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Clinical Nurse Specialist Mock Interview

Question 21 of 25 for our Clinical Nurse Specialist Mock Interview

Clinical Nurse Specialist was updated by on April 8th, 2021. Learn more here.

Question 21 of 25

Have you had the opportunity to teach an important skill to a co-worker?

"Last month our hospital introduced a new module in our EMS system. I could see that our more seasoned clinical nurse was having some troubles with the new module. I was familiar with it already so I offered to help him learn the module. We spent his lunch hour for the next 3 days working on it. He perfected the module in no time!"

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How to Answer: Have you had the opportunity to teach an important skill to a co-worker?

Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Clinical Nurse Specialist job interview.

  • 21. Have you had the opportunity to teach an important skill to a co-worker?

      How to Answer

      Interviewers want to hear that you have experience teaching or mentoring other employees one-on-one. This could include registered nurses or junior hospital staff.

      You may have taught a new hire all of your department's standard processes. Perhaps you taught a long-standing employee how to use a newly implemented medical records software. All of these scenarios are great examples to draw on. Better yet, if you have personally seen someone struggling with workplace skills or knowledge, approached them, and offered to mentor them, it is a shining example of leadership!

      Whatever your scenario may be, tell the interviewer what you helped the person with, while highlighting the positive outcome of their skills improvement.

      Written by Rachelle Enns

      Entry Level

      "I'm proud to say that, even without any official management capacity, I often seize the opportunity to teach others at work. Not only have I helped contribute to the training of a new medical software system, but I have also been able to take a couple of interns under my wing this year. It's fun to teach others, especially since I am always seeking out learning opportunities for myself. It's nice to give back or pay it forward."

      Written by Rachelle Enns

      Answer Example

      "Last month our hospital introduced a new module in our EMS system. I could see that our more seasoned clinical nurse was having some troubles with the new module. I was familiar with it already so I offered to help him learn the module. We spent his lunch hour for the next 3 days working on it. He perfected the module in no time!"

      Written by Rachelle Enns

      Experienced

      "I have had many opportunities, in my eighteen-year career, to teach important skills to my co-workers. Because I am more seasoned, I am often tasked with training interns, newly registered nurses, and other junior team members. I am known as a catheterization specialist in our ward, so that is one particular skill that I train often. The same goes for IV device training. I look forward to showing you my leadership skills in action!"

      Written by Rachelle Enns

      Anonymous Interview Answers with Professional Feedback

      Anonymous Answer

      "During my career, I had many opportunities to mentoring students and guiding newly qualified staffs on the ward. I have been teaching and supervising skills like dressing, ECG, catheters cannulation etc.; again, I have taken the lead in teaching lateral flow covid test in our department for staffs members on our unit, which I really enjoyed."

      Rachelle's Feedback

      Terrific! It sounds like you have many leadership skills and a history of taking the reigns when opportunities to lead and mentor arise. To strengthen your response, I recommend adding a specific story-based example at the end. I have included a starter for you below.
      "Throughout my career, I have had many opportunities to mentor students and guide newly qualified staff members in the ward. I have taught skills and supervised activities such as dressing, ECG, catheters, cannulation, and more. I have taken the lead in teaching lateral flow covid tests in our department for staff members on our unit, which I really enjoyed. Recently, I had the opportunity to teach a co-worker to...(provide a story-based example using the STAR framework)."

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