Some key questions when in a healthcare job interview

Healthcare recruitment agencies can help candidates before during and after the job interview with advise and training in the job search process.

A healthcare recruitment agency can help job candidates to get the job of their dreams. They do this, not just by getting people to appropriate job interviews but also with interview skills training. This is especially important for nurses, mental health workers or any other healthcare worker who is entering the job market for the first time or returning after a break.

A common feeling among people is that they have to take the first job when it is offered but in truth the interview is as much about the candidate interviewing the organization as the other way around.

At every point in the interview and induction process the candidate needs to be asking themselves a key question, ‘is this organization, role and location really what I want? All job interviews are basically conversations with a purpose. The purpose for the interviewer is to ask questions designed to draw out answers that will inform him or her as to whether the interviewee can fulfill the job role satisfactorily. There are three types of questions, closed, academic and reality-checkers.

Closed questions are those that can be answered by a simple one-word answer. For example ‘did you enjoy that work’? One-word answers do not inform the interviewer about anything and are a waste of precious interview time. Academic questions are those that call for an answer that is unrelated to the candidate competence for example, ‘what do you think of the health service today’? Questions calling for opinions will get the answers they deserve but will tell the interviewer little about the candidates’ abilities to do anything other than answer questions. Good interviewers only ask reality-check questions.

These are questions calling for examples of actual tasks or situations in which the job applicant actually did something and what effect those actions had in terms of measurable or observable results. Wise job applicants answer every question as though it were a reality-checker because these answers best display their abilities to do the job.

Clearly the key thing for both interviewer and interviewee is a well-prepared plan for every interview.