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What should you ask a job candidate?

Nurse Leader Weekly, September 7, 2007

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Asking the right questions in interviews can help managers get the answers that will enable them to select the right candidate for the right job. When interviewing a candidate for a position at your facility, some good questions to ask include the following:

• What do you love most about your current job?
• Why are you looking to make a change?
• What are your salary requirements?
• What are your professional goals?
• Can you provide me with an example of a challenge you faced while on the job and then tell me how you overcame it?
• How long do you anticipate staying at this hospital?
• What type of nursing tasks do you least enjoy?
• Describe a situation in which you were working in a nursing capacity and you felt angry.
• With what type of people do you most enjoy working? With what type do you least like working?
• If you were not a nurse, what other profession do you think you would enter?
• Why did you choose to become a nurse and not a physician?
• Tell me what you would do if you knew you had done excellent work but a doctor questioned it.
• Can you give me an example of a time when you knew you had done a good job?
• What traits do you like in a supervisor?
• How would you respond if a head nurse asked you to complete a menial task?
• Could you tell me a bit more about this gap in your practicing experience? Do you have the name of the treating physician who I could contact with any questions?
• Why are you interested in this hospital in particular?

Editor's Note: This tool was adapted from the Tools Library, part of HCPro's new online resource, www.StrategiesForNurseManagers.com!

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