Every year, the time of admission is a tense period for students. Even if you are a graduate nurse and appearing for a post graduation course interview, the period is filled with tense expectation. Not knowing if you will get admission is a great worry. Preparing well and knowing what kind of admission interview questions may be asked will help you be prepared for the interview in a much better way!
Are you a student who is interested in obtaining an admission into a nursing college? Do you want to successfully get through interviews for your nursing admission? In most institutions, nursing admissions are not complete without a entrance exam and an interview. Many colleges have an entrance exam where Multiple Choice Questions are asked from the qualifying exam. If you are applying for a BSc course, the MCQs will be asked from your 12th Standard subjects, mainly from Physics, Chemistry and Biology. If you are applying for a MSc course in nursing, the questions will be asked from your BSc Nursing subjects.
Nursing interviews do not only contain a question and answer session, but it also contains practical aptitude and Intelligence Performance tests. These are practical skill based tests that test the ability of the candidate to perform various activities.
Getting through in the interview
One major hurdle for most students is the interview. There are a lot of aspects that are checked during an interview. Most students study hard for the entrance exam, but hardly prepare for the interview. This is because students feel that the interview is a cakewalk when compared to the exam.
Qualities of students that are checked in nursing interview
- Confidence
- Presence of mind
- Problem solving ability
- Concern for people
- Truthfulness and integrity
- Communication skills
- Approach to hard work
Components of nursing admission interviews & Intelligence Performance tests
- Problem solving
- Time management
- General aptitude
- Dexterity tests
- Logical reasoning tests
Common nursing interview questions & possible answers
1. Why did you choose to study nursing? (or) Why do you want to do this course?
Expected answer : To serve the people in the community. You can also tell an incident from your own life about why you want to do nursing. Maybe a sickness to any family member might have wanted you to become a healthcare professional! Being truthful is the key. You may even say that your family situation makes it necessary for you to study and go abroad, but make sure that you make the interview know that you also care for the sick and the suffering.
Be truthful in your answer. You would surely have a second choice or option of course and you can tell it. If you are only interested in a nursing course and nothing else, you can inform that too, with a proper reason for your preference.
3. Do you want to go abroad after completing nursing?
This needs an absolutely truthful answer. There are some students who want to go abroad and others who do not want to go abroad. There are still others who may be undecided. You need to answer truthfully. No one is going to deny admission just because you plan to go abroad sometime in the future. Make sure that your answer does not sound hollow or false. It is easy to make out.
4. Would you like to do post graduation after graduating as a nurse?
This is a straight forward question. Even if you are not keen to do post graduation, it may not harm you to say that you are interested in higher education and that you plan to do it. In fact, most students want to study as much as possible. It is only the family situations and compulsions that do not allow them to study. So, you would actually create an impression that you are keen to continue in the profession when you say that you would like to do a post graduation course in nursing. So, just be honest and inform the interviewers that you are interested in post graduation. But, also let them know that depending on family situation, you are likely to apply.
5. What would you do to a person who has just had an accident and you are nearby?
Many nursing interviews and other healthcare professional interviews have this question as part of the admission interview questions. This actually tells about your interest in the healthcare profession. The interviewer will prefer an answer where you tell about providing first aid or at least trying to get the victim to the hospital. The interviewer does not want a false answer where you try to say that you will treat the victim on the spot (because you are not qualified to do so and you will not have the skills). All that the interviewer wants to understand is how much presence of mind you would have and how much concerned you are about the people around you.
6. Are you interested in doing a nursing course to earn a lot of money
Be absolutely truthful when you answer this question too. You can say that you are interested in earning money to help your family and to support yourself. No harm in saying that you want to do this course to earn money. After all, everyone works to make money and no one is going to fault you for saying so. Be careful in saying that money is not the criteria for you to join the nursing course, because the answer would sound very hollow. you can actually say that money is a part of the reason as it is necessary for life, but you can also include the answer already mentioned in the first question.
7. Why did you choose this college for nursing?
This is a common admission interview questions in any nursing interview. There are hundreds of nursing colleges in any state. There may be a nursing college in your town or city and you may be applying to join a nursing college in another city or even state. If this is the case, you need to know certain facts about the institute to which you are applying for the nursing course. This can usually be learnt from the prospectus of the institute and if not on the internet.
You can go through the prospectus and learn more about the institute where you are applying. You can then tell the interview panel about the important highlighting features of the institute and tell them that these facts make the college one of the best and this is the reason for you to apply to that particular institute. So, basically you need to know why you are choosing the particular college.
Qualities that you should display when you are being interviewed
- Confidence
- Honesty
- Simplicity (No boasting too much)
- Real interest in nursing
- Empathy for sick people
- Caring nature with concern for patients
- Presence of mind
Key to success in a nursing interview
Remember to be honest and truthful in your answers. If you give any false information, interviewers can find it from your facial expressions. So, when you are honest with your answers and are genuine, you are sure to get high marks. This will thus help you get admission in the best colleges in India. So, you need to be absolutely honest as it is the right path to success.
Why is so much importance given to honesty in the nursing profession?
More importance is given to honesty mainly because patient care involves a strict protocol under various circumstances. Any deviation from protocol in caring for a patient could even cause the death of a patient. Honesty in owning up to errors could save the life of a patient. So, in most nursing interviews, honesty in answering questions is given top priority.
Other important aspects of a nursing interview
What makes you a right fit for the college?
This question may be very similar to the other question about choosing a particular college, but there is a subtle variation. Here, you need to tell how you would be able to fit into the functioning of a college. You can also talk about your achievements and extra curricular activities. This would help to bring out facts about how you would be able to enhance the stature of the college with your presence in that particular college. Be careful that you do not overdo your importance. Be humble, but give a truthful assessment of your achievements.
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
You may not even be expecting a question about your weaknesses! All of us are ready with our strengths for an interview, but would be stumped with a question about our weakness. Be ready to answer with at least one or two weaknesses that are not really weaknesses! You do need to be truthful, but make sure that you do not say a weakness like you are not interested in hard work! Such admissions could be your downfall in an interview. So, you should think of some minor weakness that does not affect your studies or profession and talk about it.
If you are well prepared for any admission interview questions, you will be confident and answer them. Remember to practice at home or with friends with mock admission interview questions.
Nursing Job Interview Questions
Job interview questions can be in different genres.
1. Personal questions to know personal details.
2. Questions to assess knowledge
3. Questions to assess skill
Of these three genres, the questions on knowledge and skill that can be asked during an interview are many. So, they are beyond the scope of this article. If you are qualified and experienced as a nurse, you will be able to answer the questions about nursing knowledge and skills. So, here, we will look are the various questions about personal details and other aspects.
1. How long will you commit to work here?
This is a common question and also a tricky one. You need to answer right to get the job. This is one question that has made careers and also made people to lose their careers. You have to usually commit for one year or two years to get the job. If you do not commit for this minimum period of time, you will not be able to get the job.
2. Will you leave in the middle of the academic year?
If you are likely to leave in the academic year, you are not likely to get a job. This is true mainly in a teaching institution. So,m you have to be careful in planning your life. If you answer to the contrary and end up leaving in the middle of the academic year, you are likely to cause a lot of anger in the management.So, you have to be careful in not only answering this question, but also in planning your resignation at a later date.
3. Your spouses’ profession
This is a usual question in many nursing interviews, when married nurses are interviewed. This question is asked to know more about how long you will work in the institution. If the husband has a transferable job, the wife is likely to leave along with the husband and vice versa. So, family commitments are understood through this question.
4. Are you planning to go abroad?
This is a simple and straightforward question. If you are planning to go abroad, you can say so. The next possible question will be when you would go abroad. It will not be an easy answer because the processing is unpredictable for entry into most countries. So, you can be truthful and answer this question.
Just like any other interviews, the Nursing Job Interview Questions can elicit the truth from you. So, it is better to be truthful than to lie and then get yourself tangled up in a fix. So, be truthful, confident and professional in answering the Nursing Job Interview Questions. You are sure to ace the interview.
