My personal list of question that I use during my phone interviews.

I often found myself trying my best to make a good impression while having a phone interview with a facility. Constantly monitoring myself for what to say and not say. When it came close to the end of the interview, I would always be asked the same question by the interviewer "Do you have any questions that I can answer for you about our facility?"  I don't know why, but it always caught me off-guard. I suppose it was because I was in the "answer the question" mode and not "asking the questions". Often I drew a big ole blank and told them "no, I don't have any questions".

Once, when I arrived on assignment, I met the unit manager and she said, "I honestly didn't think you wanted the position when we talked on the phone. You didn't seem very interested in the position because you didn't questions." I could totally see the managers point of view!

From then on I tried to be as prepared as possible for the phone interview.  Here is the list of questions I print out for my phone interviews, now. 

Feel free to comment on it. It is always a work in progress. Fell free to use it yourself if you like.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

 

Which shift is this for?             

 

 Is this a rotating or swing shift?

 

Will this be 8 or 12 hour shifts?

 

What are the exact hours?    

 

Are travelers required to be the charge nurse?    

 

What is the weekend policy?

 

What is the holiday policy?

 

Whats the float policy for travel nurses?

 

Will mandatory overtime be required?        Is there any possibility for overtime?

 

What is the average pt load on that shift?

How many beds does the facility have?

How many beds on the unit for which I'm interviewing?

 

What type of charting do you use?  (paper or computer)  If computer..what program?

 

What type of med administration system do you use? med-cart / Pyxis / Omni-cel

 

Do you utilize CNA staff?

 

What type of nursing is done on this floor? team nursing / primary / modified primary

How many travelers do you have on staff?

 

Is this a traveler friendly hospital?

 

How has your experience with travel nurses been so far?

 

What is the uniform policy?

 

What is the low census policy?

 

What is your disaster policy for nursing staff as far as mandatory hours?

   

This is a great list and I too at first would be stunned and not ask any questions at all and then when offered a contract have all sorts of questions.

There were a few things on your list that were not on mine - The ones I have on mine other than the ones you had are ones more about the area !

Those are awesome questions. Do you have any that you ask recruiters too?

Jeff, Gimme 24hrs and I'll post those in a new blog. Just had a long weekend and gonna grab some sleep......