"This is a great question. I'm a graduating registered nurse with a lot of confidence in my clinical skills. My classwork and clinical rotations have taught me so much. I had many hours of training in the med/surg setting, so I think my learning curve will be quicker than most new grads coming to Mount Sinai Hospital in your department. For me, I think it will be important to have a good amount of shadowing hours with other nurses on the unit so I can get a great overall feel for the workflow, processes, and communication preferences of the entire team and would expect to be up and running on my own after two short months."

"I think it depends on the length of orientation I would receive upon starting here at Mount Sinai Hospital. I am confident that I bring a level of competency to the position with my experience, but every unit is different. I can be a self-starter with minimal supervision with regular cardiac catheter patients, but I would like access to supervision with more complicated patients. And I always appreciate supervision and feedback from nursing leadership to learn and improve."

Ideally, you want to show your interviewer that you would join Mount Sinai Hospital as a coachable registered nurse without being too dependent or needy. You also want to project that you are confident and competent without being arrogant or troublesome for the new colleagues you will be working with. Your interviewer wants the best of both worlds in looking for a new registered nurse to join their team, so be prepared to describe your competency, initiative, and willingness to both ask for and receive supervision and direction.