Job Preparation Skills

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Have students review local paper and websites for available nursing jobs.  Have them choose a job of interest and discuss the following aspects.  Have students participate in practice interview for the job.  The student should come to practice session dressed as they would for the interview and bring necessary supplies.

How to choose a job to apply for

  • Review qualifications for job
  • Choosing references

Building a resume

  • Provide sample resumes
  • Review resume
  • Refer to career center

Interview Etiquette

  • What to expect
  • How to dress and behave
  • Writing Thank You Letters (see section titled Writing Thank Your Letters)

Common Interview Questions

  • Tell us about yourself.
  • What type of nursing experience do you have?
  • Why do you want to work in our hospital and/or community?
  • Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
  • What’s your greatest weakness?  Tell about a time that you made a mistake.  What happened?  What did you learn?
  • Tell about a time you had conflict with a colleague.  How did you handle it?  What was the result?
  • What motivates you?
  • How do you cope with stressful situations?
  • What are your strengths?  How can you contribute to the unit/department and the organization?
  • How do you describe your skills as a team player?
  • How will you deal with difficult patients/families?
  • How will you handle unexpected circumstances, such as being short staffed and having to perform a treatment you have not done before?
  • Describe a difficult decision you've made and the process you went through to reach that decision.

Networking & Professional Development Activities

Student Day

Nursing Student Professional Development Day, held each November, will integrate the social determinants of health into the discussion of community based care and vulnerable populations.  Speakers from the NNCC will collaborate with project staff to present this information. All nursing students and faculty will attend. Nursing alumni providing care in settings where they encounter health disparities regularly will be included in a panel discussion of social determinants of health. NNCC workshop topics for students and faculty include:

  • Landscape of health in Philadelphia
    • Demographics, diverse, aging communities of Philadelphia
    • Health issues and chronic disease
    • Health disparities
    • Social determinants of health
    • Recent findings and trends from PHMC’s Community Health Database
  • Policy and changing landscape of healthcare in the U.S., Part 1
    • Changes in legislation and the implications for healthcare
    • Team-based care
    • Electronic health records – using data to improve practice management, care and health outcomes
  • Community health centers – nurse-managed healthcare
    • National landscape
    • Local landscape
    • Integration of services (behavioral health, primary care)
    • Impact of nurse-led healthcare – key characteristics
  • Changing landscape of health care in the U.S., Part 2—alternative careers in nursing
    • Community-based nursing
    • Public health nursing
    • Home visiting programs
  • The annual Nursing Student Professional Development Day is an opportunity for current students to interact with a wide array of alumni who discuss their career paths, academic progression, barriers they perceived and strategies they employed to overcome those barriers. The highlight of Nursing Student Professional Development Day is the question and answer period where students ask the speakers for career path advice. Alumni speakers report that writing a term paper for each nursing class prepared them for the writing intensive courses in the BSN program and that the nursing faculty mentoring process was particularly helpful. The annual College Transfer Fair will include a group session for nursing students with a speaker from a local BSN program. The speaker will discuss academic progression pathways and the curriculum at the school the speaker represents. Project staff will discuss continued education at the BSN level including national trends and recommendations regarding education level of nursing workforce.

 

Evidence-Based Practice Conference

Each year the Department of Nursing sponsors an Evidence-Based Practice Conference, which the second semester students present on current issues and topics in nursing.  Each clinical group is assigned a topic.  They are then responsible for researching the topic and presenting it at the conference.  As part of the requirements, each clinical group must submit an abstract for the conference program, a reference list, and a handout of some kind.  On the day of the conference, there is a keynote speaker, usually a local nurse leader and several concurrent sessions.  The students are expected to dress in professional attire.  When their group is not presenting, the students are able to choose which concurrent sessions to attend.  The clinical faculty mentor the students through the presentation development and all first year faculty attend the conference to support the students.  College administrators are also invited to attend the conference.

Meetings with Nurse Leaders

Once or twice a semester, organize a meet and greet or lunch and learn with a local nurse leader.  The students are expected to research the leaders’ contributions to the nursing community and come prepared with 3 questions to ask during the meeting.  Afterwards, the students write a thank you letter to the nurse leader.  These meetings foster students’ networking and professional development skills as they make connections with local leaders and learn about various ways to overcome obstacles and contribute to the nursing community.

Professional Organizations

Belonging to professional organizations is another important method of role socialization for nurses.  As mentors, encourage students to join their state’s student nurse association.  Have them research other professional organizations that may interest them.  What does it cost to join these organizations?  What is the mission of the organization?  How does belonging to that organization benefit the nurse?  Have them talk to nurses about what professional organizations they belong to and why.  Have them share their research with other nurses.

Political Advocacy

Help students identify current legislation or issues that are affecting healthcare.  Help them draft a letter to their local senators requesting their support for particular legislation or for them to not support specific legislation.

Attending Local & National Conferences

Role modeling is an important aspect of mentoring and students enjoy being able to spend time with their instructors performing professional activities.  This is one of the reasons why students find clinical experiences so valuable.  Invite students to attend local or national conferences with you, even if it is only for part of the conference.  Apply for grants or scholarships to decrease the cost for students. Most conferences offer student discounts.  Have students submit abstracts to conferences with the mentor’s assistance.  Encourage them to publish articles in nursing magazines.

Student Clubs

Today’s students want to contribute to society and improve their communities.  Often times they do not know what to do or how to begin.  Faculty can support students through club activities and role modeling ways to give back to the community.  Two nursing student clubs: the Global Nursing Club and the Nursing Student Club are examples of ways faculty can role model community engagement and professional development. The Global Nursing Club focuses on health disparities, providing peer support, health promotion and education during one week trips to underserved areas. In the recent past they have visited rural Mexico and rural West Virginia. They also spent a week providing health promotion and education to residents of a Native American reservation in Montana. In addition, the Global Nursing Club sponsors community activities and assists local agencies with health related needs.  The Nursing Student Club activities include service to the local community. They collected over 150 books for abused pre-school children receiving supportive day care services provided by the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center in Philadelphia. Both clubs will describe their health promotion and education during Nursing Student Professional Development Day. 

 

Writing Thank You Letters

Guidelines:

  1. Send promptly after meeting, interview, or receiving award (within a week).
  2. Write clearly and concisely.
  3. Double-check for typos and grammatical errors
  4. Express enthusiasm
  5. Be sincere
  6. Send it typewritten in business format.
  7. Use quality paper if sending by mail.

Sample letter

Good afternoon, Jeanette,

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me yesterday about the staff writer position with Business News Daily.

It was a pleasure meeting with you, and I truly enjoyed learning more about the role and the company. After our conversation, I am confident that my skills and experiences are a great match for this opportunity.

I am very enthusiastic about the possibility of joining your team and would greatly appreciate a follow-up as you move forward with the hiring process. If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me by email or phone. Thanks again, and I hope to hear from you in the near future.

 Best regards,
Nicole Taylor

Source: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5578-sample-thank-you-letters.html

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