Top 5 tips to make the most out of your nursing interview

Last year, when applying to university to study nursing, I had to do five interviews! It’s safe to say I have my fair share of practise at them so I thought I would give some advice on things you can do to make sure you ace your interview.

Interviews can seem scary but they’re a great opportunity to show the university your personality and why you deserve to be on the course.

1. Be honest- a common question at nursing interviews is: “So what made you want to do nursing?”. Everyone’s answer will be different, it is important that you sound genuine and sound like you have a passion for the course. If you just say a very generic or basic answer this won’t make you stand out, so give detail even if it might seem silly! The interviewer is looking for passion within your answer.
2. Be prepared- make sure you look up commonly asked questions for nursing interviews to settle your nerves, the interviewers aren’t trying to catch you out with a tricky question, they do genuinely want you to succeed, but, by doing a little bit of research before your interview, you can begin to prepare what you might want to say and reduce your anxiety for the interview.
3. Have experience- when I say have experience this doesn’t necessarily have to mean clinical experience working within a hospital or a care home. For me personally I have never worked within a clinical setting and finding in person work experience was tricky, so I found work experience through stuff such as Allied Healthcare Mentor’s virtual NHS work experience programme, but there is also a lot of other resources available for nursing students on things such as Springpod or Future Learn. Having this experience shows the interviewer that you have passion for the subject, so much so that you’ve gone and done this in your spare time.
4. Ask questions- interviewers like when you also have questions for them, it shows you are confident but also that you’re interested in the course or the university. For example, you could ask, ‘So why should I choose ARU to study nursing at?’ this will also give you important information to help you decide which university to go to.
5. Know your 6 c’s and use them- the 6 c’s are the backbones and the fundamentals of nursing. Try and display them within your interview, for example try display compassion in response to a question, by showing these traits it will reassure the interviewer that nursing is the right course for you and that you possess the traits needed to succeed within nursing.