ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

How to Develop Interview Questions

Updated on April 6, 2014
Source

As a Nurse Manager one of the most important tasks is to build a successful, dedicated team. In order to achieve this, it is important to know the right questions to ask potential candidates during the interview process and how to evaluate and compare their answers. In order for the Nurse manager to have an understanding on how a candidate would react in certain situations it is critical to find out what they have done to prior situations. It has been shown that past behavior is the best prediction for future performance (Raso, 2009).

The first task the nurse manager must accomplish is to create a list of the critical performance areas. This lays out the foundation to create open ended questions to evaluate the candidates experience in the desired area (Fernandez & Baker, 2006). A basic example would be to ask the following question: "Think of a problem with a patient, family member or colleague you had to deal with, describe the situation and tell me how you managed it." This question covers several important areas vital to successful nurses; communication and problem solving. A significant amount of a nurse's time are spent communicating with patients, families, and doctors. Professionalism and compassion are important strengths to find in candidates.

The Nurse Manager can get insight on an applicants strengths and weaknesses by asking candidates specifically how they have dealt with unanticipated and stressful situations in the past. This question gives higher quality of information than the normal question of "Tell me your strengths and weaknesses." Another important question would be "Do you have any professional affiliations?" This question helps to evaluates the candidates is motivated and committed in their profession and dedicated to stay informed.

The cost to train and orientate a nurse to a facility is high; which makes it important to find a person looking for long term employment in the facility and not just a short term job until what really want can be found. A traditional question for this would be "Where do you see yourself in the next five years?" A better question would be to put together a question about the applicant's professional interests as a nurse. Their answer should be in focus in your facilities nursing focus. Another question could be about their interest in working with the type of patients or residents that the facility serves. This questioning gauges how passionate the applicant is with working in the jobs area of specialty. Nursing requires a high level of patience, tolerance and motivation; finding out the applicants level of each is an important factor in determining job satisfaction and success.

It is just important for the nurse manager to know what questions they cannot ask potential candidates. As an employer, you cannot ask about the applicants race, gender, religion, marital status, age, disabilities, ethnic background, country of origin, sexual preferences or age due to discrimination laws. An applicant that is asked a question regarding any of these areas should try to answer to essence of the question. Such as if asked if they have a disability, the answer should be that they are able to complete the job to the required performance. The correct question to ask would be if they need any accommodations to complete the job as stated in the job description. Another example of a question you cannot ask would be to ask if you are a United States citizen. That question is discriminating against an applicants country of origin. An applicant asked that question should not answer the whether or not they are a citizen but that they are authorized to work in the United States. The correct question you may ask as an employer would be "Are you are authorized to work in the United States?"

Did you feel prepared for the questions you were asked on your last interview?

See results

Summary

A successful Nurse Manager is able to use interview questions to determine if the applicant is the right fit for the job. The cost for the facility in nursing turnover or legal issues involving improper questioning can be high if the Nurse Manager is not trained properly. The importance of the Nurse Manager to have the ability to create a successful team cannot be overlooked and it begins with the interviewing process.

References

Fernandez, C. S., & Baker, E. L. (2006, December). The Behavioral Event Interview: Avoiding Interviewing Pitfalls When Hiring. Journal of Public Health Management & Practice, 12, 590-593.

Raso, R. (2009, July). Hiring right for a healthy work environment. Nursing Management, 40(7), 53-54.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)