Now that you are ready to move to the next stage in your career and want to apply for the Assistant Nurse Manager position, I am sure you already have an impressive resume and relevant professional experience needed to take your job to another level face new challenges and opportunities. This position requires duality and resilience; Assistant nursing managers are responsible for providing and attending to the care of patients and their family; they also hold management and leadership of the nursing service and nursing staff. In this article, we are going to discuss Assistant Nurse Manager Interview Questions here with sample answers.
For this position, you are expected to have at least a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing; major healthcare organizations would prefer you to have an MSN degree. To further help with the managerial position, it is beneficial to have a master’s in Business Administration. Assistant nurse managers are advanced registered nurses that have completed important licensing exams. Questions would be asked during your interview to determine if you have the required experience, certifications, and skills to function effectively in this position. Not to worry, I will share some of these questions and the best strategies to tackle them.
Assistant Nurse Manager Interview Questions
- Tell us about yourself.
This question is general asked in most interviews, and it’s a question that can outrightly determine if you would be considered for the role or otherwise. To scale this question, you want to keep your answers professional and avoid any personal and sentimental answers, be clear and concise with your answers, talk about your academic background, your skills, your hobbies, your level of competence, your organization skills, and how you can contribute to the organization. Make sure your answers are relevant for the position you are applying for and be sure to highlight your accomplishment. Finally, talk about the difference you plan to make to the healthcare system and the organization as a whole.
- Why do you want to become an Assistant Nurse manager?
This is another question that might be asked; your answers should be precise, give answers that directly respond to why you think you are great for the position, answer this stating how you have been preparing for the role, learning new things, understanding what it means to manage the responsibility that goes with it and don’t forget to give examples of situations. Talk about how you have been working towards the position and have been observing how things are being done to make you further understand the situation and for you to be able to deliver your best. Also, talk about your willingness to focus on the role.
- Tell us about the time you helped or assisted a healthcare team of an organization.
With this question, the interviewer wants to understand further a situation that you have been in that was useful and productive. With this question, explain your understanding of change and how you know that change occurs every day in health care. Next, talk about a situation you have been in that made you open to the positive change you have to offer and how it moved the organization forward. Next, talk about your willingness to embrace and promote change and things you have done or helped within the healthcare system that proved beneficial, your input, and ideas that have also moved your work or the organization forward. Finally, talk about how you find change enjoyable; you welcome and embrace it.
- Tell us about a time you had to work under pressure.
As a nurse, working under pressure is part of the work, but an Assistant nurse manager who will be managing a lot has to have more resilience for the pressure. Nurse managers have the responsibility to react swiftly, and the ideal candidate should be able to identify emergencies fast. For their question, answer what you understand by the pressure of the position and how you know it is important, also tell about the situation you have been in and how you and your team were able to handle it to move the organization afloat before support came, this furthermore makes you a valuable candidate. This shows you as a calm person who doesn’t complain, gets things done regardless of the situation, and fully achieves tasks.
- Please tell us what you think are the healthcare system’s future challenges and how you would prepare for them.
The healthcare system is open to change, innovations every day. As an Assistant nurse manager, you will be at the forefront of these changes, helping and leading to ensure smooth working of the system; with this question, you want to channel your love and the reason you want that position for the answer. First, talk about the future you see for healthcare and how you can assist in bringing that future to reality, your style and level of responsibility of the nursing staff, pushing them to be better for the organization and the care of the patients. Be aware and responsible for the challenges around you, and talk about whether you have made an effort towards them or how they can be solved. Finally, talk about your plans to train and carry your teams and staff along to meet the adequate requirement of your role.
- How do you handle conflicts between staffs?
This is a behavioral question, and it is to understand how you would organize and settle conflicts if they should arise between staff, keeping a level head and being a good judge of character and the ability to listen, to bring calm to the environment for the patients and families. You can answer with the plans you have to keep the nursing team afloat and run smoothly by engaging in dialogues, coaching, identifying potential conflicts, finding ways to solve them, teaching the staff how to spot conflicts, and resolving them among them each other smoothly.
- How would you handle an emotional patient or family member?
This is another behavioral question, and it is important to see how an Assistant nursing manager is also in charge of dealing with the patient and their family members. Sick patients and their families aren’t always in the best state of mind due to anger, sadness, and even frustration that might be taken out on people in the environment around them. An Assistant nurse manager is responsible for dissolving any tense situations in the hospital. This question is to see how smoothly you can handle those situations. At this point, most of the questions you might be asked will be behavioral to test your skill in people and teams. With this question, you want to sell yourself as a level-headed nurse that can diffuse tense situations with patients and family members. Answer this question by explaining your ability to establish rapport, set and build boundaries, knowing your own limit; you also keep the safety of patients, family members, and yourself in mind.
- How good are your computer skills?
These days, not many things are done on paper; everything is done on the computer; the interviewer would want an insight into how well you can handle the computer. With this question, you should talk about how you understand the days are rapidly changing and that you understand that everything’s been done on the computer and that you also understand this to be important to your role, talk about any computer skills or degree you have and what course it is, be it Microsoft Office, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or Excel. Talk about your ability to type quickly and navigate computer software with a tablet or smartphone.
- What are your Strength and Weaknesses?
This is a very common question that can be asked towards the end of your interview. This question is to get a clear view of what your strengths and weaknesses are, how it affects and improves you for the organization; this question can be very tricky, that is why you have to be straightforward and very professional. When you state your strength, do not overplay your strength, give answers that will closely benefit the organization, let them be things that make you valuable to the organization. When stating your weaknesses, do not state weaknesses that will affect the organization, and also, do not underplay your achievement or strength.
- Do you have a question for us?
This is often asked at the end of the interview to feel how to feel about the job, interview, and organizations in general. Next, you should ask questions; this is where you ask about any doubt or questions you have of the organization, role, work environment, or observation; you can also give a positive recommendation, input, or impression. Failure to ask questions might come off as not interested in the role or lack of understanding of the role.
Also read “Why Consulting?”: How To Ace This Interview Question?
