HRM 635 HRM Interview Process

Interview Process

Section 1- Introduction

            The needs assessment at the Cantex Continuity Care Network, INC revealed that the organization is facing staff shortages at the departments of the intensive care unit (ICU) and emergency room (ER). Consequently, the assessment established that there is need of hiring more nurses at those departments to reinforce the existing workforce. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to provide detailed interview process that will be used to identify and hire the best talents in ICU and ER departments. This paper will be organized into different sections including the providing detailed description of the interview process, description of the multiple testing options, situational interview questions, behavioral interview questions, and references list that acknowledges the various sources of secondary information.

Section 2- Detailed Description of the Interview Process

            This interview process will be conducted for the two job descriptions separately. The first interview is scheduled on January 20, 2020. All the prospective nurses are expected to assemble at the Cantex Continuity Care Network, INC’s human resource offices, which is the venue for interview. The interview will begin at 9: 00 AM. The agenda of the interview is to look for competent nurses who can effectively work in ICU and cope with dynamic and demanding nature of work involved in this critical care unit. The type of interview that will be used is competence-based which connotes job specific interviews that requires the candidates to give examples of specific skills. The kind of questions that interviewers will ask will help determine if the candidate has skills and knowledge needed for ICU job. The actual interview process will involve a panel consisting of human resource director or hiring manager, nurse manager representing senior management, and Director of intensive care unit operations.

            On the other hand, the interview for emergency room nurses will be conducted a day after that of ICU nurses at the same venue and time. That is, January 21, 2020 at 9:00 AM at the Cantex Continuity Care Network, INC’s human resource offices. The agenda in this interview is to source a competent nurse who can work effectively in the overwhelming ER department. Here the type of interview remains competency based. However, the actual interview process will involve a panel consisting of human resource director or hiring manager, nurse manager representing senior management, and emergency room charge nurses.

Section 3- Testing

This interview process will encompass various testing options for both prospective ER and ICU nurses. The options include;

Job Knowledge Tests

            These tests will measure the technical and theoretical expertise of candidates in ICU and ER practice. These tests are vital in the current job descriptions because the critical nature of the jobs need high levels of competency or specialized knowledge.

Integrity Tests

            These tests are designed to evaluate the integrity and ethical conducts of the candidates. The tests are vital for the organization to avoid hiring unreliable, dishonest, and undisciplined employees.  In this case, the tests can assess personality characters of the candidates linked integrity such as conscientiousness (Lane, Raymond & Haladyna, 2015).

Cognitive Ability Tests

            According to Schmitt (2014) these tests measure the general mental capacity of the candidate which is significantly linked to the job performance. Cognitive ability tests may include the use of a General Aptitude Test (GAT) to gauge rational, numerical, and verbal reasoning.

Personality Tests

            Personality tests can provide details into the cultural fit of candidates and also determine whether or not their personality can be turned into job success. Personality characteristics have been associated with task performance in various roles (Schmitt, 2014).

Emotional Intelligence (EI) Tests

            EI connotes the level in which a person can build relationships and understand both personal emotions and that of others (Fallon et al., 2014). Therefore, EI tests measures how best the candidate can build and understand personal emotions and emotions of others including colleagues and patients.

Skills Assessments Tests

            Lane, Raymond & Haladyna (Eds.). (2015) argues that these tests are focused on measuring the actual skills of the candidates including the soft skills such as ability to pay attention to detail or hard skills such as requiring the candidate to perform emergency patient examination to determine how accurate the nurse is patient assessment.

Physical Ability Tests

            These tests measure the strength and stamina. These features are vital in ER and ICU where the nurse is expected to lift heavy equipment or even the patients themselves while providing care.

            Of these testing options, the best is skills assessment tests. Essentially, ICU and ER are sensitive areas in the hospital and any slight mistake, negligence, or ignorance may lead to dire consequences. However, with skills assessment tests, the interviewers will be focused on measuring the actual skills, which is critical in determining whether or not the candidate can perform as required.

Section 4- 4 Situational Interview Questions

            These are interview questions that ask the interviewee to put him or herself into a exploratory situation and highlight the actions he or she would take. That is, the candidates are asked precise questions about a likely occurrence on a job and they are required to examine the situation and give solution on how he or she would tackle the situation (Gross, 2015). In the present case, since both ER and ICU nurses are part of critical care, these situational interviews questions applies in both job descriptions. 

Describe how you would deal with stress associated with being a critical care nurse.

Describe a circumstance you identified a problem and took initiative to fix it.

Highlight the communication strategies you used on a patient that you realized had a challenge in understanding a point you were trying to explain.

How would you approach a responsibility you have never done initially.

The rationale for these questions is to enable the interviewer to determine how the candidates may react in real workplace situation. Besides, the answers may possibly predict the future performance and whether or not the candidate is suitable for the job.

Section 5- 4 Behavioral Interview Questions

Behavioral interview questions seek to find out how the candidates dealt with past situations to enable the potential employer determine the candidate’s ability to perform in a given position (Culbertson, Weyhrauch, & Huffcutt, 2017). Regarding the ICU and ER nurses, the following questions are applicable.

What is your ideal work week?

What is your biggest weakness in critical care?

Describe the time you failed. How did you handle the situation?

Tell me about the conflict within your team. Talk about the conflict and how did you tackle it?

 The rationale for these questions is to determine how the candidate handles various situations. Besides, they can predict future behaviors and also give strong comparison between candidates to help evaluate their approach to the position.