Feelings of Disappointment: Job Interviews and Second Guesses

My latest job interview on Wednesday was quite possibly the worst job interview experience that I have ever had. I felt exhausted, was running and late and did not have time to eat or drink anything before going in. I did not realize that I would be facing a panel of 4 people. The panel interview is quite possibly the most intimidating type of interview; nothing is scarier than 4 people that you do or don't know asking you questions that you can see they are scoring you on. The types of questions that were being asked were completely reasonable. However, I had not engaged in any preparation which I now see was a huge mistake. 

I have long been on a kick of just winging it and letting the cards fall where they may, with limited success. Brainstorming possible questions that would be asked and how I would respond to them would have been very advantageous. As I write this now I also realize that presenting myself as having prepared responses would have been a good characteristic to present a potential manager and new health care team. Instead I appeared to be an unprepared idiot. Even worse, the manager interviewing me is my manager in my casual position at UBC and one of the other panel members is a nurse that I have worked with. All I can think of now is how after I walked out of that interview they had more than enough bad things to say about me and the complete lack of confidence they must have in my ability to nurse carefully and conscientiously during my future casual shifts.

I am still debating in my head whether the fact that two of the people in the interview know me and possibly know of my work ethic and proven past abilities to nurse effectively will make any type of difference as to what my final interview score will be. There are 11 positions that need to be filled. However, I am not crossing my fingers about getting a call back for this position. Lesson learned.

I applied for another posting in acute psych at VGH today. I am hoping that I get a call for an interview and I am hoping that I remember to prepare for the interview this time.
Here is a website that offers sample nursing interview questions and how to appropriately answer them.

I hope your future interview experiences go better than mine did.

Love,
Michelle D.


Post-Interview Update 
P.S. I ended up getting this job. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Developing a Personal Nursing Philosophy

Formulating and Presenting My Personal Philosophy of Nursing When contemplating a philosophical viewpoint within a particular discipline it is essential to understand its relationship to current issues in the field (DeKeyser & Medoff-Cooper, 2009; Schlotfeldt, 2006). Articulation of a personal nursing philosophy involves contemplation of one’s beliefs, principles and values which direct practice (p. 65, Uys & Smit, 1994 as cited in DeKeyser & Medoff-Cooper, 2009). My personal nursing philosophy began with attempting to answer the questions, “what does nursing mean to me” and “what is guiding my practice”? My philosophy is based on personal reflections, values and beliefs and is connected to the current body of nursing literature; it incorporates my understanding of the traditional nursing metaparadigm that includes person, environment, nursing and health (Monti & Tingen, 2006) and the concept of social justice proposed by Schim, Benkert, Bell, Walker and D
Read more

Recovery Alliance Theory

      Throughout the history of mental health the dominant model used to guide patient care has been the medical model (Shanley & Jubb-Shanley, 2007). In recent years there have been alternative models proposed for providing nursing care in mental health. One model outlined by Shanley & Jubb-Shanley (2007) is the Recovery Alliance Theory. Application of this theory requires a paradigm shift away from the traditional medical model towards a strengths based humanistic approach. The theory resonates with my personal views of what constitutes good mental health nursing because it places emphasis on (1) humanistic philosophy, (2) recovery, (3) partnership relation, (4) strength focus, (5) empowerment and (6) common humanity. These constructs underlie the theory. From these emerge three main concepts that translate the theory into mental health nursing practice, (1) coping, (2) working alliance and (3) self responsibility.      I agree with Shanley & Jubb-Shanley (2007) that, “th
Read more

Getting Past "Just Say No": Reflections on Adolescents and Substance Use

 As the death toll in North America from the opiate overdose crisis continues to rise nurses must re-think the approaches that are being used in the healthcare services that are supposed to be designed to best help youth. There are now decades of evidence that support the ineffectiveness of the 1980s ‘Just Say No’ drug strategies targeted to prevent youth from using drugs. In reflection on my nursing career, mostly in programs and services designed to provide care for people who use substances, I feel heartbroken about the slowness of change in inpatient settings.  As I near the five-year anniversary of my joining what was heralded as an innovative mental health and substance use program for youth, I also critically question the erosion of that innovation to conform to a rigid system with rigid values about youth who use substances and how to best provide care for them. Three years ago, I walked into the care team station, early for my night shift. I began my night shift ro
Read more