Career guidance
How to respond at interview: 2 Jane Fish, Nightingale and Guy’s College of Health, London The previous article in this series considered some of the extensive questioning techniques that interviewers use to explore candidates’ potential. This article will consider in depth the remaining types of questions used in selection interviews.
s
election interviews make many can didates extremely nervous. When they are required to answer a question during an in terview, Edis (1990) suggests that it is un likely that candidates will be able to re spond fully and deliver the response they had intended. For certain candidates, no amount of preparation before the interview will help on the day. Edis (1990) confirms that some people withdraw when they are nervous while others talk too much and tend to ramble. Nevertheless, thorough preparation and knowledge of the types of questions that may be asked can assist can didates in their preparation and with their performance on the interview day. As discussed in the previous article (Vol. 1(5), p. 252), the range of questions is extensive (Table 1) In this article the questions in the second half of the table will be examined in relation to what the inter viewer is looking for and what the nature of the candidate’s response should be.
Q uestions of support Questions of support explore candidates’ analytical ability as well as their capacity to think clearly and logically. The following example illustrates this: You are being interviewed for an F grade post as a primary nurse on a mix ed medical ward. In the interview, you have previously been questioned on your views regarding primary nursing. The interviewer then asks: ‘Could you elaborate on the effects of primary nursing on patients?’
not taken time to find out about this philos ophy of care before the interview, then your lack of interest, knowledge and com mitment are confirmed. Your response could include: ‘My first staff nurse post was as an asso ciate nurse on a rehabilitation ward for elderly patients and I could see the bene fits of primary nursing for the patients. The continuity of care was significantly improved. The patients got to know their primary nurse extremely well and the patients’ relatives knew to whom they should relate. On this ward we used patient satisfac tion questionnaires as a way of obtain ing feedback which was mainly positive. However, some patients became too de pendent on their primary nurse and did not want to leave hospital.’ In this response you have used your previ ous experience as a basis for your answer. You have focused mainly on the benefits, although, you have also pointed out a dis advantage. You could have included infor-
Table I. Examples of the wide range of questions used in selection interviews Open questions Broad diagnostic questions Hypothetical situation questions Questions of extension Probing questions
Mrs Fish is Nurse Tutor in staff nurse development, Nightingale and Guy's College of Health, London
This question requires that you analyse the benefits of primary nursing for patients, as well as the potential disadvantages. Your response will need to be clearly focused. While it is important to state your opinions, you should demonstrate your affinity for primary nursing as an approach to deliver ing nursing care. If you are not committed to primary nursing then clearly you should not be ap plying for this post. Similarly, if you have
British Journal of Nursing, 1992, Vol I, No 6
Summary questions Questions of support Questions of clarification M irror questions Closed questions Priority questions Leading questions
307
Downloaded from magonlinelibrary.com by 129.215.017.188 on January 11, 2019.
How to respond at interview: 2
mation from a recent publication on pri mary nursing as this would have enhanced your response and demonstrated to the in terviewers that you are interested in your professional development. Indeed, inter viewers on a selection panel for a primary nurse post would expect candidates to be knowledgeable in this area, from previous experiences, from talking to colleagues or through reading current literature on the topic.
Q uestions of clarification Stevens (1989) confirms that it is important for interviewers to understand what candi dates mean in their responses. If they are uncertain they should ask for clarification by asking simple questions that require the interviewee to provide additional informa tion, e.g. ‘Will you explain to me again what you mean?’ Alternatively, the interviewer may clarify what has been said by paraphrasing the in terviewee’s response, e.g. ‘Are you saying that patients do not want to leave hospital because they become too dependent on their primary nurses?’ This question re quires the candidate to clarify his/her re sponse. The answer could be that this is the case for a minority of patients. It would then be beneficial to give credence to your reply by citing current literature.
M irror questions An interviewer may use mirror questions instead of probing questions when they want the candidate to continue talking (Health Care Associates, 1987). The inter viewer mirrors back in question form the
Table 2. How to answer questions
last phrase. For example, the candidate may state: ‘I’m looking for the opportunity to develop further.’ The interviewer may re flect this back by asking: ‘You are looking for opportunities for further development?’ Interviewers should avoid over-using this type of question as they may not extract the information they require from the can didate. The interviewer could have used a probing question that would have given the candidate the opportunity to develop his/her response, e.g. ‘What opportunities do you think this post would offer you to enhance your professional development?’ This gives the candidate a lot more scope.
Closed questions Closed questions are structured to focus the reply towards a precisely defined area (Peel, 1988). The interviewer should use them to collect and examine information relating to the candidate’s application, e.g. ‘How long have you been qualified?’ This type of questioning should not be used to probe or explore issues as the candi date’s response tends to be limited (Edis, 1990). For example, the question ‘Do you think you are suitable for this post?’ re stricts the candidate to a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ re sponse, and as this is an interview situation it is bound to be in the affirmative. Closed questions can be used by inter viewers to confirm or sum up a point. However, it is poor interview technique to conduct an interview using only closed questions. If unskilled interviewers use mir ror and closed questions repeatedly, then candidates may need to elaborate their re sponses in order to provide information that they perceive as being relevant to the post for which they are being interviewed.
Leading questions Make eye contact with the interviewer before speaking. Adopt a relaxed posture; sit squarely in the chair. Facial expressions and gestures should be natural; do not fidget or appear restless. Keep to the point; aim to be concise; give a full answer and do not waffle. Structure you answer; it should be logical and clearly understood. Avoid using jargon. Speak confidently so that you can be heard. Do not speak too quickly or too slowly; try to establish a rhythm. Use your voice to reflect the meaning of what you are saying. Do not argue with the interviewer.
A leading question is a question in which the interviewer indicates the type of answer ‘expected’ or the ‘favourable answer’ (Ste vens, 1989), e.g. ‘I expect you were pleased about that, were you not?’ This type of question is likely to produce unreliable answers and false information, therefore in terviewers should avoid using them. Lead ing questions can be difficult for the candi date as he/she will not wish to contradict a member of the panel.
Priority questions Priority questions require the candidate to prioritize specific issues. An example could be as follows:
A dap ted fro m Stevens (1 989)
308
Downloaded from magonlinelibrary.com 129.215.017.188 January 11, o2019. British by Journal of Nursing,on 1992, Vol l,N 6
How to respond at interview: 2
You have been qualified for 14 months and have applied for your second staff nurse post. At the interview you are ask ed: ‘What areas of your present job have you found to be most challenging?’ A response to this could be: ‘The greatest challenge for me was the transition from student nurse to quali fied nurse. Initially, I felt unsure in my role as a staff nurse but I quickly over came this with the assistance of an ex perienced staff nurse who proved to be an excellent role model and mentor. Also, liaison with the multidisciplinary team and in particular the medical staff was an area I needed to focus on as I did not have much exposure to this dur ing my training. I feel my present post has enabled me to consolidate the knowledge and skills gained in my nurse training and to develop in my role as a staff nurse.’ This response is an honest reply that dem onstrates to the interviewer that you are able to identify and prioritize the areas you found the most challenging in your first post. It also confirms that you have insight into your new role and are able to utilize
K E Y P O IN T S • Questions of support explore your analytical ability and capacity to think clearly and logically. • Your responses should be structured, logical and easily understood.
the expertise of other team members to en hance your own development. Some candidates have a tendency to be extremely positive about all aspects of their experience. This can come across as overconfidence and may demonstrate the candi date’s lack of insight into his/her ability to undertake the job.
Answ ering questions Extensive preparation before the interview should enable candidates to give the infor mation the interview panel require. How ever, consideration needs to be given to how answers are structured and communi cated. A summary of how to answer ques tions is shown in Table 2.
Conclusion Thorough preparation should bring suc cess. Candidates should observe the inter viewer’s non-verbal responses as these can indicate how the interview is progressing. Stevens (1989) advocates that candidates should be aware of the interviewers’ reac tions to their answers so that they can re spond appropriately. Finally, they will need to concentrate fully and be attentive in or der to understand the meaning of the ques tion being asked. For a successful outcome responses should be clear, concise and positive. The next article will focus on the skills that the interviewer requires in order to se lect the most suitable person for the job. ]^ T
• If mirror and/or closed questions are used, you may need to elaborate your answers to provide the interviewer with relevant information. • You need to consider how you will communicate your answers. • Aim to be clear, concise and positive in your responses for a successful outcome.
Edis M (1990) Both Sides o f Selection. Macmillan Edu cation Ltd, Basingstoke Health Care Associates (1987) Interview ing Skills fo r Nurse Managers. CV Mosby Company, St Louis Peel M (1988) R eadym ade Interview Questions. Kogan Page Ltd, London Stevens M (1989) Winning at Your Interview. Kogan Page Ltd, London
BJN CLASSIFIED SECTION Just the jo b for B JN readers! Are you looking for a job? Or are you interested in going on a course? T u r n to o u r n e w c la s s ifie d s e c tio n s ta r tin g o n p a g e 3 1 6
British Journal o( Nursing, 1992, Voi l,N o 6
309
Downloaded from magonlinelibrary.com by 129.215.017.188 on January 11, 2019.
How to respond at interview: 2 Jane Fish, Nightingale and Guy’s College of Health, London The previous article in this series considered some of the extensive questioning techniques that interviewers use to explore candidates’ potential. This article will consider in depth the remaining types of questions used in selection interviews.
s
election interviews make many can didates extremely nervous. When they are required to answer a question during an in terview, Edis (1990) suggests that it is un likely that candidates will be able to re spond fully and deliver the response they had intended. For certain candidates, no amount of preparation before the interview will help on the day. Edis (1990) confirms that some people withdraw when they are nervous while others talk too much and tend to ramble. Nevertheless, thorough preparation and knowledge of the types of questions that may be asked can assist can didates in their preparation and with their performance on the interview day. As discussed in the previous article (Vol. 1(5), p. 252), the range of questions is extensive (Table 1) In this article the questions in the second half of the table will be examined in relation to what the inter viewer is looking for and what the nature of the candidate’s response should be.
Q uestions of support Questions of support explore candidates’ analytical ability as well as their capacity to think clearly and logically. The following example illustrates this: You are being interviewed for an F grade post as a primary nurse on a mix ed medical ward. In the interview, you have previously been questioned on your views regarding primary nursing. The interviewer then asks: ‘Could you elaborate on the effects of primary nursing on patients?’
not taken time to find out about this philos ophy of care before the interview, then your lack of interest, knowledge and com mitment are confirmed. Your response could include: ‘My first staff nurse post was as an asso ciate nurse on a rehabilitation ward for elderly patients and I could see the bene fits of primary nursing for the patients. The continuity of care was significantly improved. The patients got to know their primary nurse extremely well and the patients’ relatives knew to whom they should relate. On this ward we used patient satisfac tion questionnaires as a way of obtain ing feedback which was mainly positive. However, some patients became too de pendent on their primary nurse and did not want to leave hospital.’ In this response you have used your previ ous experience as a basis for your answer. You have focused mainly on the benefits, although, you have also pointed out a dis advantage. You could have included infor-
Table I. Examples of the wide range of questions used in selection interviews Open questions Broad diagnostic questions Hypothetical situation questions Questions of extension Probing questions
Mrs Fish is Nurse Tutor in staff nurse development, Nightingale and Guy's College of Health, London
This question requires that you analyse the benefits of primary nursing for patients, as well as the potential disadvantages. Your response will need to be clearly focused. While it is important to state your opinions, you should demonstrate your affinity for primary nursing as an approach to deliver ing nursing care. If you are not committed to primary nursing then clearly you should not be ap plying for this post. Similarly, if you have
British Journal of Nursing, 1992, Vol I, No 6
Summary questions Questions of support Questions of clarification M irror questions Closed questions Priority questions Leading questions
307
Downloaded from magonlinelibrary.com by 129.215.017.188 on January 11, 2019.
How to respond at interview: 2
mation from a recent publication on pri mary nursing as this would have enhanced your response and demonstrated to the in terviewers that you are interested in your professional development. Indeed, inter viewers on a selection panel for a primary nurse post would expect candidates to be knowledgeable in this area, from previous experiences, from talking to colleagues or through reading current literature on the topic.
Q uestions of clarification Stevens (1989) confirms that it is important for interviewers to understand what candi dates mean in their responses. If they are uncertain they should ask for clarification by asking simple questions that require the interviewee to provide additional informa tion, e.g. ‘Will you explain to me again what you mean?’ Alternatively, the interviewer may clarify what has been said by paraphrasing the in terviewee’s response, e.g. ‘Are you saying that patients do not want to leave hospital because they become too dependent on their primary nurses?’ This question re quires the candidate to clarify his/her re sponse. The answer could be that this is the case for a minority of patients. It would then be beneficial to give credence to your reply by citing current literature.
M irror questions An interviewer may use mirror questions instead of probing questions when they want the candidate to continue talking (Health Care Associates, 1987). The inter viewer mirrors back in question form the
Table 2. How to answer questions
last phrase. For example, the candidate may state: ‘I’m looking for the opportunity to develop further.’ The interviewer may re flect this back by asking: ‘You are looking for opportunities for further development?’ Interviewers should avoid over-using this type of question as they may not extract the information they require from the can didate. The interviewer could have used a probing question that would have given the candidate the opportunity to develop his/her response, e.g. ‘What opportunities do you think this post would offer you to enhance your professional development?’ This gives the candidate a lot more scope.
Closed questions Closed questions are structured to focus the reply towards a precisely defined area (Peel, 1988). The interviewer should use them to collect and examine information relating to the candidate’s application, e.g. ‘How long have you been qualified?’ This type of questioning should not be used to probe or explore issues as the candi date’s response tends to be limited (Edis, 1990). For example, the question ‘Do you think you are suitable for this post?’ re stricts the candidate to a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ re sponse, and as this is an interview situation it is bound to be in the affirmative. Closed questions can be used by inter viewers to confirm or sum up a point. However, it is poor interview technique to conduct an interview using only closed questions. If unskilled interviewers use mir ror and closed questions repeatedly, then candidates may need to elaborate their re sponses in order to provide information that they perceive as being relevant to the post for which they are being interviewed.
Leading questions Make eye contact with the interviewer before speaking. Adopt a relaxed posture; sit squarely in the chair. Facial expressions and gestures should be natural; do not fidget or appear restless. Keep to the point; aim to be concise; give a full answer and do not waffle. Structure you answer; it should be logical and clearly understood. Avoid using jargon. Speak confidently so that you can be heard. Do not speak too quickly or too slowly; try to establish a rhythm. Use your voice to reflect the meaning of what you are saying. Do not argue with the interviewer.
A leading question is a question in which the interviewer indicates the type of answer ‘expected’ or the ‘favourable answer’ (Ste vens, 1989), e.g. ‘I expect you were pleased about that, were you not?’ This type of question is likely to produce unreliable answers and false information, therefore in terviewers should avoid using them. Lead ing questions can be difficult for the candi date as he/she will not wish to contradict a member of the panel.
Priority questions Priority questions require the candidate to prioritize specific issues. An example could be as follows:
A dap ted fro m Stevens (1 989)
308
Downloaded from magonlinelibrary.com 129.215.017.188 January 11, o2019. British by Journal of Nursing,on 1992, Vol l,N 6
How to respond at interview: 2
You have been qualified for 14 months and have applied for your second staff nurse post. At the interview you are ask ed: ‘What areas of your present job have you found to be most challenging?’ A response to this could be: ‘The greatest challenge for me was the transition from student nurse to quali fied nurse. Initially, I felt unsure in my role as a staff nurse but I quickly over came this with the assistance of an ex perienced staff nurse who proved to be an excellent role model and mentor. Also, liaison with the multidisciplinary team and in particular the medical staff was an area I needed to focus on as I did not have much exposure to this dur ing my training. I feel my present post has enabled me to consolidate the knowledge and skills gained in my nurse training and to develop in my role as a staff nurse.’ This response is an honest reply that dem onstrates to the interviewer that you are able to identify and prioritize the areas you found the most challenging in your first post. It also confirms that you have insight into your new role and are able to utilize
K E Y P O IN T S • Questions of support explore your analytical ability and capacity to think clearly and logically. • Your responses should be structured, logical and easily understood.
the expertise of other team members to en hance your own development. Some candidates have a tendency to be extremely positive about all aspects of their experience. This can come across as overconfidence and may demonstrate the candi date’s lack of insight into his/her ability to undertake the job.
Answ ering questions Extensive preparation before the interview should enable candidates to give the infor mation the interview panel require. How ever, consideration needs to be given to how answers are structured and communi cated. A summary of how to answer ques tions is shown in Table 2.
Conclusion Thorough preparation should bring suc cess. Candidates should observe the inter viewer’s non-verbal responses as these can indicate how the interview is progressing. Stevens (1989) advocates that candidates should be aware of the interviewers’ reac tions to their answers so that they can re spond appropriately. Finally, they will need to concentrate fully and be attentive in or der to understand the meaning of the ques tion being asked. For a successful outcome responses should be clear, concise and positive. The next article will focus on the skills that the interviewer requires in order to se lect the most suitable person for the job. ]^ T
• If mirror and/or closed questions are used, you may need to elaborate your answers to provide the interviewer with relevant information. • You need to consider how you will communicate your answers. • Aim to be clear, concise and positive in your responses for a successful outcome.
Edis M (1990) Both Sides o f Selection. Macmillan Edu cation Ltd, Basingstoke Health Care Associates (1987) Interview ing Skills fo r Nurse Managers. CV Mosby Company, St Louis Peel M (1988) R eadym ade Interview Questions. Kogan Page Ltd, London Stevens M (1989) Winning at Your Interview. Kogan Page Ltd, London
BJN CLASSIFIED SECTION Just the jo b for B JN readers! Are you looking for a job? Or are you interested in going on a course? T u r n to o u r n e w c la s s ifie d s e c tio n s ta r tin g o n p a g e 3 1 6
British Journal o( Nursing, 1992, Voi l,N o 6
309
Downloaded from magonlinelibrary.com by 129.215.017.188 on January 11, 2019.
