Interview Tips for Nurses (Including Behavioral-Based Questions)

Nursing is a fulfilling career — and one that’s in demand. An aging population combined with an increased emphasis on preventive care will continue to create demand for skilled nurses. If you’re preparing to interview for a nursing job, it’s vital you are prepared.

This guide can help. Learn what to expect at your nursing job interview, including how to prepare for behavioral-based interview questions.

12 Tips for Your Nursing Job Interview

These tips will help you shine in your next interview:

1. Check Out the Employer’s Website

Research will not only teach you about the organization’s history, but it will also help you understand how the company presents itself. This will give you insight on how to tailor your answers to align with the company’s vision.

2. Focus on the Job Description

Think about how your experience and skills align with the description. This can help you show how you’d excel in the job.

What do they say they’re looking for in the job description? Are they looking for a problem solver, a leader, a team player? They will likely address these with a behavioral question or two, so be prepared to speak about your skills in each of the areas.

3. Practice

Prepare success stories for the most common topics of behavioral-based nursing questions, which include teamwork, problem solving, leadership skills, and performance under pressure. More information about behavioral-based nursing questions is provided in the next section.

If you’re applying for a job you’ve never held before, such as a supervisory position, talk about what responsibilities you had on your team, such as training or problem solving that have prepared you for this new role.

4. Take Your Time Answering

Don’t let nervousness derail you. Take a moment to think of an appropriate answer. It’s OK to take a breath or a sip of water.

5. Be Positive

Some behavioral interview questions will ask you to discuss how you worked through an issue or failure at work. Don’t focus on the failure, though, but on the solution. Show that you overcame the problem, but don’t dwell on it.

6. Be Thorough in Your Explanation

There’s no doubt the interviewer will ask you to “tell [me] about a time when ___ happened.” Give enough detail of an event for the interviewer to understand. The situation could be from a previous job, school, or even a volunteer experience.

7. Tell What Your Objective Was at the Time

As you explain your situation, make sure to give enough context to the interviewer. What were you trying to accomplish in the situation you are describing?

8. Explain Measures You Took to Address the Situation

Detailing how you set out to address the situation demonstrates your problem-solving skills. In a few sentences, lay out the steps you took to help resolve the matter.

9. Share the Result of Your Actions

It may feel boastful to share how your actions resulted in a positive outcome, but this is the time for it. Telling the interviewer the outcome of the situation highlights your strengths as a job candidate.

10. Be Aligned, Not Perfect

It's important that your body language, tone, and confidence match your words. If they don’t match, the interviewer knows there's a reason. You don’t need to be perfect, but the interviewer does need to see that you have grown and learned from your experiences.

11. Dress Appropriately

As you plan what to wear during a nursing interview, make sure that it’s business professional. Wear clean, unwrinkled clothes. Some examples of what can be worn to an interview include a skirt with a complementary blouse, pantsuit, dress slacks, shirt and tie, sport coat, and suit. Learn more about how to dress for a job interview.

12. Bring Your Resume

Bring clean copies of your nursing resume or CV in a binder or portfolio. Your resume doesn’t need to be fancy; it should have your personal information at the top and list your education and work history below. Be sure to include a list of your accomplishments and participation in committees and other work groups.

What Are Behavioral-Based Interview Questions?

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, behavioral-based interview questions ask you to provide specific examples that demonstrate you have certain knowledge, skills, and abilities. These questions assess what you have done in the past, not what you say you might do in the future. This enables hiring managers to assess you more objectively. The premise is that past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior.

Preparation is key for handling behavioral-based interview questions.

6 Common Themes of Behavioral-Based Nursing Interview Questions

Employers are looking for certain qualities and usually tailor their questions to find out whether candidates possess these qualifications. Below are six common qualities that employers may try to assess with behavioral-based questions during a nursing interview.

1. Adaptability

You may face questions along the lines of, “If you were able to go into your past and do something differently, what would it be?” That question will give you an opportunity to show growth in a certain area.

Choose an event where you didn’t necessarily perform poorly but could have done better. You may wish to cite an error that didn’t result in harm, then explain what you learned and how it changed the way you practice.

2. Communication Style

It’s customary for an interviewer to give a nurse a common scenario and ask what they did in that scenario. How you answer can tell your interviewer a lot about you; they’ll watch for body cues, language, and tone.

For example, an interviewer may ask about a time when a patient or family member was dissatisfied with you or your patient's care and how you resolved the issue.

In this case, you could explain a situation in which you were called out of the room for a code and had to stop everything you were doing with your first patient, and that was misconstrued by the patient as not caring. Use this as a springboard to explain how you recognized this was a communication problem on your part and how you rectified the situation and learned from it for the future.

3. Strengths and Weaknesses

You may prepare examples of your top three strengths and weaknesses. But don’t call them weaknesses — call them opportunities for improvement.

Speak to your leadership ability, a particular skill that you excel at, and one area of knowledge in which you are a subject matter expert. Try not to use compassion as one of your main strengths, as compassion is already known to be a core value of most nurses.

4. Patient Care

If you’re asked about your patient care skills, highlight your best one.

If you’re skilled at initiating IV lines, share that. If you’re good at critical analysis, say so. Be confident in the things you’re good at.

5. Teamwork

Interviewers often ask, “Tell me about a time you had a difficult working relationship with a colleague.” Tell them what the challenge was, how you addressed it, and what you learned from it. Don’t portray yourself as perfect, but do highlight how you’ve grown.

6. Time Management

Questions about time management are about your life at work and your work-life balance. Talk about the way you plan your time, how you delegate, and how you turn off work when appropriate. Employers want to know you have what it takes to be successful at home and at work.

Let Purdue Global Help You Reach Your Nursing Goals

Purdue Global offers online nursing degree programs, including RN-to-BSN, Master of Science in Nursing, postgraduate certificates, and Doctor of Nursing Practice. Request information about our online programs today.