Nurse Manager Interview Preparation Guide

Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life.

Nursing management consists of the performance of the leadership functions of governance and decision-making within organizations employing nurses. It includes processes common to all management like planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling.

Introduce yourself to the interviewer. Tell about yourself and your background as a registered nurse and as a manager of nurses. Give specific department names and provide brief elaborations as to what you did there: Intensive care room, emergency rooms and operation rooms where you received and distributed patients.

Staying up to date with current nursing practices helps understand other departments before assigning personnel there. It is especially relevant when you provide training.

The nurse manager assesses performance. Normally, a newly graduated registered nurses will be very familiar with all of the new nursing technologies and newly developed medical techniques. They will however usually require information as to how to improve performance, anticipate and prevent misunderstanding/conflicts, define goals, work as a team, etc.

Nurse Managers assign nursing staff to each department in the health care unit: radiology, emergency, etc. They do this in coordination with the departments and their own knowledge of current nursing practices, taking into account the needs of the nurses and their schedule as well.

Try to include improvement activities that relate to the job. A wide variety of activities can be mentioned as positive self-improvement. Have some good ones handy to mention.

I have always loved nursing, but my interest in health care really started when I volunteered at a homeless shelter in college. Seeing so many people without care inspired me to pursue a career devoted to caring for others. I kept going back and volunteering, which got me hooked. It was great to be able to contribute positively to society that then led me to a field I feel so passionate about.

If you get the job, the person interviewing you will some day be your previous boss. The last thing they want is to hire someone who they know is going to badmouth them some day. Instead of trashing your former employer, stay positive, and focus on what you learned from him (no matter how awful he really was).

Again, stay away from badmouthing your job or employer. Focus on the positive.
Good answer:
"I've learned a lot from my current role, but now I'm looking for a new challenge in nursing, to broaden my horizons and to gain a new skill-set - all of which, I see the potential for in this job."