From Classroom to Profession: Mastering Nursing Interviews and Careers

We explore effective strategies for succeeding in nursing interviews, including preparation tips, the importance of appearance, and how to present specific examples. Throughout the discussion, we encourage listeners to engage in self-reflection and preparation to ensure a successful job application experience. 
• Techniques for researching potential employers 
• The significance of specific personal examples during interviews 
• Tips for dressing smartly for interviews, both in-person and virtually 
• Best practices for practicing interview skills 
• The importance of asking insightful questions during interviews 
• Recommendations for shadowing units before accepting a role

Chapters

• 0:00 Navigating Nursing Life 101
• 9:07 Nursing Interview Preparation Tips
• 18:08 Crafting Nursing Interview Stories
• 24:42 Navigating Nursing Job Interviews
• 38:07 Interview Preparation Essentials
• 44:07 Interview Preparation and Unit Shadowing
• 54:28 Navigating Nursing Interviews With Peers
• 1:06:41 Navigating Nurse Interview Dynamics
• 1:12:50 Managing Nursing Shift Rotation Expectations

Transcript

Christopher: 0:00

Welcome to Nursing Life 101, the most important nursing class you never got to take in nursing school. We will be traversing different objectives, like interviewing what to do in nursing school, boundaries burnout and so much more, if this interests you. I hope you are taking good notes because class is now in session.

Colby: 0:45

Hello and welcome to Nursing Life 101. We're so excited to have you here with us as we dive into the world of nursing, sharing our experiences, insights and a little bit of fun along the way. I'm Colby and I couldn't be happier to introduce my co-host.

Christopher: 0:59

Hello guys, my name is Christopher. Together, we'll be bringing you real stories, practical tips and discussions about all things nursing. Whether you're a fellow nurse or just curious about the life behind the scrubs, we're thrilled to have you join us.

Colby: 1:11

Let's go.

Christopher: 1:13

So we finally have some listener submissions. It's so exciting. I have gotten to coin the term listener pulse, coined the term listener pulse and so if you are interested in interacting with Colby and I, you can always submit a question or comment or concern about our well-being to nursinglife101 at gmailcom. Or if you want to hit us up at any of our social media platforms, you can as well. Or if you want to hit us up at any of our social media platforms, you can as well. So the first listener polls is talking about my analogy towards lifting weights and work-life balance. They said I think that the lifting weights analogy in terms of work-life balance is actually really good. But to Colby's point, I think Christopher saying that he is lifting just 10 pounds is a little inaccurate. It seems like he's lifting more than 500 pounds.

Colby: 2:10

Yes, that's it, and that is an accurate statement. Listener.

Christopher: 2:15

But still I'm lifting weights.

Colby: 2:18

The analogy you used works, yes, but I think you tailored it to make it work for you in the sense that the amount of stuff that you've put on your plate isn't that bad, but it is a lot.

Christopher: 2:33

I mean, yeah, I have to make it seem like I'm not doing much. Sure.

Christopher: 2:41

So Listener 2 said and this is in terms of the puzzle pieces that you were talking about in episode one they said I never thought about nursing school, giving the puzzle pieces while the first couple years of putting the puzzle together, but would you say that the NCLEX is actually giving you the border of that puzzle? It's actually giving you the border of that puzzle and then the rest of the year, the year two years is actually, you know, filling in that, the rest of it.

Colby: 3:11

Yeah, you could say that. I think that's fair. Yeah, to like add on to that.

Christopher: 3:19

Yeah, because I was like and this I promise you, it's not me, but when I sat and thought about it I was like man, we just dumped on the ink lights.

Colby: 3:24

Well, it's the worst, but I mean, obviously it's an assessment of what you learned like and did you learn enough to to do this job? So yeah it, I mean it definitely. Yeah, we can say it's the border of the puzzle would you say the border?

Christopher: 3:39

or would you say it actually gave you the picture to go off of?

Colby: 3:43

No, I wouldn't say picture to go off of. Oh, okay, think about that, though. Like what we read in a textbook versus what we see in real life, there's a vast like range in between there, you know what I mean.

Christopher: 3:57

Yeah, it's completely different.

Colby: 3:59

Yeah, I'm not even saying like you'll never see any of this stuff in real life. That's not what I'm saying. I'm not even saying you'll never see any of this stuff in real life. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying there are so many different layers and complications to individual patients and that the NCLEX is just a standardized test and it's an assessment of what you learned. That's great. We definitely need something to set a standard, but I just think that you're gonna learn the application of what you've learned is a lot different than just being tested on your. The content, that's fair.

Colby: 4:31

Yeah, so yeah, okay, I guess I guess using the the term border is more of a accurate statement then yeah, okay, nclex and nursing school, you can build a border, sure oh, so you're okay if you think about like okay, this is getting really deep, I like to just we'll just go with the original statement and then, however you want to do your add-ons, you can interpret how you like that's why it's just like the NCLEX. Yeah, it's individualized to you yeah, or they're all right answers, but which one is the most right?

Christopher: 5:07

The orange is orange.

Colby: 5:08

Yeah.

Christopher: 5:11

And today we're talking about nursing interviews. I know that a lot of you in terms of nursing students are especially if you're kind of starting to graduate are especially if you're kind of starting to graduate, you're starting to kind of get into that bill of interviews and going, and I don't know, sometimes you even have the opportunity to do like an interviewing class in in school.

Colby: 5:37

Yeah, some schools do have like a prepare you for the professional world kind of last class situation did you, you take one of those. Yeah, I think it was like it was called something, but I think it was like intro to professional development. I think maybe that's what it was.

Christopher: 5:51

I did not get one of those.

Colby: 5:52

Yeah, it was like a one credit course that we all were like made to sign up for. Yeah, it was like it was like an easy, like free, free a on your transcript, but it did provide a lot of information. Yeah, yeah, we actually like got to. There was like a panel. I remember this pretty clearly because I was like, oh, wow, I actually learned a lot of of nursing students that are sorry, they were nurses that had graduated the year above us, that came back, that stayed in town like that, were working at the um, at the medical center that was associated with my school, where they got their career started, and they actually came as a panel and answered a lot of questions about like their first year and talked about like interviews and floor different kinds of floors at that hospital and like things like benefits, because this is probably for a lot of people, this could be your first like interview for your first like grown-up job.

Christopher: 6:46

Yeah, big boy job or girl job.

Colby: 6:49

And maybe you never had to have benefits before. I still struggle signing up for benefits. I don't know what the difference between this insurance and this insurance is, but that gave me a little bit of an insight or idea of what I was going to be experiencing when I was doing my first job but no, yeah, and it's true because, though I I had jobs in between and, interestingly enough, none of them actually gave me any type of benefits, because I was like kind of like a contract worker.

Christopher: 7:24

It was never actually a full-time job, but this was my first job that I was like oh, I have to think about my 401k my. Hsa FSA benefits. What? How much do I want to pull out of my check? I'm probably pulling way too much out at the moment, but you know if I get into anything serious. I'm probably pulling way too much out at the moment, but you know if I get into anything serious, I'm covered.

Christopher: 7:48

Yeah, but anyways, we are going on a real big tangent. We're specifically talking about interviews today, and that is something that I feel like gives a lot of people angst, Because a lot of people in the nursing world it seems like doesn't like to talk about themselves, Like it gives them a little bit like we're very much giving, and so when the spotlight turns back on us, it tends to be a little.

Colby: 8:16

Kind of like a moment of freezing up a little bit yeah.

Christopher: 8:19

Yeah, and so what do you think of like interviews, like not going into your first? Interview or anything but like just interviews in general.

Colby: 8:28

Just in general. I mean, they could be definitely anxiety provoking, for sure. Yeah. Um, I think you're. I mean you're interviewing cause you want the job right, so you're, you want it to go well. Inevitably, every single time you go into an interview, you're almost going in blind in a sense, because you don't. You can't fully predict, like, what questions they're going to ask you.

Christopher: 8:53

So that alone causes a lot of anxiety yeah, I don't think like interviews are great, and I think interviews are good in terms of kind of getting a feel of a person to be able to quickly adapt to the people that they're talking to. Right, and that's what we as nurses do we adapt quickly to the people we're talking to. You might know Steve one day, but Joe the next is a totally different person that you may or may not have known, from Adam. Yeah.

Colby: 9:23

Wow, all kinds of different names there well, I mean, that's just like at the very basis of our jobs, is like taking care of our patients and, like you know, your whole group assignment might be people who are come from vastly different backgrounds and have different, um, like personal goals and morals and insights, and so you have to be able to adapt back and forth from room A to room to B, to whatever, like you've got to be. You got to show that you can do that.

Christopher: 9:53

Yeah, yeah, and I think that's a good way to start for an interview. I think there are people that study for interviews and I think that shows and makes you look very good but, truthfully, could be absolutely horrible yeah, you have an interesting perspective because as someone in a management role, you are doing interviewing yeah so you're gonna have a lot of insight in this, in this particular episode.

Colby: 10:20

I have worked at a lot of different places and I've had a lot of positions at different hospitals and I have done a lot of interviews, so I feel like I've got a lot of tips and tricks to bring to this episode as well.

Christopher: 10:33

Yeah, I think you do and I'm actually really excited because it's definitely something I see on a regular now because of the fact that I do interview. But yeah, it's, it's definitely different. So if you were asked by a newbie just fresh out of well, fresh coming out of nursing school how to prepare for a interview, what, what, what advice would you give them?

Colby: 11:03

Okay, okay. First is appearance, and that may sound like wait what?

Colby: 11:11

yeah but I will say and I feel like I've seen it because I see people come in for interviews all the time there's like a vast range of how uh perspective Like interviewer or interviewee, I should say Like comes in. And I think it's tricky With nursing because our professional Clothing is scrubs and I think that's acceptable In some cases and I think If you want to dress business casual, that's definitely acceptable, but don't come in jeans Ever. I just think that that's like. I mean, maybe maybe it doesn't matter to some people who are interviewing, but I think if we're going to the basis, you want to show up looking sharp, like you've got it together and you're you're looking for your first job, like you're serious about working yeah, yeah, there is a movie okay with will smith, and he was.

Christopher: 12:14

It's the pursuit of happiness right.

Christopher: 12:16

I think that's the right, okay, yeah the pursuit of happiness and he comes to the this boardroom not in business attire at all. Homeboy looked wrecked and essentially he gets this like stare of what the heck are you doing here? Why are you wearing what you're wearing? This is ridiculous. But if you haven't seen it it's a good movie. That particular scene is actually pretty decent and kind of overcomes the whole dressing to impress stereotype. But I say that even if it's a virtual interview, do not sit in your bed. Do not have children, cats, dogs, et cetera, et cetera, in the background. Make sure you have some type of like clear, solid background. I even don't like when people use the like ai backgrounds.

Colby: 13:32

Oh, you don't like that.

Christopher: 13:33

No, I'm like what are you hiding?

Colby: 13:35

okay, that is particular to christopher. I think, like, if you, if you're in a situation where it's a virtual interview and you have a limited space, or you're in an, in an area where, like the, the lighting isn't great or you have like art on your wall that you just don't like, that can be personal, you don't want to share that and that's just the area. The quiet space that you have using an ai background is fine. That's christopher's take on it, but I think it's okay. I mean, don't choose something wild like you in space, maybe choose one of the more professional backgrounds that looks like a fake office or like yeah, like you want to choose the right one, don't be crazy. But, um, yeah, I would also say, even in a virtual interview at least, I mean, they're just seeing like chest up, put on a nice shirt, don't wear your pajamas, don't wear a hoodie, don't wear like I don't know, don't wear a shirt that has like writing on it. That could be, it could be controversial, you never know.

Colby: 14:30

Like you just want to look the part you're. You're here, you're selling yourself for a role that you want to to be paid for. You want to come looking looking sharp. You want to come looking, looking sharp. You want to come looking like you're someone who cares, who cares, just cares, point blank, period. If you care, you're dressing like you care, you care about the job, you care about interviewing. Well, those are important things, very important.

Christopher: 14:59

So that's my first tip. Wow so have you ever done mirror interviews? I don't know what that term means. Yeah, so mirror interviews are. You have a set of questions in front of you and you look at yourself in the mirror.

Christopher: 15:14

It allows you to connect with people with the eyesight and I'm looking at the camera at the moment but you know it allows you to not only sit here and twiddle your thumbs and look at your thumbs, but it gives you the confidence. If you can look at yourself as you are answering a question, more than likely you're going to be able to answer the question just as confidently if somebody asks you.

Colby: 15:36

Oh, that's a great. That's a great tip. Yeah, no, I've never done that before.

Christopher: 15:40

Yeah, it's something that I have encouraged. A lot of people that have asked me about interviewing and I don't know why people and this was before I was even in the managerial role, it's I guess I exude this confidence. It's fake. But they would ask me. They were like, how did you, how did you do your interviews? And I was like I did I in public speaking class in college, I was like in front of a, in front of a mirror, and I looked at myself the entire time. Yeah, like it allowed me to really focus entire time. Yeah, like it allowed me to really focus. And then I started to do interviews with like a best bud and that gives you that personal like.

Colby: 16:36

Hey, you said um, way too many times yeah, yeah, they can give you actual, real time feedback. Right, that's right. That's a great idea too, I think. If you have a friend that you trust will give you an honest review of how you are sounding and how smooth it was or how prepared you sound, it's a great idea to actually practice in front of an actual human being as well. If you are done with the mirror one, you've said all right, I've run it three times, let me put it in front of someone who's who's a human. I think that's a great idea as well.

Christopher: 17:10

And it gives you the opportunity to adapt quickly, because that person is a person and they can change a question off of what you said. So they say oh, I had a patient that went into cardiac arrest and because I was a student, I made sure that I wasn't in the way because I wanted to make sure the patient's safety was first. And then, once I realized that the patient's safety was first, in terms of all the people were in the right spot and doing the right things I started to learn about the different roles. So then I come back with a question. So where would you put yourself in this situation? If you had this happen tomorrow, what role would you assume?

Colby: 17:55

I was going to say what about, like, what role would you have been most interested in jumping in on in that moment, or something like that. Just to kind of get a feel of like what, what they learned in that moment, that's a great, yeah, great interview question. Return interview question yeah, and I mean because it's, it's you can.

Christopher: 18:14

You can look up all the questions you can on the interviews and there there are. There are plenty of questions out there and I mean I'm going to be honest, some, some managers, use some of those questions For sure and I'm like I mean I've used a question or two.

Colby: 18:32

And there's nothing wrong with that Like using like standard questions, because some of them are questions that need to be asked regardless when you're interviewing for a certain type of job. And I also think like a lot of times you may come in with like an outline or a plan, but then if the interview is going well and it's super, it can turn super, super organic. And then the questions like in that like you were just gave as an example, like they shared a story and you're like oh, tell me more about that. Like it gets. I feel like if you're interviewing well, it kind of snowballs into a more organic conversation. Anyways, it stops it kind of like, does it?

Christopher: 19:04

it can deviate from the outline and then it doesn't seem so cut and dry, the same questions over and over again yeah, and and that's the thing like with with nursing interviews specifically a lot of the times we are looking for specific examples. Don't give us a overarching. Oh, I would like to be a better teammate or I would like to learn more about various fields. Give us the specifics. Give us I saw a cardiac arrest and was enthralled at the team dynamic of CPR and ACLS and I realized that I would be very efficient at the chest compressions, like I have the arms, I have the stamina, I can. I can go for days, you know, but some other people are like I'm more of a recorder. I can keep, I can keep my timeliness, I can ensure that I'm alert and attentive to all multiple things going on, and it's just giving those examples specifically helps us to understand you and how you're gonna fit in the team and you don't have to again.

Colby: 20:36

I feel like there are going to be questions that are asked that'll kind of like lead into these situations where you'll have to give an example of you don't come up with something just like off the cuff, like oh, one, one time though you'll be asked a question and then you'll be. They'll be like tell us about a time when you were in clinical, or tell us about a time while you, over the last few years, while you were doing schooling, um, where you had this conflict and how did you resolve it? Like that kind of it's like an open-ended question, and then you you as the interviewee are taking a situation or story that you were involved in and and then tailoring it to fit that question. So you don't you're not just like coming up with like random information. It is, it is outlined and guided.

Christopher: 21:21

We try to make it as easy as possible. We literally say tell us about an example.

Colby: 21:27

So if we say that, give us an example which is okay, and so now that you have that information like going in prepared is super important, and so you might want to like, as you're preparing and you're doing your mirror interviews or you have a best bud that can can be your opposite in an interview.

Colby: 21:50

I would practice like using stories not stories, but like using examples of situations that you've experienced in school, or maybe you're a tech or whatever other role, and it doesn't even have to be health care related, like because the bottom line is is that it's like relations with people and patient. People and our patients are people. For example, we were talking about, I feel like being a waiter or a waitress is super helpful in this situation. I mean you can easily connect that to a question in an interview and still have it circle back and connect to being patient related care, like if you know, I mean if you do anything in public service, you you work at a movie theater, selling tickets I mean you're still having human interaction, like. So I mean it doesn't have to be your story or your example. Doesn't have to be, um, healthcare related. Of course, it's a bonus if it is, but it's honestly even more impressive if you can take something from outside the healthcare world and still connect it to the job that you're interviewing for.

Christopher: 22:51

Yeah, because it means that you know essentially the roles of a nurse. Yeah.

Christopher: 22:56

To your point about the waitressing. You know that you have to multitask. You know you have to have great customer service in order to get the tips, like you said. Like these are things where you have to have great customer service in order to get the tips, like you said. Like these are things where you have to really think about not only what a nurse does but the essentials of what nursing is. And if you're able to use those examples to pinpoint those things, you automatically start to peak the manager's ears for that. You know. Yes, nursing is very short on nurses we are, but let me tell you we are picky I mean you don't want to hire so as as someone in management that does interviews.

Colby: 23:40

And I've seen christopher interview people virtually before because we had a wi-fi issue and my wi-fi issue and my wi-fi was working and his something was going on with his. So he came over and while I was like quietly cleaning, he had headphones and was asking people questions, so I couldn't hear the full back and forth, but I could hear him asking questions. I could hear him like, okay, that one was good, all right, yep. Moving on to the next person, like if someone and again like something that we've already talked about if someone is like showing up to the virtual interview and there's people or animals making a lot of excessive noise in the background or someone was drinking alcohol. I remember you told me in their virtual interview people wearing pajamas.

Colby: 24:21

I was just yeah, I mean, obviously you're not going to get hired and that's why my first point in the beginning of the episode was like your appearance actually does mean a lot. Yeah, just like I forgot about the alcohol thing.

Christopher: 24:34

I was Jesus really Do you think that every nurse should go to every interview? They get an opportunity to do.

Colby: 24:46

I think as a new grad, you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't. I mean, if you have like 10, I mean that's incredible and good for you to have that many offers for interviews. You might want to narrow it down to two or three, but it's also tough. So when I think of my new grad interview days, it was actually really hard to find a new grad position. I left new England because I had a hard time finding a new grad job 10 years ago and I came to where we are now and I had more interview opportunities.

Colby: 25:19

I don't know if it was maybe just like a more saturated area, because it's a smaller area and there was a high, so there's a higher influx of like new grad nurses. You know that year there's also new grad programs that you have to interview, uh, apply to and interview early. Um, I remember all my friends my senior year were like yeah, we have, we have. Like starting in february they started applying to stuff and at that point I was like I have no idea what I want to do when I'm done. So I was not doing that. And then the summer that I graduated, I worked as a camp nurse in Maine and I was applying for jobs all over the place and I just wasn't getting like any interview, like no, not even an email back. But then when I moved out of the area I and I was looking for jobs. Then I was getting interviews. So at that point the hospital that contacted me first I had interviewed with three different managers for three different specialties of.

Colby: 26:27

I picked off the vibe of the staff like who I thought seemed the most friendly, warm, open, like who had the good teamwork at least it seemed like that sort of thing. So I think you you would do a disservice if you didn't interview for more than one place. Now my only caveat to that would be, if there is a specialty that you are super interested in and they seem really excited to interview you, I mean, if you're set on it and the interview goes well, great, I guess I wouldn't interview for anywhere else. But I just feel like you need to have some safety situations. You may get to an interview and you think that that's what you wanted and then you interview the manager and you just don't click. You get a weird vibe from the staff. You don't let you. You do like a shadow experience and it just seems like way out of the realm of what you thought it was going to be Like. You don't want to put all your eggs in one basket. If it, that's my opinion.

Christopher: 27:19

Do you differ? So no, I don't. I think, I think I honestly, if you have 10 interviews, I say go to all of them.

Colby: 27:28

Okay, yeah, or that.

Christopher: 27:30

Yeah, I, and the reason why interview is a skill. Interviewing is a skill and I guess it goes back to me and you know lifting weights and all that stuff. But, like, the more you interview, the more comfortable you are going to become in interviewing. Now, granted, your first interview might be your, your best interview, but if your 10th one was the person you really want, you had nine interviews, practice, you've listened to the questions, you've adapted your examples to be more specific and you really get to knock out that interview and the 10th one. So, like I I do say that it's important and I I highly suggest people to to interview, to multiple things, because you're right, it's a disservice. It's a disservice. What if your fourth interview is actually the ideal place for you, with manager involvement, staff, team cohesiveness, it's actually a population that's pretty cool and interesting. But you stop at interview three because you were like, oh, this is okay yeah, or they gave me a job off right and you get scared.

Christopher: 28:52

Yeah, don't I. I said it. I said that at the beginning or earlier. Nursing jobs are open. There's there's so many of them now.

Colby: 29:04

Yeah, you're at a very lucky point in the current atmosphere as far as nursing jobs. I say in the past, if you really wanted a job in a certain specialty, it would be very difficult to get that job as a new grad nurse. These days there's openings, openings everywhere and everybody wants to. I've been told this is this is some somebody told me this it's actually easier to train a new grad nurse in a specific specialty than it is Sometimes sometimes not all the time sometimes than to train a nurse that has experience in a different specialty, because you have to like break all break, not break them, but like you have to break all the habits that they that worked for them or worked for the specialty that they were working with and like teach them a new, a new way to do things that should work in this specialty.

Colby: 29:57

So like sometimes if someone like myself has experienced 10 plus years in like an mu med surge or acute care and then wants to go to ICU, like there's going to be a learning curve. So sometimes when you have someone who just has like a blank slate, you can just mold them to be exactly how an ICU nurse is. You don't have to break them from a different mindset.

Christopher: 30:18

Yeah, and I mean it very much, to the point of I switched from cardiology to transplant and even that, even though they were still acuity level, practically the same transplant might be a little higher just because of the delineation of some of the patients. But I, I, I did, I had to learn, I had to break a lot of stuff.

Christopher: 30:44

Yeah in order to rebuild and be transplant-specific. So when, when interviewing, did you ever give like your resume? Did you print your resume out and give it to them, or did you just hope that they got it in your like initial application?

Colby: 31:09

so they're. I think I definitely brought my actual hard copy resume to my first job interview as a new grad. Yeah, they actually had it with them in a folder. I remember giving it to them. They're like, oh, we actually have a copy. That was surprising. I think like yay, yeah, I think the way we use technology these days, a resume, like when you submit your application, it's usually it's obviously all online. Now a resume has to have keywords in it, because it's like an ai program that's bringing yours to the top, yeah, but I and I think I don't know I'd love to hear your point of view. I, my perception is that your resume isn't often looked at these days, so I would love to hear what your view is on this.

Christopher: 31:57

Actually, yeah, we don't look at it.

Colby: 32:00

Yeah.

Christopher: 32:01

We don't.

Colby: 32:02

I mean you have to have one again because you're submitting it in your application and its AI program is pulling words out of your resume to bring your application to the top. So you have to have it, but don't stress too hard about it.

Christopher: 32:16

Yeah, just get the information in that you're supposed to have, and I mean like I'll glance at it just like just to see your previous experience. Yeah, and literally it's a glance like one minute, if that yeah.

Colby: 32:33

So your descriptions don't have to be long, like you're and and as a new grad, you're coming out of college, so you don't have to put in like every honor society that you were in. Every like. Honestly, I would just leave that out unless it was specifically related to your nursing program. Like I was in a sorority, like I put that I was like um because I wanted to show that I had leadership skills. Like I wrote that I was like the, the um, chief education officer for my sorority, and I like put that on there. You don't, you don't need to, it's not necessary, they don't care.

Christopher: 33:11

You know I love this podcast because I'm learning so much about you.

Colby: 33:14

Yeah, so keep it. Keep it like abbreviated to one page, really, and as a new and as a new graduate nurse looking for a graduate nurse position, you're not going to have more than one page anyways, at this at this time, like it just is what it is but I will suggest keep it up to date like if you transfer from one unit to another, update it Just quick little yeah.

Colby: 33:44

Again, because you're going to apply online and those keywords are going to bring your application to the front. So it's important to have, but I don't think it's necessarily important to like bring it to your interview and give it to them because, again, they're not going to look at it. They've already seen what they wanted to see.

Christopher: 34:04

And that's why you're in the position to be in the interview right and, interestingly enough, I've gone to career fairs and you know I I've gone to multiple nursing career fairs and some people bring their resume, some people don't, honestly in a career fair that's not a bad idea, it's, it's a good idea, but like, guess what? I'm gonna look at it and I'm gonna send it to hr. But it's not a mistake with me though when you send it to hr.

Colby: 34:32

What does hr do with it? Because that's a paper. They're probably just throwing them away. I love the idea of it. I love like, because if you're going to a career fair, you're obviously not in front of a computer, so, like you want to, if you have an organic conversation, you're really connecting with the person that you're talking to. Like, maybe, like specifically for Christopher, like he's he's recruiting for the hospital, but he'll also put a little plugin for his unit. And if you're, like, genuinely interested in the unit that you're talking to that person about, like it doesn't hurt to give your a resume, because christopher could then keep an eye out for your application online and be like, oh, this is that person that I have their, their resume, like that's not a bad idea. But again, like, if you're just looking generally, like, unless it's hr that's at the table and I don't even know if, even then, like they're going to encourage you to go online and submit it online, the paper, it's kind of a, it's almost a waste of time, but it's not a bad idea.

Christopher: 35:27

We have a QR code.

Colby: 35:28

Okay, there you go yeah.

Christopher: 35:30

Scan the QR code. It sends you to the application. It really and truly like. I agree, if I am like man, this person is really good and I want to remember them. Yeah, I'll take a picture of their resume, okay, but and and the cool thing is literally yeah that picture. I don't have to, I can send.

Colby: 35:52

I can take all kinds of pictures it's not going to go missing, you're going to have it.

Christopher: 35:55

Yeah, I can literally search in my photos.

Colby: 35:58

Colby daniels, yeah, and it'll pop up you could even search resume and it'll pop right. Yeah, so, yeah. So it's not a bad idea, but it's not necessary. Like I wouldn't like spend time printing off like 15 copies before you go to a career fair.

Christopher: 36:13

That's not necessary at all or like when I graduated I had this like special program that like made my I put in the information, but then it made it like really flashy but I had to pay for it. Don't do that.

Colby: 36:29

Yeah, that was like wow, you really went the extra mile.

Christopher: 36:32

It looks very good actually.

Colby: 36:34

There are a lot of templates online. So if you if you, I mean that are free and like Microsoft Word, which most of you, as students, probably had to have on your computer has a bunch of templates, and that's what I use. And I still use the same resume that I made when I was a new grad nurse and I've just updated it and tweaked it here and there since for the last 10 years, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Colby: 36:56

Nothing wrong, it's one page, and I've again. We've talked about the different jobs and things that I've done, so you just want to keep it short and sweet. You want to fit it all on one page.

Christopher: 37:08

That's my biggest takeaways yeah, keep it basic, don't go flashy. Yeah, now it's time for scrub hacks. In this segment, we'll share quick tips, tricks and little shortcuts that make life in scrubs a bit easier. From time-saving tools to ways to stay organized during the craziest shifts, these are the hacks that help keep us going. Let's dive in and find a few ways to make your day run a little smoother. And we're going to stay on the interview train. I want to hear what your interview hacks are. We already went through one, which was obviously dress business, business casual. Yeah, scrubs.

Christopher: 37:47

Dress for the job you want Dress for the job, your appearance matters.

Colby: 37:51

Okay, so that is a great hack, but I have obviously a lot of experience interviewing for different roles and I always suggest doing a little research. We touched on that, like really briefly, um, before we got into scrub hacks. But you want to know a little something about the place that you're, that you're working at, and they're gonna want to, they're gonna want to know that you did a little research, honestly, because they're going to say why do you want to work here?

Christopher: 38:19

yeah and then if you're just like uh, I just was told by hr that there was an opening, so I was like I wanted to go into ed but decided well, ed's full, so I'll just go to you yeah, that's not what you're.

Colby: 38:35

That's you're like, okay, well bye, you don't. Doesn't really seem like you have an interest here. Like you, you want to do a little research on the hospital system that you're oh, you know that you're applying to and the unit I mean, and even if that is the truth what christopher just said, oh yeah, that's not what you want to say that was verbatim when I heard it the other day yeah and it's like no, no, thank you, I don't think that.

Colby: 39:03

I mean, maybe you say that maybe you can turn it around, but that's going to be quite the blight on your interview, clearly, because chris are still thinking about it doesn't want to work here yeah, doesn't want to work here. That's at the top of the list. So then they're thinking, okay, we hire them, they get their experience and then they're out of here the first, the first chance they get to go to the ed right depends on how desperate you are for staffing. I'll say that all right.

Colby: 39:30

But that's really desperate yeah, but that's off track for interview hack. But do some do a little research on the, on the facility, and I'll tell you. I learned that from experience and no, and if you, if you're a nurse with experience and you're interviewing for a different, a different hospital, know a little bit about the hospital that you're in right now. So when I was yeah, so when I was leaving my first hospital, I was interviewing to move to a bigger health system in a different state and I was interviewing to work at a level one trauma center and they were asking me if I was currently at a trial at a trauma center and I was like, oh, I don't think it's, but like on the spot, as, as someone with like one and a half years of nursing experience, I, you know, I'm just working my job. I don't.

Colby: 40:22

I never actually looked into like what are we a critical access community? Are we even a level three trauma? I like had no clue, so, put on the spot, I was like, oh, and that didn't make me look very good because I was like I don't even know what kind of hospital I'm working in now. I don't have level one trauma experience, hospital experience, so know a little bit about the current place that you're working at, because that will also potentially be asked in your interview, and know about the general. Like the general is a level one, trauma hospital is a level two. Whatever, know about where you're interviewing as well.

Christopher: 40:58

And just for clarification on the level one, level two and level three. Level one means it's more severe. It's the highest in terms of acuity of care of care. Yeah, level three is the lowest, so you can kind of gauge that also from maybe not, but you, you, you should definitely look into that yeah, and a lot of times in interview questions you're gonna get that information through the manager or the, the hiring person or hr.

Colby: 41:32

They're gonna give you that information early on usually. But if you go into it knowing these things, you're going to exude a confidence in the interview because you are, you're gonna be like okay, yeah, that sounds great. And then sometimes you can tell when people aren't prepared, because you say level one and they kind of just like have a confused look, just kind of flash over them real quick, like and that can mean a lot of things. But like having a good understanding of what those are is going to be helpful. Do your research.

Christopher: 41:59

Yeah.

Colby: 42:02

Any others? Yeah, I mean you want to. I can give you. I can go into more but, I, feel like we're going to touch more on it after our scrub.

Christopher: 42:09

Okay, okay, mine Make sure you have questions. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. This isn't. Yes, it is an interview and we are interviewing you, but but you should interview them too. Yes, and you should be ready with what is your like. These are the. These are the four questions you should you should always ask in an interview.

Colby: 42:38

Get your pens and pencils out on this one.

Christopher: 42:40

What is your nursing ratios? Because that's important. What is your turnover rate? Mm-hmm. What is the manager's ideal state for the unit, ideal state for the unit? And then, how do they see themselves or, no, excuse me how do they perceive the hardest things for the unit?

Colby: 43:12

interesting, I think, in this I would ask a few more too. I've've actually yeah, there's a, there's a lot of questions that you can ask, but you're saying that those are the four basics.

Christopher: 43:23

Those are the four basics that I would be like, I, I, I kind of want to hear those four when I'm being, when you're being interviewed when you're interviewing.

Colby: 43:33

I actually I've had some really good interviews where I was told like, oh, wow. Like when I was told, point blank, this is. I feel like I'm being interviewed, this is, this is really good You're. You're a really good candidate. I literally told that in real time during an interview Because it shows that you're caring about the unit that you're going into. Yeah, you just as much as as they are interviewing you for this job. You are interviewing them because you don't want to get into a situation where I mean, I've been in interviews where I've talked to managers and I've asked these questions and I've been like this one's not going to work for me. Like I like to ask what would you? What do you, how, what do you perceive your management style is?

Christopher: 44:14

Oh, interesting.

Colby: 44:14

I want to know like are you? I want you to answer me like, like, truthfully, and you put them on the spot. Like are you a micromanager? Are you super laissez-faire? And you're like out of there by three o'clock in the afternoon and unavailable by phone when there's a catastrophe going on.

Christopher: 44:31

I hope nobody's told you that.

Colby: 44:32

No, but you can tell by you know certain answers you get, like you know. So I like I love to ask that question. I like to ask what is something as a unit you guys are working on right now? Okay, because you can get a lot, and again it's kind of catching someone off guard. They're not expecting you to ask that question and if they're good, they're gonna be honest. Yeah, um, so I've been told like we're really working on a culture shift of like aligning our PCA, pcts, which is a patient care tech or assistant in our nurses and teamwork.

Christopher: 45:10

Also a CNA certified.

Colby: 45:12

Or, yeah, cna, sorry, we're aligning, we're trying to align them and work on better teamwork, like that's. Like okay, that's really good, because I'm also a huge supporter of teamwork between, like, our ancillary staff, our techs, our CNAs and our nursing Like I personally my values. I am no better than a tech, and if a patient needs help to go to the bathroom and even if they're not my patient and I'm available, I will go better than a tech. And if a patient needs to needs help to go to the bathroom, and even if they're not my patient and I'm available, I will go and answer a call bell and help a patient to the bathroom. Like that's, you're interviewing the, the hiring manager, and you're also giving able to provide examples about why you would be a good candidate in this role as well.

Christopher: 45:54

Yeah, so those are the two Um do you have another one, like another question you would ask.

Colby: 46:03

Yeah, so hold on, Let me think about what I have. I actually I might have a note on this, just from my personal. So OK, this is another thing. Whether it's virtual or in person, there's nothing personally for me, there's nothing wrong with coming in with like a notebook or a note card. Personally for me, there's nothing wrong with coming in with like a notebook or a note card and you can say do you mind if I just take a look at my notes real quick, Because there are questions that I want to ask but I didn't want to forget? There's nothing wrong with that. It looks like you're coming in prepared.

Christopher: 46:30

I had a whole Word document paper.

Colby: 46:32

Yeah, there's nothing. You're coming in prepared, like that's what they want to see, like again, like preparedness, doing your research. You don't have to go all off the top of the dome. Going back to. Interviews are very anxiety provoking and you might just be like so, like you might be interviewing really well, but your mind might be like oh my god, I wanted to ask this question. I completely forgot until I got to my car and I completely didn't ask it, like coming in with a note card or like a computer or or whatever. A list of questions is not not frowned upon and is actually a really good idea to show your preparedness for sure I think another, Another scrub hack.

Christopher: 47:18

Make sure you take time to shadow the unit. Mm-hmm. And don't do it after the interview.

Colby: 47:31

Like come back.

Christopher: 47:32

Come back.

Colby: 47:33

Okay.

Christopher: 47:33

Come back on a random day. Obviously, you still have to like orchestrate it with the manager, but don't do it on the same day that you interview interesting.

Colby: 47:42

Why do you say that?

Christopher: 47:43

the reason why one if you come in business casual, you didn't have to take time to actually get into like actual scrubs, because it's just do you require.

Colby: 47:57

Require that Because I've seen I've seen it both, both ways. I've seen someone like immediately exit the um the interview and then be paired up with someone and just say you can follow them around for an hour and they're in their biz cash.

Christopher: 48:10

Well, yeah, and so I, we don't require either way. Um, but just kind of me seeing and have done it a couple of times now I think you as a person are thinking about that interview, so you're, you're just like not really focusing on that's a good point, like being in the in the moment trying to ask questions for the nurses, Cause you, you should be like hey, how does Christopher actually manage Like he just kind of you get to fill out what the unit actually feels about?

Christopher: 48:49

the management staff feels about what's going on in terms of their coworkers. Yeah. And you don't. You don't get that, that headset and and that mind frame, until you take a moment to decompress from that interview.

Colby: 49:06

So that's why I'm like you actually think that yeah, I think that's a really good tip for that reason alone, just like you are in such a like interview headspace that you might not be able to ask the kind of questions that you want to ask. Um, it allows you to like break, come back, even if it's the next day. That's fine if you have the time. But you get to come back in a clear headspace and you'll probably feel more comfortable too. Like you're going to you'll be, instead of walking around in business casual, following an employee around and the patients are looking at you weird. Like it's almost like assimilating, like can go home, come back another day and scrubs. Like you're going to be more comfortable in the environment. That way. That's totally fair to say.

Christopher: 49:44

I think that's a good good tip and I think also in terms of interviewing and then going to do like a shadow you you really need to come at like 0700 or 1900 at handoff, because then you see how the handoff is done, you see how the beginning of a shift is started and there's there's something to say like you just don't get at three o'clock. The med pass might be one thing right.

Christopher: 50:19

Like there's not really anything that you can learn in terms of what the unit has to offer at three o'clock. In my opinion, I feel like it's more of a you need to come at the beginning of a shift, or or even at the like till end of a shift, going into another shift.

Colby: 50:40

That's interesting. I think that's a good point. But I also think, like I feel most places doesn't have how do I put this? How I put this? I feel like most units don't have management that is available that early or that late, because you're not just going to show up and be like surprise, I'm here to interview. So I think I do recommend coming earlier into a shift, but maybe you show up at 9. You do a 9 to. You know it varies as far as how long people stay for up at nine. You do like a nine to. You know it varies as far as how long people stay for shadows, but you come for a few hours.

Colby: 51:20

Nine o'clock's a good time, I think, for if, if you're, if you're interviewing for a night shift position, I definitely agree with shadowing on the night shift yeah, don't come in the day shift yeah, in which case I would say yeah, come at seven, because one management will sometimes at least my management will sometimes stay till seven, so then they can make that happen and that way you're not coming in at like nine o'clock at night, like that's a little bit of an awkward time for night shift. But yeah, I think like. I think like like a 9 am shadow.

Christopher: 51:53

I'm going to put a dig into management. If management isn't able to coordinate with their charge nurse that somebody's coming in at 7 o'clock, that's a problem.

Colby: 52:08

Yeah, sure.

Christopher: 52:09

I mean honestly if I say hey, I interviewed Colby yesterday. She's coming in at 7 o'clock and you don't even have to talk to the charge nurse. Send them an email. That also shows how attentive those charge nurses are to emails that are going to be needing to know what you need to learn for your orientation and hopefully is being communicated in an email if they're not paying attention to it I think it's just there's other problems, it shows other problems and so, man, I am I didn't know how passionate I was yeah, I think I I'm sticking behind the the 07 1900.

Christopher: 52:53

Okay, I didn't realize. Yeah, very passionate about that one.

Colby: 52:59

So yeah, come early, you'll see more than what you will, but you will. You'll see more in the mornings or at the beginning of the shifts than you will in the afternoons, afternoons. Usually there's like a lull between 2 and 5 o'clock.

Christopher: 53:16

And then things pick up again, and that's when a lot of the interviews are yeah, because there's a lull so you can squeeze in.

Colby: 53:26

Cool, if you guys. If anybody has anything that they would consider like a interview tip that we haven't gone over yet, feel free to send us a little shout out on X or on Facebook. We would love to share them with you all.

Christopher: 53:41

Or.

Colby: 53:41

Instagram or Instagram.

Christopher: 53:43

Yeah, yeah. Or if you just want to send us a Gmail email. Yeah, or an email. We are looking at that too. So, do you remember your first interview Like, how do you like, I'm sorry, this is 10 years here?

Colby: 54:02

I remember, I remember some of it. Um, I remember I had a couple. I told you I interviewed with a couple of managers, right, um, I did like a. So I did like a soft interview with three different managers and then, based off my interests, I can move on. So I moved on with the cardiac, like PCU unit, um the next. So I came in just a few days later after the original one and I did actually it was. It was like it felt like boardroom style interview where it was. It started off with a peer interview. It felt like boardroom style interview where it was a, it started off with a peer interview. So this, I guess the soft interview with the manager, was like my manager interview.

Colby: 54:40

Then they had and I think that's. I think honestly it's really smart and I I don't know if your unit does it, but I would like for my unit to kind of come go back and I think at one time they did something similar, but like a peer interview, almost like shared professional government, like group okay, um, where they had like a list of questions that, as the group, they came up with that were high value, quite like high value questions, um, that the staff wanted to see in in a potential new um, co-worker um, and I remember I've used it as an example earlier but I remember them saying like how do you feel? Or give an example. I can't remember exactly how the question opened up, but it was around like teamwork and and answering call bells and like patient. That's not yours and I think you're.

Colby: 55:31

It's pretty safe to say that you're going to get a question in that realm, no matter where you interview. But you know and you want to answer appropriately. But I liked that they, I liked the peer interview. It gave me a chance. It was peer interview and then shadow, so it gave me a chance to really get a feel for the staff that I would be working with. That's cool and what they're looking for, like, you get you know a clear explanation of like, what they about, what they look for in a coworker, and you know you get to show your. You get to flex and show like how, how you could meet those standards.

Christopher: 56:12

What went well and what didn't.

Colby: 56:14

What went well and what, what didn't. What went well? I, they were very friendly and while it's very easy to be intimidated as someone with basically no experience as a graduate nurse, to walk into a boardroom style like interview process, like we literally walked into a room where they had meetings, it was, they were all in a circle, which I guess is better, that's more welcoming than just being at a table lined up in front of you and you're by yourself. So I would say what worked was that it was in a circle. Everyone was friendly.

Colby: 56:43

Nobody kind of carried themselves with like a better um, we're better than you, attitude, um, and and ultimately was really why I decided to choose that unit was because I liked the vibe of the staff. I was like they're cool, like they're really friendly, they seem to like me, I like them, like I'm going to go here. What didn't work was with the other managers. They just, I remember one seems so frazzled and disorganized and like had like stacks of paper on their desk and I was like good Lord and like the interview wasn't bad, but you could just tell like she was all over the place.

Colby: 57:15

And then the other person had like a very snooty attitude and I was like I don't want to work for you. So the one I went with she was super friendly, her staff was super friendly and that's why I picked them yeah.

Christopher: 57:31

What about you Like what went well with your, you, your part of the interview, and.

Colby: 57:38

I mean I think I just I gave good answers, like, and I, I mean I got the vibe, I gave good answers. I mean that's because I did my, I did research and I, you know you, I said I remember saying this, something about, like, I remember saying something. I was like oh, I'm too comfortable with this. These people already.

Colby: 57:58

It was something about I was like if someone needs their bite wiped, I'll go and wipe it. It's not above me. And they all like laugh. And then I was like, oh, I was like maybe I'm a little too comfortable, but I got hired, so it was fine. But just be careful with your words. Don't get too comfortable, because that can really tank it.

Christopher: 58:19

Yeah, it's interesting. I am not one to use curse words very often, but I've noticed that if some people get too comfortable they'll let one fly and I'm like, oh interesting.

Colby: 58:34

You're definitely going to get clock're. Definitely you're definitely gonna get clocked. Yeah, if you're, if you're dropping, you know different curses you definitely want to refrain from that.

Christopher: 58:42

And even the like, quote-unquote soft ones, like yeah, I'm like that's interesting, I mean I'm okay, I, you used it colorfully, but okay, like you know, is I, I think, my first one though in in. Well, I don't my first year. I will say my first year because I went through one two three, four five, six.

Christopher: 59:10

I went through six of them and, interestingly enough, I had, I had accepted a position at one place and then got an interview opportunity for the current health system we are at and I was like, you know, I'll just do it for practice, going back to interviews or just practice, I'll go practice, practice, going back to interviews or just practice, I'll go practice. And so I went and interviewed and fell in love with the unit and it was like oh, dang it. And then I get the offer the day after and I'm like oh, dang it.

Colby: 59:47

This is a. This is a good, this is a good example, though.

Christopher: 59:51

Go ahead and finish and then yeah and so and so I was like, well, and luckily I had a, a nursing mentor, and it was actually it was a one of my home health clients, daughters and my home. She was very instrumental in me changing and kind of my mind into going into nursing. But um, she was like which one do you like?

Colby: 1:00:18

and I told her my, the current health system we are at, and she was like then go there, go there, yeah, like it's okay, you can resend your acceptance yeah you might burn a bridge, but overall, you might you're taking a risk, but the thing is is, if you remain professional, right overall, you might you're taking a risk, but the thing is is, if you remain professional and you sent, like you know, you can either have a follow-up call with HR, I would say, do that and then send also the manager an email and just explain, like what I was.

Colby: 1:00:47

You know, while I was super excited to you know, start a career with you and your floor, another opportunity arose that I just felt more aligned with and I wish you well in finding the right candidate at this time. It's not me and leave it at that. But I feel like if you and I've done this too, where it's like it's just because you accept a position doesn't mean that you have to turn down one that comes up later, there's nothing wrong with that. I do say accept it because if you interview at another place and they don't offer you an interview, then you're you've you know kind of what's the saying bit your nose off despite your face, Like you turned down a job that you could have had in hopes of getting another one that didn't fall like didn't come to fruition.

Christopher: 1:01:33

I've never heard that phrase. I've. I've kind of okay, but no, I I mean I agree because really and truly, and it was I had kind of gotten pigeonholed into finding out an answer. I I had interviewed and interviewed and interviewed and then I was like waiting and I'm like they were like we have to know an answer. And I'm like, okay, you know, and I did. I'm not saying that I didn't like the help system that I was going to go to. I really enjoyed it. I liked the area. It was a really cool place. It had good vegan food options. I was like we're good, but I did. I ended up. I didn't send an email. I actually called the manager.

Christopher: 1:02:15

Yeah, um, and the manager was very understanding. I was like, wow, did I make the right decision?

Colby: 1:02:26

So nice, so it made you second guess yourself.

Christopher: 1:02:29

Um, but overall, like I, I feel like my experience has spoke to itself that I made the right decision For sure. Yeah, I definitely thought my first year. One thing that I will say I did not do well is I was asked about group projects. I loathe group projects and that's what I said. Don't ever say that. Take this from Christopher If they say something about group project and you don't like it, spin it in a way that says that you're Makes you look good.

Colby: 1:03:17

Yeah, Like spin it in a way where you're like I really don't like them because I feel like I always end up shouldering a heavy load of the assignment and doing a lot of the work. Yeah, I haven't often been put in situations where my teammates on a group project were carrying their weight.

Christopher: 1:03:31

Right, that right. There is what I should have said.

Colby: 1:03:36

It's not what I said, and that's why I said I'm a good interviewer.

Christopher: 1:03:38

Well, no, 100%. I learned from that mistake and I was told because it was not a group or like a peer interview, but it was the manager and then two other nurses that were on the floor and it was in their office and so it was. It was really like chill and laid back. But that later on that uh nurse said you know, you remember, when you said you hate group projects, I was like yeah, she was like that was not the right answer.

Colby: 1:04:10

Yeah, but what they're assessing there so key for all of our listeners and viewers what they're assessing there so key for all of our listeners and viewers. What they're assessing there is like, what is your team Like, instead of just saying like, give an example of how you're a team player, or like how you, you know perform in teamwork. Like that was a good way to ask it, because it's like not directly asking that, but you're getting an answer out of it. So there's a reason why you don't like it. It's because you shoulder most of the weight of the project, but that shows that you'd still be a good team player. You're going to be out there working. It's not like you don't like, and I feel like that's why most people don't like group projects.

Christopher: 1:04:48

I don't like that question. I have never asked that in an interview.

Colby: 1:04:53

It's a very tricky question. It's sneaky it's sneaky.

Christopher: 1:04:56

I'm just up front like explain a time where you were in, you know a teamwork atmosphere. Where were you and like what? What role did you play?

Colby: 1:05:08

yeah, what is one question, as you being the interviewer, an interviewee asked you and you were kind of surprised by it. You're like, oh, I wasn't expecting that. Like, what is one question that someone's asked you in return?

Christopher: 1:05:20

The most recent one was how do you, as a manager, involve yourself in the culture of the unit?

Colby: 1:05:32

Yeah, that's kind of what I get to when I ask, like, what is your manager leadership style?

Christopher: 1:05:37

Yeah, and I know there was another one in terms of what's the biggest struggle of the unit, as in in terms of not culture but skills, and I was like oh, and then I was like oh, and then I was like, hmm, let me think, when was that? Just a year ago, when I was on the floor, what was my struggle? And I mean it took me a little bit. I was not ready for that question.

Colby: 1:06:09

Yeah, because you feel like you're mostly focused on the positive things, right, like you're mostly focused on the positive things right, and I think it is an important, important point to bring up for the interviewee is to ask the hard questions, um, especially because you're going to catch them off guard and then most of the time people are going to give you an honest answer, but you want to know those things going in yeah and I guess I'm like did I just clear my throat in front of the mic?

Christopher: 1:06:41

I guess that one thing that goes to that is your preceptors too. How do you plan to orient me to the unit? What's the length of my orientation? What's the preceptor? How long have they been a preceptor? To orient me to the unit, like, what's the length of my orientation, what's the um, what's the preceptor? How long have they been a preceptor? How long have they been a nurse on the unit? How long have they been a nurse?

Colby: 1:07:03

like those things too you have to really be mindful of, because I mean, being honest, right now our unit is we busted yeah the seams in terms of ensuring adequate preceptors and preceptees, and yeah, it's finding the right balance, especially in today's current situation in health care, is it's really hard to get people with experience to stay at the bedside? And I would say, like we mentioned earlier early on in the podcast uh, in this podcast in general, that, like me, having 10 years experience and still being at the bedside is pretty rare these days. It's very hard to have to get people to stay and be like these, like seasoned preceptors A lot of hospitals and a lot of units. You're going to see like somebody that has less than three years of experience they might have, they might be amongst the group that has the most experience on the floor and they're precepting a graduate nurse. Is that an ideal situation? No, but is that the current climate that we're in in health care in general? Yeah, you're gonna see that everywhere. Yeah, yeah. So it's definitely tricky going in and having that understanding and you know that as someone with experience.

Colby: 1:08:27

If I was hired into a new role, um, in another, and not just I mean it's, I'm not leaving anytime soon but if I was leaving for a lateral position, I would want to know how, how many years of experience do your preceptors have on average right now? Because am I coming in with 10 years and somebody is, uh, you know, pretty early on in their practice at two years and they're going to be the ones that are quote unquote precepting me. Like yes, sure I will, I'm going to accept that because that's again, that's the current climate we're at in health care. But like also go in knowing that, like okay, that's interesting, like I have eight more years experience on this person and I probably know more than them. It's, it's going to be an important mind shift to make in your head. Like you're going a new job so you need to learn this facility's ways, but like be open-minded kind of situation.

Christopher: 1:09:20

And I think that's a good point, to put non new grad positions Like. That is something you can. You have to somewhat humble yourself.

Christopher: 1:09:30

Like it's it's. That is a very humbling experience for sure. Luckily, when I transitioned from the unit I used to work for into the unit I work for now, like the person that precepted me was had years of experience and so I very much was OK with not knowing as much as they did, and I think when interviewing I had seen this manager be very involved on the unit so I didn't have to really ask and I knew the culture of the unit too, because we shared a unit. But I was shocked to hear the manager ask me what about? The current unit I had been on is not pushing me away but not keeping me there?

Colby: 1:10:23

Yeah, why are you deciding to leave?

Christopher: 1:10:25

Right, mm-hmm and.

Colby: 1:10:27

That's a good question actually that you should be prepared for yeah, because it might not be a savory answer, so you have to make it more palatable. Yeah, because it might not be a savory answer, so you have to make it more palatable, like yeah, for you don't want to like to answer that question. You don't want to give the hiring manager like an answer where you're excuse my language, but you're just like shitting all over your last manager, your last job like you've got to.

Christopher: 1:10:49

You've got to have the framework of it being more palatable yeah, I mean it's true, and but then, then this is what really got me. She was like have you talked to your manager about it?

Colby: 1:11:05

I was like, oh, another good question yeah, like, have you brought up your concerns at any point to have them addressed, and it's okay. Like your answer can still be no, right and and and no. And then why, like, I don't feel comfortable, they're not approachable, blah, blah. Like that also goes to you know, like it's all about making it palatable and being maintaining professionalism, because also your answer to that question if you don't like that person interviewing is going to take that and be like okay, so they don't handle conflict, well, they don't like that person interviewing is going to take that and be like okay, so they don't handle conflict. Well, they don't handle disagreements. Like they're not good communicators, it's like that. That also, you know, is it provides a lot of insight for the hiring person on you how you answer that.

Christopher: 1:11:52

For sure. What did you learn from your first interview or latter interviews?

Colby: 1:11:58

uh, I think, well, I didn't need to be as anxious as I was. Okay, because, again, like you have, you also have power in that situation. I think, going into the into again, anxiety provoking, you want this job. Presumably that's why you're interviewing, like you want to show your best self, but also remind yourself that you have a lot of power in that seat as well. Like, while they're interviewing you, like we said, you're interviewing them, you're interviewing their hospital, you're interviewing their staff, them, you're interviewing their hospital, you're interviewing their staff, like you are also, like want to know if, while they're looking, are you a good fit for us? You're saying are you a good fit for me? Right? So I think I learned that in my first round of interviews.

Christopher: 1:12:49

Is that you have more power than you think you do in that seat One hundred percent. And to give a specific example of that, when I transitioned from CV to transplant, I was a rotator in CV and the way that we did it in CV was not healthy at all.

Colby: 1:13:06

CV is cardiovascular, just in case anyone was lost there.

Christopher: 1:13:09

Thank you. But one thing that I did appreciate the fact that I rotate it. And I told the manager on transplant. I was like the only way I'm coming is if I stay as a rotator. And she was like, well, I've never done it before. And I was like I'm not picking a shift, I'm not. I'm like I'm doing six weeks of days, six weeks of nights and rotating like that. And I was okay with saying that because I was okay with not being accepted to that unit if she wasn't willing to adjust. Yeah to make it work. To make it work, yeah.

Christopher: 1:13:50

She adjusted and adapted to make it work and now we have rotators. And now, from a manager's perspective, I understand why she does not like rotating.

Colby: 1:14:02

It makes balancing a little more tricky, but but I mean it's you're not the only person that that type of schedule worked for and now you have multiple people that are doing it and that makes you more flexible. It makes you probably I mean having the option for, on one or the other, Most hospitals getting hired. Doesn't matter what level experience you have, whether you're a graduate nurse or you're coming in with experience Most hospitals are hiring you in as a rotator. So be prepared Graduate nurses who have never pulled an all-nighter, never worked, you know graveyard shift it's gonna happen. You're gonna be working 7 pm to 7 am, more than likely, unless you're lucky.

Colby: 1:15:04

I was lucky my first year um my new grad position. They didn't rotate and I got a day shift because everybody else that got hired after me was night shift. I I got. I got lucky. I got the a day shift because everybody else that got hired after me was night shift. I got lucky. I got the last day shift permanent position and I locked that in. Like, there were people who used to work in that hospital and came back and were angry because they had to go on night shift and they were like I worked days here for four years and I left for six months and they were like well, you left. Yeah.

Colby: 1:15:36

They're. They're like well, you left and that's what we have available so you can come back, but you're gonna be on nights. And they were angry, big time angry, because I was just this new little graduate nurse on day shift. But be prepared and just go in expecting that, because then, if you get the opposite, at least you've managed your expectations and you can be like pleasantly surprised. You get to be on one or the other, whatever you prefer. Awesome, true, yeah, I also say that a lot of times. If rotating, just like you tried it and it just doesn't work for you. From personal experience, when I first started a job, I was like my second job. When I left my full-time day shift position, I went started a job. I was like my second job. When I left my full-time day shift position, I went to a hospital that was rotating or you can pick just nights. Rotating did not work for me. I was insufferable to be around. I just did not. It was not good. So I chose straight nights and it was much easier for me.

Christopher: 1:16:33

I worked a schedule that Wait, wait, wait, wait Was it? Was it insufferable because of how you were rotating, or was it insufferable because you were rotating?

Colby: 1:16:44

It's probably a mixture of both.

Christopher: 1:16:45

OK.

Colby: 1:16:45

Yeah, I think the way you do it was just six weeks on, six weeks off, which is like the length of our schedule periods. That would make it a lot easier. I was flipping back and forth forth, like not in the same week, but like week to week, yeah, and that's that. I couldn't do, um, even in two week blocks, like two weeks of days, two weeks of nights, like I couldn't do that. So it's, it quite literally shortens your lifespan, like and I don't understand how it's allowed. Truthfully, I think it's insanity. I think if people want to do that, they want to pick up, you know, like a random night shift when they're on a stretch of days. Like that's your prerogative and your choice. But to schedule people like that is insane and I just don't think it's okay. But I, when I went to straight nights, I worked a schedule where it was like three on, one off, three on, so I was basically night for a week, like we're living life as a night shift person for one week, and then I would be like when I was off, I would that would stack my days up, so I would have like six days off, six or seven days off. I would. I would live as a normal human being and that's how I made that work.

Colby: 1:17:58

I did that for like seven years and then the last few years I've been just back on permanent days because I just I basically got lucky because when I came back from traveling I went back into a rotating position because I wanted days Like I was like I'm going to do this, because I'm going to try to get on day shift permanently, and then I only had to do it for a couple of months. I was having mental breakdowns. I literally cried at work Like I was. It does not work for everybody, so just be prepared.

Colby: 1:18:27

And then I, you know, I ended up getting into a full-time day shift position. But it's just something that is a huge change in your, in the way you live life, your first year, um, and it's definitely something to go and prepared for, because I've seen like the look of disappointment on people's faces when they realize they're gonna have to work 12 hours overnight and like did not see it, come in and then thought that you know, I'm just gonna find a day shift job. Good luck, because, because it's really rare- yeah, and we'll.

Christopher: 1:19:02

since both of us have actually experienced night shift, we will definitely have an episode of night shift.

Colby: 1:19:07

Tips and tricks, yeah.

Christopher: 1:19:09

Yeah so.

Colby: 1:19:11

To come on more. To come on that, All right, I think that's that wraps us up.

Christopher: 1:19:15

Woo, to come on that, all right, I think that's that wraps us up, class dismissed. That's a wrap for today's session of Nursing Life 101. We hope you found some useful takeaways to bring back to the floor. Remember, nursing is a lifelong learning journey and we're here with you.

Colby: 1:19:30

If you want to connect, find us on Twitter at NurseLife101, or on Facebook at NursingLife101. And don't forget to subscribe and share with your fellow nurses. Until next time, take care of yourselves and keep making a difference out there you.