Cracking the Nursing Interview

Jim Keogh

• Publisher: De|G Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781501506253
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Gestion des ressources humaines

Cracking the Nursing Interview is designed to help you land your ideal nursing job. The book's unique two-part organization helps both first-time and experienced nurses through the job application process, the interviewing process, job training, and everything in between! In Part I you will learn the ins and outs of the interviewing process: how to get your application noticed, how to prepare for the interview, how to uncover hints in an interviewer's question, and more. Part II is an extensive review of what you need to know in order to ensure success in your interview. This section includes an overview of fundamental medications and techniques, providing a quick review for those about to go into an interview, and for those considering nursing as a profession, it is a great resource to know what you will need to learn.

Cracking the Nursing Interview also provides practice interview questions and solutions, so readers can go into their interviews confidently. In addition to interview tips and tricks, readers will learn how to sell their value and determine if they fit within a specific healthcare organization. Nurses will be given an overview of the unique nurse hiring process, a detailed walk-through of the various nursing careers available to them, and all the information necessary to identify and pursue their ideal career.

With a dual career in nursing and information technology, Jim Keogh, DNP, RN-BC is a nurse educator at New Jersey's largest hospital as well as an assistant professor at New York University and a faculty member at Saint Peter's University in Jersey City, New Jersey, as well as a former faculty member and chair of the e-commerce track of study at Columbia University.

Part One: Understanding the Interview Process

Part One provides the knowledge of what the hiring manager is looking for, expectations, suggestions for interviews, getting selected by the application tracking system, and more. This will make you more confident and successful in selecting and deciding on the right job for you. You will gain an understanding of the motivations, or how to determine the motivations, of the hiring manager.

Chapter 1
The Nursing Interview Process

Looking for a job as a nurse is challenging whether you are a new graduate looking for your entry into nursing or an experienced nurse seeking to move on to a better opportunity. Healthcare facilities – including private practices – are looking for competent nurses to join their teams and care for their patients. You are a competent nurse – even new graduates are considered basically competent – wanting to care for patients. However, there are hurdles you must jump over to tell a healthcare facility that you are a candidate for the job. There is no magic wand that can be waved that will lead you over these hurdles. There is no crystal ball that will tell you the words and the right moves to get you the job. However, understanding the nursing interview process gives you insights into developing your own strategies for getting noticed and jumping over the interviewing hurdles.

This book was written to help you get the job you want. Much of what is written here may seem simple or even self-evident, but it is better to have over-studied and succeed than to lose a job because of something that could have easily been avoided. So, bear with me if you know much of what is presented here; it is those bits that you may not have considered, or are reminded of, that you will find most helpful.

In the first part of this book, I hope that an understanding of the process, the knowledge of what the hiring manager is looking for, expectations, suggestions for interviews, getting selected by the dreaded application tracking system, and more will make you more confident and successful in selecting and deciding on the right job for you. You will gain an understanding of the motivations, or how to determine the motivations, of the hiring manager. The second part of this book is meant to supply you with an overview of what you may be expected to know in the interviews. It is a somewhat dense, but simple review of topics that will likely come up and, for ease of use, is broken down by medication types and body systems. You might think of this part as a big cheat sheet or memory jogger. Together, this book should give you what you need to know to successfully navigate through the interview process. We will start with the basics of the nursing job, personal human resource issues, job opportunities, and processes generally used to make a hiring decision. The processes for interviewing for nursing jobs are unique and as you will see, there are lots of options.

How Nursing Jobs Are Created

Traditionally, there are three reasons nurse managers create a nursing position. The most common reason is the need to care for current patients as a result of a nurse leaving the healthcare facility or transferring to another position within the organization. Another reason is growth of the healthcare facility into patient care areas that are not currently provided by the organization. A healthcare facility increases the number of nurses to care for patients who are expected to use the healthcare facility in the near future. A third reason is to hire new graduate nurses to ensure there is a pool of qualified nurses to draw from in the future. Although nurse executives typically focus on current staffing needs and needs for staffing in the near future, they realize there is a sizeable group of senior nurses who are nearing or beyond retirement age that may leave a large gap in the workforce when they retire. Nurse executives know they must invest in new graduate nurses to fill that gap.

You may not care how the nursing job opportunity came about – you may simply need a job. However, you should care because the reason the position was created may provide a clue as to whether or not you should accept a position if offered to you. If a position opened because the previous nurse transferred or was promoted, then there are opportunities for advancement within the organization. That’s a good thing. If the current nurse left the organization, then you probably want to explore the reason for the departure. The work environment may have been unbearable or there were few or no opportunities to move around the organization.

The Nurse Job Description

The breadth of categories of nursing jobs is too extensive to list. It is safe to say that not all nursing jobs are the same, which makes it challenging for nurse managers and nurses to find the right match for a nursing position. The initial challenge is to describe the position in writing. The job description typically has at least two divisions: general boilerplate requirements and specific requirements for the actual position. Boilerplate items appear in all job descriptions for the healthcare facility and covers general requirements expected of candidates who apply for the position. Specific job requirements describe what the nurse manager needs of the candidate. You need to focus on both the boilerplate and the specific job requirements.

The nurse manager describes the ideal candidate for a position knowing that the ideal candidate may not exist . . . but if one does exist, this person would be hired on the spot. The job description may list some requirements as “required” and other requirements as “preferred.” Some healthcare facilities “require a BSN” while others “prefer a BSN.” Healthcare facilities that require a BSN usually do so because they hold Magnet status by the American Nurses’ Credentials Center (ANCC) or have similar obligations. Working toward a BSN usually applies only if you are currently employed by the healthcare facility, although they may consider a nurse who is a candidate for a BSN (all requirements are met and you are waiting for graduation). Typically, the only way a candidate without a BSN is considered is if the candidate has a unique skillset that is needed by the healthcare facility.

There are times when “required” requirements maybe waived by the nurse manager. This may happen when no candidate meets all the requirements for the position as described in the job description and the nurse manager is pressured to fill the position. Unfortunately, applicants and potential applicants rarely know about the waivers. Some applicants apply even if they don’t meet all the “required” requirements hoping that “required” requirements may be waived.

Preferred requirements are sometimes referred to as “tie-breakers.” If two candidates are equally qualified and one has the preferred requirement, then the candidate with the preferred requirement is offered the position. Don’t assume that a preferred requirement is “required.” Some nurse managers categorize a requirement as preferred because few candidates who apply for the position meet the requirement and the nurse manager doesn’t want to discourage other candidates from applying. This allows them to specify “preferred” requirements and “required” requirements.

Full-Time, Part-Time, Per Diem

Nursing jobs are also described by the number of hours that the nurse manager allocates to the position. A full-time position is a position that is guaranteed 40 hours per week (the actual number of hours may vary depending on what the healthcare facility considers full time). There are busy periods when the nurse manager needs extra help for a few hours per day. For example, the patient care unit may have a high volume of discharges between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on weekdays. The nurse manager may create a part-time nursing position of 20 hours per week (4 hours per day) to handle the high volume of discharges. The part-time nurse is guaranteed 20 hours of work per week. Per diem is another description of a position based on the number of hours worked per week. Per diem is a Latin phrase meaning ‘by the day.’ Technically, the per diem nurse is guaranteed one eight-hour day of work based on the availability of the nurse and staffing needs of the healthcare facility. Some healthcare facilities require per diem nurses to work one or two holidays per year.

Internally, nursing positions are identified as full-time equivalent (FTE) positions. The nurse manager is allocated a specific number of FTEs. For example, the nurse manager of the patient care unit that has a high period of discharges during the day may be allocated 3.5 FTEs for each weekday day shift. This corresponds to three and a half full-time positions comprised of three full-time nurses and one part-time nurse. There can be smaller fractions than half a full-time position that results in a nurse working a few hours on the patient care unit per day or for a few days per week.

The healthcare facility may combine fractions of FTE into a full-time position based on the needs of the healthcare facility and the needs of patient care units. For example, the healthcare facility may find it difficult to find a nurse who wants to work 20 hours each weekday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. However, two part-time positions can be combined to create a full-time position that is split between two or more patient care units.

Benefits and No-Benefits

Employment benefits vary greatly. Don’t assume all benefit packages are the same throughout the healthcare industry. It is wise to carefully assess the benefits package when you are offered the nursing position and compare the benefits package to those offered by your current employer. A substantial decrease in benefits may be costly and negate any increase in pay that you receive when changing jobs.

Not all nursing positions come with full benefits. Healthcare facilities offer benefits to full-time nurses. Part-time nurses may be offered prorated benefits that are offered to full-time nurses – or no benefits at all. Benefits are usually not offered to per diem nurses primarily because per diem nurses usually have full-time jobs that offer them benefits.

Make sure you find out when benefits begin – and when they are terminated. Benefits may not kick in until you are off your probationary period, which can last three months, depending on the healthcare facility. During that period, you are expected to find your own coverage – or hope you don’t become ill. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) may enable you to temporarily continue your current employer’s health insurance when you terminate employment. Under COBRA, you’ll be expected to pay the health insurance premium plus an administrative fee of two percent. Also, make sure you find out when benefits end. Some healthcare facilities stop providing benefits the day the employee is terminated. If you leave today, your benefits stop at midnight.

Union vs. Non-Union

Nurses in some healthcare facilities are represented by a union. A union is an organization of employees (called a bargaining unit) that negotiates terms of employment (called a collective bargaining agreement) for its members. The bargaining unit is usually affiliated with a state or national organization that has similar affiliations with bargaining units in other healthcare facilities. The state or national organization provides professional labor and legal services that guide local affiliates through the bargaining process and management of the collective bargaining agreement.

Terms of employment for covered positions are specified in the collective bargaining agreement. If you apply for a position covered by the collective bargaining agreement, then you must abide by terms of employment specified in the agreement. You will not be able to negotiate other terms of employment on your own, nor will the healthcare facility be able to do so.

During the first few days of orientation you will meet with a union representative who will explain the benefits of joining the union. If you agree to join, then you’ll complete paperwork that permits the healthcare facility to deduct union dues from your pay and give the dues to the union. You’ll have rights to participate in union activities without retribution from management. Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), you have the right to refuse to join the union without any repercussions from the healthcare facility or the union. However, the NLRA permits the healthcare facility and the bargaining unit to enter into a union security agreement. The union security agreement requires employees who hold positions covered by the bargaining agreement and who are not union members to pay an agency fee to the union as a condition of employment. The agency fee is usually a substantial percentage of the union dues paid per pay period to the union for services in negotiating terms of your employment. You are bound by the collective bargaining agreement but you don’t have any rights to participate in union activities since you are not a member of the union.

Some states have passed right-to-work laws that prohibit a bargaining unit from collecting an agency fee from non-union members who hold positions covered by the bargaining agreement. This means...