Red Flags in Nursing Interviews (RN)

00:01 Let's debrief from the last section where we went in depth on the best questions to ask in a nursing interview and just highlight some of the super red flag answers that you should have if these come up.

00:15 Just seriously question if you want to work at this place.

00:18 The first one being frequent turnover.

00:21 Why are people not staying? If they are not staying, you probably won't want to either.

00:27 Two. They don't want you to shadow.

00:30 They are hiding something.

00:31 I promise.

00:32 Three.

00:34 Nurses who work there look uncomfortable.

00:36 And when you ask if you should work there, I can tell you what people...

00:40 When people asked me this, and I was at my first job, I did the fish mouth thing and I was, like, trying not to silently scream, like, "no".

00:48 And at my second job, I loved it and I honestly could not stop saying enough good things about it. So, if they're silent or like this face, that's a no. Four.

00:59 If they keep throwing around the words "great camaraderie" that means that there is some evil force that everyone is fighting together,okay? And the evil force might be the unit.

01:13 A few mentions of great teamwork.

01:15 That's wonderful. We want to see that.

01:17 But if it's like every sentence and seems to be all that they have in terms of benefits ? Goodbye, friend. This is not for you.

01:25 Five. Being forced to be in charge without a clear timeline.

01:28 If they say, "Hey, yeah, we do require you to be charged after two years".

01:34 Like, that's fine.

01:35 It's kind of annoying that they make you be it, but it's not a big deal.

01:38 If they say "yes, you will be forced to be in charge.

01:40 And we cannot give you a timeline on that".

01:42 Yikes. You could be like me and be a three-month-old nurse and be in charge. Run, friend.

01:49 Run. Six.

01:52 They have no idea what they see most.

01:55 If you ask for that list of the five or six most common diagnoses and that manager is kind of looking at you and they are like, "well, livers or something like that", they probably are super out of touch and that is not the place that you want to be because you want a management team that still gets it and goes out and at least maintains a general interest with the patient population enough to know the general "what is going on, what's up, what procedures do we do?" All of that. And seven.

02:25 A super high RRT rapid response and code rate on a non-ICU floor. Why are the warning signs of a patient decompensating being missed? Is it because people are too frantic? Are they too busy? Are they not listening when it's reported? Or are the nurses all really new? Problem.

02:43 Eight and the last.

02:45 A long contract that ties you to the unit for more than a year to 18 months.

02:49 Some types of contracts, that's kind of typical.

02:52 But if they're trying to hold you hostage for more than like 18 months, that's a really long time. That's weird.

02:58 And they're obviously relying on keeping people by force, versus keeping people by being a cool place to work.

03:05 And you should proceed with caution.

03:07 As always with these types of things, if you have any red flags to add, this is by no means an end all be all list.

03:12 So please add all of your red flags below in the comments.

03:15 We learn the most from each other in these situations.

03:18 And goodness knows we need all the help we can get when it comes to avoiding red flags.