Nursing Interview Tips: 5 Best Practices
Nursing shortages continue to intensify competition among recruiters, making a strong hiring program more essential than ever. A well-conducted interview (supported by intentional strategies and expert-backed nursing interview tips) is often the key step in securing top talent.
You may already know how to be a good interviewer, but this article can help you tailor those skills to the unique needs of nursing professionals. With nursing-specific guidance and five essential nurse interview tips, you’ll be better equipped to give your candidates a positive experience that stands apart, helping you land quality nursing professionals and drive better, safer patient care.
How to Interview a Nurse: Standard Formats
Each type of nursing interview, whether in-person or hosted remotely, has its advantages and disadvantages. Indeed, many organizations utilize more than one format during separate stages of the hiring process to ensure all their interview questions for a nurse vacancy are answered. Here’s a quick breakdown of the primary formats used when hosting interviews.
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Phone Interview |
This is typically held between a recruiter and a candidate over the phone. It’s often used to screen candidates and assess whether they should be brought in for in-person interviews. |
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In-Person Interview |
This is an interview that’s held face-to-face. There may be multiple rounds of in-person interviews with various members of the team. |
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Peer or Panel Interview |
This is a group interview where a few current staff members take turns asking a candidate questions. It’s generally used to assess culture fit and how a candidate meshes with the team dynamic. |
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Individual Interview |
This is a one-on-one interview held between the unit/nurse manager and the candidate. A variety of questions are asked to assess a candidate’s skills, knowledge, and overall fit. |
5 Essential Nursing Interview Tips and Best Practices
Regardless of the type of interview you’re conducting, it’s always important to follow basic etiquette. Beyond the necessity of professionalism and respect, these expert-backed interview techniques will help you answer the question, What are 5 tips for a successful job interview with nursing candidates?
1. Do Your Research
Just as you’d want a nursing professional to research your facility prior to an interview, you should also be taking the time to learn about your candidates. This means thoroughly reviewing their resumes, cover letters, and profiles before bringing them in. Take notes and identify key parts of their background or skills that you’d like to learn more about within the context of the role.
2. Tailor Your Questions to the Candidate
Preparing a targeted list of interview questions should also be a regular part of the preparation that occurs prior to interviewing a nurse. Questions that evaluate the skills and knowledge needed for the role can then be tailored to the candidate’s professional background, avoiding redundancies (and a prolonged hiring timeline).
For example, let’s say a new grad is applying to be an operating room (OR) nurse. Asking the candidate if they have formal experience in surgery is a dead-end question that’s already been answered by their resume. You can instead tailor your question by asking how their prior education and training has prepared them to work in the OR.
3. Make the Interview a Conversation
If you’re wondering how to start an interview as an interviewer, remember that this isn’t a formal interrogation. It’s an opportunity for you and the candidate to get to know each other. Greet the interviewee with a warm smile, introduce yourself, and make it feel conversational. This will build rapport and help the candidate feel more at ease. Here are additional tips to help you keep the interview more conversational:
- Actively listen and acknowledge a candidate’s answers to your questions.
- Stay attuned to the flow of the conversation and ask relevant follow-up questions.
- Be natural and don’t shy away from elaborating on points of common ground.
- Leave time for a candidate to ask their own questions during the interview.
4. Identify and Unlearn Unconscious Biases
Unconscious biases are what lead us to form preconceived opinions about individuals based on their initial characteristics. During the interview process, these biases can cause harmful stereotyping and cloud decision-making.
For example, studies have shown that some recruiters may stereotype male nursing candidates as “bold,” “aggressive,” or “less caring” because nursing is a predominantly female profession. However, these types of beliefs can drive highly qualified candidates away and prevent diversity in the workplace.
To make the most of this nursing interview tip, it’s important to take steps to continuously identify and address your own cognitive biases. You can start by taking an implicit association test or exploring training resources that can help you unlearn unconscious biases over time.
5. Sell Your Facility Without Making Empty Promises
While it’s important to represent your culture in a positive light, avoid misconstruing the perks of working at your facility. Authenticity is an integral part of being a good interviewer, and candidates will be expecting an accurate snapshot of what the role offers.
If you’re promising training opportunities that don’t exist and your candidate accepts the role, this is going to lead to a lack of trust and potential turnover down the line. Focus on promoting benefits and opportunities that your team can deliver, and be as transparent as possible when answering any questions that the candidate may have.
Find the Best Nursing Candidates to Interview
With these nursing interview tips, you may decide you’re ready to start calling candidates today. For help reaching top talent, our nursing-focused job board can help connect you to a nationwide pool of motivated nursing professionals so you can collect the applications you need to fill your next open position.