Interview Questions for Nurses

Going for an interview at any stage of your nursing career a scary and unnerving experience. We have put together some sample interview questions and tips on the best to answer them below. Take a look and find yourself relaxed and excited for your next interview! 

Q. Tell me about yourself and your nursing experience/career to date?

In this question it is important to reiterate what is on your resume and your experience – starting with why you decided to study or pursue a career in nursing. It’s always nice to show your passion for the job from the start of the interview. Speak about your degree, and then the roles you have completed in chronological order.

Q. Tell me about your day to day duties and responsibilities in your current role?

In this question, rather than listing out every single thing you do, list out all the big things you complete on a daily basis. Briefly describe how you complete these tasks and in which order. This gives the interviewer a good insight into your priorities and time management skills.
Discuss in detail the tasks you have undertaken in your previous roles that are vital to the role you are applying for, pick out key duties, equipment handled or cases you worked on.

Q. Why is this role for you?

When you are answering this question you need to give a unique answer. You should highlight the experience and skills you have that relate to the job. It is important to answer this question confidently, explaining how your past experiences can set you above other prospective candidates.

Q. What are your strengths and weaknesses as a nurse?

To answer this question, start with your strengths. After you have explained your strengths then you can move to your weaknesses. It is important to be honest with your weaknesses... we all have them! The goal of this question for the interviewer is to see what steps you have taken to work on or change your weakness. Think about feedback you have received in the past and what steps/measures you have taken to overcome this.

These are four of the most important nursing questions you may get asked, and they really set the scene before maybe discussing more detailed clinical experience.

Some small tips to think about:

• Review your language and words use: This is your opportunity to sell yourself as the best nurse for the role, so try to avoid using negative words. Answer all questions openly and honestly. It is very important in an interview to be transparent and express the truth as to why you are leaving your current nursing position.
• Talk about yourself: As simple as that sounds we tend to speak about the past in terms of ‘We and Us’ rather ‘I and Me’.
• Keep confidentiality: It is important to not break GDPR, so general examples will suffice or exact nursing examples where you do not break the patients privacy.

The STAR Technique

The Star Technique is a great one to use in a nursing interview as it will show off your skills and give real life examples of how you handled certain nursing situations.

• Situation: Think of a similar situation that had a successful outcome.
• Task: What task were you responsible for in the situation? State your contribution clearly and concisely.
• Action: What action did you take? This is the time to highlight your best qualities and brag on yourself a little.
• Result: What was the result? How did you specifically contribute to the outcome? What did you learn or take away from the experience?

How Can Clarity Help?

At Clarity we can offer a number of options to help you feel prepared before your interview!

• We have sample questions that have been asked in previous interviews.
• We offer video or face to face interview preparations meetings.
• We can coach you through the best answers to give - Offering hints and tips along the way!

So if the thoughts of interviewing are the reason you are not applying for that dream new role today - get in touch! We are here to help!

Contact us today