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Knowledge   Article
Interviewing: Tips for Recruiting the Right Healthcare Professional
What’s the most difficult part of your job? If you answered, “Hiring
the right person for staff vacancies,” you’re not alone.
In a survey of over 1000 managers in a variety of work settings,
over 40% rated this as their bone of contention.
In addition to finding the time to post the position, screen the
applications, conduct the background checks, and make the hiring
decision, most managers feel they lack the skills necessary to
conduct a successful interview. It would be wonderful if Interviewing
101 was offered during nursing school, but unfortunately, we’re
expected to know how to interview the first time that we step into
the shoes of a management position.
In the fast paced arena of temporary staffing, prompt interviewing
is crucial to securing the top candidates. In discussions with
nurses who have selected one assignment over another, the overwhelming
reason was - lack of interview. The job of the staffing company
is to locate, screen, and “sell” the candidate on the
virtues of a particular hospital.
Once the nurse has agreed to have their resume and file sent to
the facility, they anxiously await the call from a manager or clinical
coordinator. When days (or worse, weeks) pass without a call, the
candidate is forced to look elsewhere. Prompt interviewing can
dramatically increase the chances of hiring the right nurse for
your open position.
The following are some helpful suggestions to assist you in conducting
interviews.
- Prepare for the interview
by analyzing the skills that will be necessary for the candidate
to possess
in order to meet
the needs of the position. Include personality traits that will
enhance
the individual’s ability to function with others.
- Create a set of written
questions that will assist you in conducting your interview.
Use the questions
over and over with
multiple candidates
and develop your own “desired response” criteria.
- When the interview begins, take the first several minutes
to create some rapport with the candidate. This will put both
of you
at ease and develop a good flow of conversation. Be careful
not to let it go on too long.
- Start your probing with open ended questions
that require the candidate to give you more than just a simple
YES - NO type
of
answer. Focus on questioning that encourages the respondent
to think about past performance, not necessarily on future situations.
Example: Describe how you spend a typical day in your current
position.
Or, How do you think your current supervisor would describe
you?
- Utilize some questions that
present situations from the past that will enable you to get
a feel for a person’s
behavior and problem solving ability. Example: Tell me about
a time when
you had to make an important decision when there was no policy
to cover the situation.
- Ask questions that will
provide “contrary evidence” to
a previous line of thinking. Example: Now that you’ve described
a situation that you successfully resolved, tell me about a problem
that arose that did not go well, and how would you have handled
it differently?
- Always ask the candidate
if he/she has any questions they would like to ask of you.
Unless you’ve
done an exceptional job of explaining the position and conducting
the interview,
a good
prospect will always want some additional information about
the prospective position.
With a little practice and a lot of preparation, interviewing
can be a very productive part of your job. Who knows, you might
even get to like it! However, if you’re like some of our
clients who wear many hats and have hundreds of responsibilities,
Cross Country Staffing can provide you with our Interview Servicing
program which we offer our clients at no cost. For more information
on our Interviewing
Servicing program, click here.
© 2003 Cross Country Staffing
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