Top 12 Interview Tips for Nurses – Making an Interview Work for you

1. Research the nursing home and be prepared with a “good” level of knowledge. Take at look at the most recent
HIQA report in Ireland and CQC report for the UK. You don’t need to know gross margins for the nursing home for
the past 8 years, but you should know enough to show the interviewer that you respect the opportunity and you
respect her or his time.

2. Be on time, with a clean, well-presented copy of your CV (which we can assist you with) – I know this sounds
simple (this is “101”, after all) but you would be surprised at how many people don’t leave 10 minutes early in
order to get there 10 minutes early!

3. Dress the part – business-like and professional, no matter how groovy the Nursing Home is or how the Manager
interviewing you presents themselves.

4. Be kind to every employee you meet – the receptionist, yes, but also the parking lot attendant, the janitor, and
the intern. You know, Southwest Airlines used to have the flight attendants on flights anonymously assess the
candidates they were flying in for interviews – it just goes to show that you need to mind your manners at all
times. Keep in mind that your interview starts the moment you leave the house. You would not be the first person
to honk your horn at the car in front and they make a gesture at them as you pass them, only to be sitting in front
of them 20 minutes later in an interview.

5. Think of JFK – ask not what the Nursing Home can do for you, answer instead “What can I do for this Nursing
Home?”

6. This is not a filming of “Biography” on the A&E Channel, it is a presentation in which you are selling your
capabilities to do a job for the company. Don’t go into a half-hour long discussion on the relative merits of Mozart
and Beethoven, the reason you love/hate your favourite sports team. The interviewer does not want your life
story, they want to know your nursing capabilities.

7. “Bad mouth thee, bad mouth me.” Whenever you trash-talk your former or current employer, guess what the
interviewer thinks? “Oh boy, if we hire this nurse, I’m next on her firing line!” Never, ever, say bad, mean, unkind,
or even true things if it makes you look like a prospective ingrate, gossip, or ne’er-do’well.

8. Save the money talk for last. Focus on the job, your ability to contribute, and all the great things you can
provide. We will have discussed the salary with you before the interview and please remember it is in our best
interest to get you the highest salary possible.

9. Thank the interviewer for their time and ask questions – again, this shows good manners and good sense. We
can advise you to the type of questions you can ask, we have a list of over 100.

10. Let the employer know how interested you are at the end of the interview, and your intention to accept if
offered.

11. Send a follow-up e-mail – thank the interviewer again and reiterate (very briefly) what you discussed and how
you can contribute. This serves as a good memory jog to the interviewer of your conversation and reminds them of
the points you want them to make for you in the hiring meeting.

12. There are a variety of different interview types you could end up having. Ranging from a full on competency
base interview to what we call the cup of tea interview and everything in between. We can fully advise you on all
these different interview types and we can normally let you know the type of interview you can expect to have
with a Nursing Home we work with.