Have you received an interview invitation to become a nurse manager? Then you have to be fully prepared for an exciting and challenging screening process that will include answering nursing interview questions. You may have already come across them when you first applied as a nurse in a hospital, but now that you are at a higher level so will the nurse manager interview questions.
Nurse managers are now part of the managerial and leadership levels of a company or medical organization. These managers are assigned in different units, composed of groups of nurses. There are a variety of duties for a nurse manager, including allocating nurses’ schedules, assessing performance and character and dealing with organizational issues and conflicts.
Anticipating Nurse Manager Interview Questions
As a candidate for a higher position you must anticipate a higher level of interview questioning. Do not expect to answer interview questions such as “Why do you want to be a nurse?” This position needs a more superior candidate; one who can display leadership and interpersonal skills.
Most nursing interview questions will test your leadership skills, such as: * “How can you influence and lead your nursing staff?” * “So far, what have you accomplished as a nurse?” * “What are your strengths and weakness as a nurse?” * “What makes you the perfect candidate for this position?”
Those questions will test some of the characteristics that a nurse manager should possess and can be easily handled since they are asking for your own opinion and personal insights. However, there are some manager interview questions wherein you will be asked about you response to certain situations.
These are commonly asked and candidates will display a variety of answers and responses. The recruitment manager will assess and compare you with the other applicants and make a decision based on how you respond to the situations given to you.
Here are some of possibilities:
- “How will you handle a nursing staff member who has a record of absences and tardiness?”
- “What will you do if one nursing staff member insists on choosing his/her duty schedules because she has three kids? Would you always give in to these “demands?”
- “You caught your staff member sleeping during duty hours and this is not the first time. Her reason is that she was awake all day to watch over her sick child. How will you handle this situation?”
- “One of your staff members has been accused of racial slurring towards his colleagues. How can you keep a harmonious relationship within your staff?”
- “You learned that one of your nurses continuously posts negative things about your unit and hospital, against company policy, on Facebook. How will you reprimand this nurse?”
See also Qhs medical abbreviation
Answering Nurse Manager Interview Questions
Now you have an idea of what kind of nursing interview questions for managers will be asked during the screening process. Next, you will need to be prepared on what to do and say during the actual interview. Here are some interview tips for those who want to be nurse managers:
- Toot your own horn, but with restraint. Answering nursing interview questions must be accompanied by highlighting your skills and abilities, but try to show modesty at you achievements. Provide the interviewer with exact figures in terms of your accomplishments. If you earned your post graduate studies from a prestigious school, then mention it.
- Do not forget to say thank you and show appreciation. Saying thank you to your interviewer will show your humility which is also a vital virtue in the workplace.
Working as a nurse manager entails leadership, communication skills and flexibility, especially if you are handling a team from mixed ethnic backgrounds. Stress your skills and professionalism by giving clear, confident and level headed responses to the nursing interview questions.