This morning I woke up to my phone ringing, and on the caller ID it said the name of the hospital I'm applying to. The nurse recruiter was calling to have a phone interview with me. Crap! I wasn't even half awake yet. Luckily she gave me the option of having her call back a couple hours later. Phew! My mom gave me a booklet she had about the hospital's mission statement, values and policies. I skimmed through it quickly, but it turned out that I didn't even need it. Around 12:30 my mom asked me to pick up some Thai food at a local restaurant. The wait took forever even though we ordered in advance. The room had the AC on blast, but I was started sweating for nervousness. It was quickly reaching 1 PM (my phone interview time) and I was anxious to get home. I made it home just in time, and a few minutes later that recruiter called. Throughout the entire interview I was trying to read into her voice to see how I was doing. Easier said than done. She's been doing this for a while and seems to know how to keep it neutral. The questions she asked were based off the questionnaire I had answered. She also asked me some scenario questions. After the final question I really had no idea how I did. Then I asked her how long it would take for me to know whether or not I would get a panel interview. She responded with, "Well, I think I would like to push your application on to the panel interview." SWEET! She proceeds to tell me that my interview is this Tuesday (in 5 days) and will be meeting with four representatives and should be prepared to answer questions about patient safety, change management, teamwork and a critical thinking scenario question. I have five days to prep what I am going to say and to get all my paperwork ready. Here we go!
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Step 2/5
I just sent in my email questionnaire for the hospital I'm trying to get into. Step 2 complete. It was only ten questions, but the hardest thing about it was getting started. Apparently the questionnaire is to screen the people who really want to work there from the people that don't. I hope I was convincing enough at proving that I really do want to work there (which I think I do).
Question #1 was fairly easy: Why do you want to work at here? My secret to answering that question was going to their website and looking at their mission statement and somehow slipping that into my response. I learned from my management clinical that organizations really like it when you know what their goal is.
The rest of the questions were the usual: "What units are you interested in and why?, "Describe blah blah blah from your clinical experience," "How would you deal with this such and such situation." You know, that type of thing.
I got stuck on one question though: Tell us of a time when you had to conform to a policy with which you did not agree. Crap. I haven't really encountered this. So what did I do? I pseudo-fabricated one. It did happen, but it wasn't so much a policy than a unit preference. Oops.
My response to the last question was the best: If you accepted a position in the Residency, it requires a commitment to work for 2.5 year beyond the program. What is it about you that would make the hospital believe that you would keep this commitment? My response in a nutshell: It's my home.
Now, it may sound like bullshit, which even to me it does, but when it comes down to it, it is my home. In October it will be 19 years living in this hospital community. I went to school at the hospital's elementary school, go to church at the hospital's church, volunteered at the hospital, spent a vast majority of my afternoons in the hospital cafeteria loitering (looking back I'm surprised they didn't kick us out after all those hours and years of just buying chips and freeloading off their water), and go to my doctors appointments here. I'm the last of the original people who used to all live here, and I suppose I wouldn't mind staying for another three years.
And at my home today, I baked a funfetti cake with chocolate frosting. It's bomb dig!
Question #1 was fairly easy: Why do you want to work at here? My secret to answering that question was going to their website and looking at their mission statement and somehow slipping that into my response. I learned from my management clinical that organizations really like it when you know what their goal is.
The rest of the questions were the usual: "What units are you interested in and why?, "Describe blah blah blah from your clinical experience," "How would you deal with this such and such situation." You know, that type of thing.
I got stuck on one question though: Tell us of a time when you had to conform to a policy with which you did not agree. Crap. I haven't really encountered this. So what did I do? I pseudo-fabricated one. It did happen, but it wasn't so much a policy than a unit preference. Oops.
My response to the last question was the best: If you accepted a position in the Residency, it requires a commitment to work for 2.5 year beyond the program. What is it about you that would make the hospital believe that you would keep this commitment? My response in a nutshell: It's my home.
Now, it may sound like bullshit, which even to me it does, but when it comes down to it, it is my home. In October it will be 19 years living in this hospital community. I went to school at the hospital's elementary school, go to church at the hospital's church, volunteered at the hospital, spent a vast majority of my afternoons in the hospital cafeteria loitering (looking back I'm surprised they didn't kick us out after all those hours and years of just buying chips and freeloading off their water), and go to my doctors appointments here. I'm the last of the original people who used to all live here, and I suppose I wouldn't mind staying for another three years.
And at my home today, I baked a funfetti cake with chocolate frosting. It's bomb dig!
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