Together, we’re nursing.

Interview Pack

A Simple and Thorough Process.

Oakwood Nurse Recruiters pride themselves in being prompt and per-sonal when it comes to their contact with candidates. From the time the candidate inquiry begins, a Nurse Recruiter is there every step of the way to assure the application, interview and new hire process are completed quickly and meet your needs.

Visit us in person at:

Oakwood Annapolis Hospital - 2nd �oor with Employee Health Oakwood Heritage Hospital - 1st �oor near Emergency Oakwood Hospital & Medical Center -1st �oor Suite 131X across from HR Oakwood Southshore Medical Center - Modular Building-near HR

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1Our Hiring Process

Tips To Step Up Your Résumé

Writing a great résumé requires initiative, energy and dedication. At times, it can be a little daunting, but it shouldn't make you break out in a sweat. In the long run, however, hard work really pays o� and lets you put your best foot forward as a viable, gotta-have candidate. Break it down into small steps, take your time and give each one your all. With a little e�ort and willpower, you're bound to strengthen your chances of landing the job.

Step 1: Establish An Objective

Your ultimate aim is to get hired. Start by including an objective on your résumé. It should spell out your career goals and your quali�cations for the role. Although it is an optional element, an objective allows you to tailor your résumé to the job opening. Make sure what you include in this section is targeted to the company and the job for which you are applying. Your objective should also be clear and concise: maximum 20+ words, limit one sentence.

Step 2: Shift Into Gear

Your work history section is the most important element of your résumé; it's the best place to step up the details.

• List your work experience in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent jobs. • Include position, company, location and dates of employment.

• Use action words to describe your accomplishments and specifically demonstrate how you made a positive impact on the company.

• Support your best accomplishments with concrete data; brevity is important.

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Step 3: Eliminate Extraneous Activities.

Weed out information that does not directly relate to the job. If you want to show o� a particular skill that isn't included in the work history section, list the training courses you've taken or certi�cations you've received. Just don't go into detail about personal hobbies that don't directly relate to the job.

Step 4: Don't Forget The Final Stretch.

After you've written your résumé, you should give it several looks for grammar and punctuation errors, misspelled words and typos. Format the document so it's easy to read and appealing to the eye. Use boldface type for section headings, employer names and jobs titles, and leave ample white space so it doesn't look cluttered.

Step 5: Request A Quick Once-Over.

Before submitting your résumé, show it to a few friends or professionals in the �eld and ask if they think it successfully highlights your background and skills. A pair of fresh eyes also can spot any errors that you've overlooked.

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Internet Friendly Resume

Tips for an Internet Friendly ResumeThe Internet has single-handily changed the way we look for and apply to jobs. Your resume must be “Internet Friendly.” This means that it will post well to the job boards and upload into a recruiter’s HRIS system without scrambling the document while keeping it easy to read on the computer screen.

Contact Information

Be sure to include your complete contact info on your resume, including email address. Email is the preferred channel of communication for recruiters, so provide them with a professional address that is checked regularly.

Formatting Issues

Just because your resume looks great printed out, that does not mean it is easy to read on the computer screen. Most electronic resumes are never printed out, so stay away from fancy fonts, tables, templates, headers, footers, etc.

Customize Your Resume

Always address the requirements of the employer in your resume. Know what skills and experi-ence a particular employer is looking for, and make those speci�c areas of your resume stand out. Recruiters receive hundreds of resumes in response to job board postings, so communi-cate the most relevant information quickly and concisely.

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Internet Friendly Resume

Naming Your Resume

Imagine being a recruiter and getting hundreds of resumes per week named: "resume.doc." Make it easier for your reader to locate your resume by naming it: "Smith, John Resume.doc."

Proof-read Your Resume

Resumes with misspelled words, typos and grammatical errors are surprisingly common. Be sure to correct these errors and select "Ignore All" for false alarms, otherwise your reader may be faced with a resume �lled with red and green underlines.

File Format

It is imperative that your resume be available in MS Word format. MS Word is the de facto standard in business today, so resist the temptation to send a document as a PDF, Word Perfect format, or compressed in a Zip �le. If recruiters cannot open your �le easily, they will not read it.

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Job Specs: What The Company Wants

Job speci�cations de�ne requirements such as education, work experience, industry back-ground, skill sets and technical pro�ciencies. The speci�cations, in turn, drive all phases of the selection process. The order of presentation of the speci�cations also demonstrates what is most to least important and may suggest possible tradeo�s and areas of �exibility.

The key issue to address is the company goals and job specs. At each step of the resume/phone screen/interview process, the job seeker is challenged to integrate the job speci�cations with his/her core competencies, fully demonstrating the connectivity between their skills and company needs.

Step 1: The Resume

A resume-screener searches for candidates who match the speci�cations. A strong, focused resume that captures three or four core competencies, plus related accomplishments, allows the screener to make multiple connections between the job seeker and the job specs. The resume-screener doesn't need to know all that the job seeker has ever done; instead, he/she is looking for the match between the specs and the background outlined in the resume.

Two key points:

• Core competencies are the key skills of the job seeker (those skills that are performed well, with subject matter expertise, supported by solid accomplishments).

• Core competencies should be evident throughout the one-page resume.

If the core competencies match up well with the specs, then the process moves forward.

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Step 2: Phone Screening Interview

Recruiters contact those prospects that appear to match up well with the specs to determine if they are viable candidates. Some key points to improve performance are:

• Recruiters ask questions because they're looking for answers. They're not trying to trick you. So, respond to the questions asked. Be concise and stay on-subject.

• Comments about career, job roles and responsibilities are most effective if the job specs are used to drive the details.

• Core competencies should be presented using the priorities of your past experiences as they might apply to the job specifications. Any shortcomings should be addressed by citing other, comparable achievements.

• Finally, close the call with a short summary of core competencies and state a strong interest in a meeting to discuss the opportunity.

• All other considerations being equal, the job seeker who stays "on message" by presenting his/her core competencies in terms of the job specifications will get the opportunity to interview.

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Step 3: The Interview

Interviewing job seekers enables a company to evaluate the candidates, test their own expec-tations and �nd the "best �t." A company that grants an interview is, generally, already sold on your credentials. They're meeting to test whether you're the kind of person they'd like to work with every day. Some key points about job interviewing:

• The job specs provide a "road map" for content. Use the specs to share details about career, job roles and responsibilities that connect to the specs.

• Listen to the interviewer, instead of waiting to speak. Try not to ever interrupt.

• Do your best to relax. Answer all questions clearly and confidently.

• Be prepared to ask a few solid questions that demonstrate knowledge and comfort level with the job speci�cations, which will illustrate that you "walk the walk" when it comes to the company requirements.

• A final point: ask for the job!

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Helpful Interview TipsWhat has your experience with interviewing been so far? Most likely, the thought of interview-ing for your �rst post-college job may be a little intimidating! “Do I say what I really want, or hold back, for fear of appearing demanding; do I tell the recruiter I’m looking at other jobs, or will they think I’m not really interested in the job I’m interviewing for?” If you want the inside scoop from a recruiters’ perspective, then read on!

• Clothes: Dress professional: Think of it as dressing for the position you want to have some day, not the job you have now! Ideas:

i. Suit or dress pants with a nice blouse or sweater ii. Shoes, not �ip-�ops iii. Cover tattoos, take out multiple piercing

• More importantly: your attitude! In other words, “Its not all about you!” will speak volumes to the recruiter. Think regarding what you can bring to the organization! Try to bring into the conversation your past experiences in other jobs. For instance: wait staff at a restaurant need the same people skills and “service-first” attitude to be successful: it is no different for nursing; hospitals are all in competition for patients

• Spend some time before the interview to set your priorities re your future job: Realize you may not be able to get 12 hr days in the ICU! Having said that doesn’t mean those opportuties don’t sometimes come along, but then you may want to consider a closer look at the unit; make sure its “not to good to be true!”. • Know yourself when setting priorities. Is it more important to have the area of nursing, be it med/surg or critical care, or the right shift? Or that the location be close to home? Or that I work at a large or small hospital? Where will I best succeed? Only you can really answer those questions.

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• Be willing to give/compromise.

• Set yourself up for success! A lot of new grads want ICU or ER, but that is not always the best fit. Remember, it is always easier to advance to these areas, rather than to take on more than you can handle! While you may have excelled in school, making the transition to a new grad can involve much more than you can foresee now!

• Consider your marketability later on! Realize what you think you love now and think you will always want to do, may change, for a variety of reasons (personal life changes, need for more challenge, etc) Get a solid med/surg background before you specialize.

• Think ahead re questions the interviewer may ask: be ready to answer with examples to back up what you say. Not just “what” you want, but “why” you want a certain unit will get noticed.

• Make eye contact. Be humble. Be honest.

• Come prepared with resume, letters of recommendation, transcripts, and BLS card. Have the address/phone numbers of past employers. A portfolio with this information is quite impresive!

• Be ready with your own questions! Questions that really matter to you, not something you think will impress the interviewer.

Invest your time and thought into preparing for an interview, and YOU will be the one to reap the benefits, with a position that’s right for you!

* Some information has been taken from CareerBuilder.com

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