7 Nurse Manager Interview Questions You Must be Able to Answer

Impressing interviewers and receiving an attractive job offer often comes down to three things: having the right skills and experiences, submitting a polished resume and preparing well for the interview.

Fortunately, if you’ve been invited to an interview, you’ve probably already ticked off the first two requirements (and if you’ve not yet been invited to an interview, check out our resume templates to help you reach that stage).

That leaves you with the last criteria: preparing well for the interview. And you’re in the right place for that. Let’s look at some of the most common but challenging nurse manager interview questions that might come up and how you can answer them.

Nurse Manager Interview Questions You Should Prepare For

1. What Makes You a Good Nurse Manager?

This is a variation of the questions “what skills does a good nurse manager need?” and “why are you the right fit for this job?” No matter which version you’re asked, there are two parts to this question: knowing what skills and attributes a good nurse manager has, and then explaining how you possess those.

Sometimes, we overlook our best features. You might wish to ask nurses you’ve previously worked with for their feedback. Alternatively, you could review comments from past performance reviews.

Since a nurse manager job requires diverse skills, you could find structuring your answer difficult. Make sure to touch on your nursing expertise as well as your organizational, administrative and leadership qualities. Try to give brief examples, but be wary of spending too long on one point. You don’t want the interviewer to move on to the next question before you’ve wrapped up your answer.

2. What Part of Being a Nurse Manager Do You Think Is the Most Challenging?

The key to this question is acknowledging what you find difficult while also showing how you manage it well. Drawing on personal experiences and using the STAR — situation, task, action and result — technique will help.

For example, you could say: “One of the most challenging things is how many demands there are on your time. You need to stay on top of organizational decisions while also motivating staff, resolving issues and ensuring patient safety.

“When I first started, I was so focused on the leadership elements that I struggled to find time for all the other tasks (situation). I often worked late, which wasn’t sustainable, so I had to find ways to do more of my duties during my scheduled hours (task).

“I began delegating more responsibilities to trusted charge nurses, while regularly checking in. I also set up more efficient processes for all tasks (actions). This empowered my team while reducing all of our workload (results).”

Similar questions you should prepare for include: How have you improved as a nurse manager? What have you learned from your previous professional experiences? What are your biggest strengths and weaknesses?

3. What’s Your Feedback Style?

This question can be challenging purely because of how broad it is. Some points you can touch on include how frequently you give feedback, how you follow up on feedback and how your feedback style varies according to the type of feedback.

You can also use anecdotes to demonstrate that your feedback has been effective in the past and how you adapt to different situations. The STAR technique will help you structure your answer, but don’t use it for multiple anecdotes in the same answer.

Related questions you might be asked include: What would you do if you saw a nurse doing something wrong? How do you ensure new nurses have the support they need to grow and succeed?

4. What Would You Do If Two Nurses Didn’t Get On?

This question is designed to see if you have sufficient empathy, conflict resolution and problem-solving skills. You should demonstrate that your biggest priority is patient safety, but that nurse satisfaction is also important to you.

After all, coworkers don’t always get on — but it’s up to you to see how serious the issue is and whether it needs you (or even HR) to step in to find a solution. Talk the interviewer through how you would evaluate the situation and how your response might change based on different variables.

5. How Do You Ensure Nurses’ Job Satisfaction?

There is so much involved in ensuring nurses’ job satisfaction that you could spend the whole interview talking about this and still not have mentioned everything. However, your interviewer is looking for evidence that you understand the importance of this and proactively work to improve it. It’s also a good idea to show that you are open to feedback from staff.

Related questions worth preparing for include: How do you motivate staff? How do you take into consideration different nurses’ needs and preferences?

6. Tell Me About a Time a Patient Complained. How Did You Handle It?

When an interviewer asks you this, they want to know about your conflict resolution skills, if you prioritize patient safety and how well you investigate potential issues. Additionally, they’re looking to see if you learn from past experiences.

Use the STAR model to structure your answer. Then, finish by explaining what you think you did well, where you think your response could have been improved and how you would handle a similar situation in the future.

7. What Accomplishment Are You Most Proud Of?

Some people recommend that your response to this question is drawn from your experience as a nurse or nurse manager. While this is a fail-safe option, it’s not strictly speaking required. An exceptionally impressive personal story might be more impactful than a more generic nursing one. The most important thing is that this story shows that you have the skills and personality to succeed as a nurse manager.

Start by thinking about the accomplishments that you’re most proud of, and from there, work out what they demonstrate about you as a nursing professional. Once you’ve done that, structure and prepare an answer that will highlight how this accomplishment relates to the role you’re interviewing for.

An Excellent Resume Will Get Your Invited to Nurse Manager Interviews

A well-presented, polished resume is key to impressing interviewers and receiving attractive nurse manager job offers. Not only is it recruiters’ first impression of you, but it is also potentially the last thing they’ll review before contacting you with a potential salary.

Your resume should be customized to both your background and the role you’re applying for, as well as being professionally designed and easy to scan. Fortunately, here at Rocket Resume, we have a wide range of nurse manager resume templates that you can use, safe in the knowledge that they’re ATS-readable. They’re easy to adapt, so you can draw attention to your individual skills, expertise and experience. Plus, they take just minutes to build.

Create your nurse manager resume today, so you can make an excellent first impression.