Interview Tips

I thought "Interview Tips" deserved another post because these tips could DEFINITELY help someone else!  Please read my last post about my skill set if you want more background =).  I am not a recruiter, and don't have a background in HR--at all, but I found this is what helped me.

Interviewing is tough.  You are trying to sell yourself to get the job and, most likely, you don't know anything about the interviewer or what makes them "tick."  Not every job is going to want what you have to offer, but you know what, that's okay.  There IS a place that is going to have your philosophy and wants you to work for them.  You want to find that place and you are almost interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you.

For example, there is a job for every nurse.  If you are the "take charge, thrive on chaos" type, you might like the hospital floor.  If you are sensitive and enjoy counseling, you may enjoy hospice nursing.  If you prefer to work with patients while they are asleep, there's the OR.  So it's all about you.

Or you could totally go the entrepreneur route, which is great too.  I'm not ready for that step though!  Who knows what the future holds?

Interview Tip #1--Be Yourself
You have to be yourself.  Let your personality through!  There is a job for every personality.  My boyfriend has a serious "down to business" outlook when it comes to employment and hiring for his team, but that's great for him because that's what his jobs call for.  Nurses have to have good communication skills.  We also like related stories.  We all have our relatable "war stories." So, that's the route I started to go.  You want to stay professional, and adapt to the interviewer, but you have to work with that person--so let them know what you're like.

When they ask you to "Tell me about yourself"--in my case, being employed a few years, they wanted to know about my work history.  So I told about how I got into nursing, a few blurbs about where I worked, and why I wanted job x (relating to my past and based on company information).

Interview Tip #2--Dress Up
Of course you are going to dress up more than normal.  However, one thing I was doing at first was dressing "business casual" when interviewing for my company (my current place is casual dress).  When I stepped it up, and wore "business professional," I felt more confident.  It's psychological that when you dress for what you want, you'll have that more in your mindset.  Get a nice set of slacks/skirt and a fitted suit jacket.  You will not regret it.

My interview was over the phone, and I wore my pajamas, but dress "business professional" with an interview in person.

Interview Tip #3--Behavioral Interviewing!
I had A LOT of behavioral interview questions--"Tell me a time when..."  I had never thought of these times, at first.  However, as I sat down and thought about it, I had TONS of examples.  If you have been alive and/or employed, so do you.  Tell a story and (if asking about a problem) what did you do to resolve the situation.  This tells an employer a lot about you.

Interview Tip #4--Help out your co-workers
In my case, the entire department was being eliminated.  When I found out about jobs I thought others might be interested in, I told them about them.  It was nice, because even though we were interviewing for the same jobs in our company--we still supported each other.  I had never considered this before, but I actually thought about recruiting as being an option because I think it's fun to match people to what they are interested in.  Reach out to people, in your life and on Linked In.  I have a friend who is an accountant, but has a friend that is a hospice nurse (which is a field I'm interested in).  My IT recruiter friend helped me get my job.  So, be open-minded.

Interview Tip #5-- Know Yourself
See Tip #1!  The interviewer wants to know your strengths and weaknesses, whether you ask that or not.  As a Psych major, I've always been interested in this--and I did an Emotional Intelligence test and the Myers-Briggs personality test to see where I was at.  You can find these online if you just Google them!  I found that I had great conflict resolution skills and needed help with being assertive.  I found interviewers don't mind if you have weaknesses, but what are you doing to improve them?  I talked about my "journey to organization" with one interviewer (and this was an interview that went well, even if I didn't get the job).  It also helps answer the question of what you can do for them/why should we hire you?

The place that hired me was looking for someone that is good with change.  Thanks to this past year with several life changes, and growing up in a military lifestyle, I learned that change can be positive--and unavoidable.  Like I said in my last post "That's the way it is," and they liked that philosophy.  They also asked how I handled stress--and sweet, little Tyler (my cat)--really helped me through my situations.  So, I talked about having a pet.

Interview Tip #6--Ask Questions
Asking questions helps show you are interested.  Great ones to ask include:
What would you like accomplished 60-90 days after I start?
If your interviewer is not all business, ask how they started working there.  It turns the interview into more of a conversation.
Flat out ask who the ideal candidate is.  It'll be different from the job description.

Interview Tip #7--Know your job descriptions inside and out
For example:  I was applying for Utilization Management positions at my company (a.k.a. medical review)--and per my company I did not have the "right skill set," but I knew I did (it was later when I started doubting it).  I was convinced by a recruiter friend to apply for another one of these jobs at another company.  I wasn't sure how to make this clear to the interviewer that I knew what to do (they are asking for clinical experience which I didn't think I had much of)--however when she asked me about charts and discharge planning, I had TONS of examples.  This job involves a lot of talking to doctors--and at my last job, I worked very closely with doctors to help treat the client.  I did nursing assessments.  I know a lot about medications and side effects.  I was in a doctor's office or hospital several times a week.  I helped audit charts.  I did wound care and clinical skills like that occasionally, and what I didn't know, I learned with help of other nurses.  Those are all clinical.  I also am on the phone all the time, and you are with this job too.  So I had the experience, I just had to be very forthcoming with it because it was not obvious what I did based on my title (and it helped the recruiter had done something similar).  I tried to put it in my resume, but I had to put it all together.


Questions you'll hear:
Tell me about yourself (huge, have a good answer ready--see above, and don't start at birth)
What are your strengths? (and how can this help the company)
What are your weaknesses? (and what is something you have done to help overcome them)
What would your boss say about you?
What would your coworkers say about you?
How do you handle conflict?
How do you deal with stress?
Are you a 9-5 person? (This depends on the job and make sure you emphasize you'll do what you need to get the job done).
Think of stories where something went wrong and what you did to fix it
Why do you want the job? (think of a very specific reason and don't say $)
Who is your ideal boss (or boss you don't like).  Be positive!