7 of the Most Common Charge Nurse Interview Questions You'll Hear

Whether you’re applying for your first ever charge nurse position or simply looking for a new workplace, getting an invitation to an interview is exciting. It means you’re one step closer to getting the role you’ve been dreaming of.

First, however, you have to impress the interviewers with your answers to their questions. Fortunately, some charge nurse interview questions are extremely common. Let’s break them down and explore how you can answer them.

Charge Nurse Interview Questions That Often Come Up in Interview

1. How Would You Describe Yourself?

This open-ended question is an interviewee’s gift — but only if you don’t get side-tracked. Keep your response focused on traits that make you a good charge nurse, and back them up with work-related examples.

Don’t be afraid to show a little personality, but remember: the interviewer doesn’t care if you love science-fiction novels. They will, however, appreciate knowing that you’re detail-oriented or highly empathetic.

Other variations of this question include “Tell me about yourself” and “What makes you the best fit for this role?”

2. How Would Other Nurses Describe You?

By asking you this question, the interviewer is trying to find out about your interpersonal skills and self-awareness. This is the moment to explain how your behavior and personality help other nurses.

Mentioning weak points isn’t always bad so long as you show how you compensate for them, e.g., “When providing emergency care, I know that in my intense focus on patient safety, I can sometimes come across as abrupt to newer nurses. Although I’m always polite, I recognize that it’s an intimidating situation for them, and I don’t have time to be as slow and encouraging as normal. So, I always make sure to check in with them afterward and reassure them that they’re doing a good job.”

If this question comes on the back of question number one, make sure to explain any big differences between your responses.

3. Tell Me About a Time You Helped or Mentored Another Nurse

Any time any interviewer wants to know about something you’ve done or experienced, use the STAR — situation, task, action, result — technique. It will help you demonstrate the positive impact of your actions and the importance of the situation.

For example, you could say: “In my last role, I noticed a new nurse was struggling with his self-doubt. I knew he had a lot of potential, but when I spoke to him, he said he was terrified of making the wrong decision (situation). I wanted to boost his self-confidence, both for his own sake and to avoid it causing problems for patients and other nurses (task).

“When he came to me with questions, I always turned them back on him and got him to answer them. He began to realize he nearly always knew the right answer. I also regularly checked in with him and gave him feedback to help his confidence grow (actions). As he became more self-assured, he provided better care, was able to put his patients at ease and stopped taking up so much of other people’s time with obvious questions (result).”

4. What’s a Tough Nursing Decision You’ve Had to Make in the Last Six Months?

As a charge nurse, other nurses will be looking to you to help them make tough decisions. So, it’s no surprise that your interviewer will want to know how you handle these situations. They’ll be looking for critical thinking skills, a concern for patient safety, the ability to prioritize and signs that you manage pressure well.

When answering, make sure to clearly explain why this was a tough decision and the reasons behind your choice. Tell them what you’ve learned from the experience, too, and how you’ll handle that situation next time. You can use the STAR technique to help structure your answer.

5. How Do You Handle Pressure?

The key to answering this question is not saying that you never feel pressure. Instead, you need to show that pressure does not make you panic and that you have good coping methods. You could talk about taking a deep breath and prioritizing tasks in the moment and talking to friends or using self-care methods after your shift.

Common variations of this question include “how do you deal with stress?” and “how do you decompress after a difficult experience with a patient?”

6. Have You Ever Had Conflict With a Fellow Nurse?

Although it might feel like the right answer, don’t say “no.” Everyone has had a conflict with a co-worker, no matter how small it might have been. If you have to choose between conflict over personal matters (leaving dirty cups in the break room sink, for example) or professional ones (disagreements over how to treat a patient), opt for the latter.

When explaining what happened, don’t mistake this for an opportunity to complain about your coworker. Instead, demonstrate your empathy, conflict resolution skills and assertiveness. Use the STAR technique to explain what the conflict was, showing that you understood the other nurse’s perspective even though you didn’t agree with it; what actions you took to resolve the conflict; and what you learned from the situation.

Prepare yourself for follow-up questions, too, such as: How would you handle that situation if it happened today? What was your relationship like with this nurse afterward? How do you think you could have dealt with the situation better?

7. What Do You Do to Make Sure a Shift Runs Smoothly?

As a charge nurse, this will be a major part of your role. The problem is that you probably do a lot of things to ensure shifts go smoothly without even thinking about them. So, if you haven’t prepared for this question, you could end up underselling yourself.

To avoid overlooking anything important, mind-map your actions on a piece of paper. Think through your routine, step by step. Another option is to list things that could go wrong on a shift; this should lead you to the steps you normally take to avoid them.

Polish Your Resume to Get Invited to More Charge Nurse Interviews

You have the passion, expertise and experience for the job. The only thing you need to do is demonstrate that to the interviewer.

Of course, you can only do that if you’re invited to the interview stage — and for that, you need a professional resume that shows recruiters why you’re the right person for the job. It should be well-presented, machine-readable and customized to both your experience and the role.

With our extensive selection of charge nurse resume templates, we can help you improve your resume. All our templates are ATS-readable and easy to adjust, so you can highlight your skills and experience.

Build your charge nurse resume in minutes.