following are illegal to ask at a job interview here in the US:
your personal life (married, divorced, children)
family planning
pregnancy
provision for child care
religious preference
club memberships
height
weight
dependents
age (birth date)
ethnic background
maiden name
native language
physical problems
psychiatric problems
spouse's employment and/or earnings
credit rating
home ownership
automobile ownership
Resigning from position
Check your facilities policy and procedures--most require that you give notice equal to amount of vacation provided, often 2-3 weeks; long term employed rns can be 4-5weeks.
Managers often need 1-3 months notice to be eligible for rehire -- Don't burn your bridges.
Hi, just wanted to add a comment. Where I used to work, whenver I called HR about a job opening to ask who the manager is, they refuse to tell me, even if I was an employee. The only way to find out was by word of mouth, asking the nurses who go to the different campuses such as IV team nurses, etc. In general, from my experience, the last thing you want to do is to involve HR in anything!
Sad to say, but the reason HR wont be specific about job openings is that there is a plan in place to terminate someone who doesnt yet know it.
llg, thank you so much for this post!! I am working on a resume to get into a NICU at a children's hospital for a position in their new grad NICU program. I did a 144-hour preceptorship just a couple months ago for my practicum, in a NICU. I am planning on putting this experience in my resume. If I understand you correctly, it would be good to include this in my resume, but I don't need to include all my other clinical experiences ... correct?
Thanks so much for all the info, it is greatly appreciated!
Hmm, we were told to list our clinical experience on our resume, and only put jobs down if they were relevant to nursing. Do employers want to know that I worked childcare from 1997-2000 and then at Albertson's in the deli for 2 months then got laid off? It's all confusing. And I think my resume is good, and being a new grad I interviewed for a clinic position, sent a thank you letter and got a letter saying they hired someone more qualified. And I just graduated in may. So what good was my resume? And I settled now as a new grad for a job in LTC where I'd rather not work until I find a position where I DO want to work...and they didn't interview me, they told me about the job, gave me a tour of the facility, explained wages and benefits, and said "You have the job if you want it." Is that professional?
Hmm, we were told to list our clinical experience on our resume, and only put jobs down if they were relevant to nursing. Do employers want to know that I worked childcare from 1997-2000 and then at Albertson's in the deli for 2 months then got laid off? It's all confusing. And I think my resume is good, and being a new grad I interviewed for a clinic position, sent a thank you letter and got a letter saying they hired someone more qualified. And I just graduated in may. So what good was my resume? And I settled now as a new grad for a job in LTC where I'd rather not work until I find a position where I DO want to work...and they didn't interview me, they told me about the job, gave me a tour of the facility, explained wages and benefits, and said "You have the job if you want it." Is that professional?
That is pretty much how all of my jobs have been since getting my LVN. My references are good, so there is sometimes a medication test, or a background check or drug screen, and then I am hired. I haven't really had a formal interview.
With a nursing shortage that is 'real', wouldn't one would think recruitors would be less picky? Just another reason to doubt the hoopla about a 'nursing shortage', and see it for what it really is: an excuse for understaffing.
I'm not sure about other states but mine offers all kinds of resource information/labor stats through the department of labor and training
I think my biggest hinderance is my license is on probation. I only need four more months of work to work that off. I am finding it very hard to get in anyehere. I could use some advice on that problem.:stone
Hmm, we were told to list our clinical experience on our resume, and only put jobs down if they were relevant to nursing. Do employers want to know that I worked childcare from 1997-2000 and then at Albertson's in the deli for 2 months then got laid off? It's all confusing. And I think my resume is good, and being a new grad I interviewed for a clinic position, sent a thank you letter and got a letter saying they hired someone more qualified. And I just graduated in may. So what good was my resume? And I settled now as a new grad for a job in LTC where I'd rather not work until I find a position where I DO want to work...and they didn't interview me, they told me about the job, gave me a tour of the facility, explained wages and benefits, and said "You have the job if you want it." Is that professional?
Professional? Dunno. It's certainly scary. Let us know what that job is like. I fear the worst. Keep looking for something better. In all of your spare time. I'm serious.:uhoh21:
What are they teaching in college these days? It is not restricted to nurses. My sister works in a non-medical field, & one of the top administrative persons, a woman of 22, signs ALL her business correspondence with "love" !! This is a large nationwide company, and the "bigwigs" think this person is some kind of "prodigy" & have given her free reign!
Quick question. How big are her breasts? I had to ask.:rotfl: :uhoh21:
Thank you so much for all of the advice! I have copied the typical interview questions to review. I found quite a bit of relief in knowing that my resume is comparible to the examples. I also put together a portfolio with all of the information listed. This has been very helpful! Thank you!
1)You thank them for the time they took to interview you.
2)Nothing is expected. But it is considered good form to ALWAYS give a thank you note for the opportunity to interview,
3)This varies. Forget hours unless they are especially desperate for help, in which case you probably would not want to work there any way. Be very careful!
So sweet and polite!
I had never thought about that, writing thanks-letter after the interviews, but it sounds really polite.
jsteine1
325 Posts
Sad to say, but the reason HR wont be specific about job openings is that there is a plan in place to terminate someone who doesnt yet know it.