5 Skills Employers Look For In Nurses

(Estimated reading time: 3 minutes)

Aside from fulfilling the basic requirements and passing the examination, you would very likely need to pass an interview in order to be hired in a hospital in the country of your choice. In the interview, you would need to be able to showcase the 5 skills employers look for to highlight your work ethic.

There are some important skills that interviewers are looking for when hiring nurses. While they may not be in the job description, they will definitely show up in the interview. It’s more than being just a registered nurse or having a number of years of nursing experience. These skills are “intangibles” – ones that have no physical proof but can be found with the right questions.

Leadership

Not everyone will get a management role at the hospital, but there are different ways for you to show leadership.

Ways that you can lead include volunteering to help others when you have free time, getting to know people from different departments so you can work with them efficiently, or even ask if you can lead orientation for new nurses. These are some examples you can bring up when asked about leadership roles.

Flexibility

To show flexibility, you must be willing to take on emergency calls and change shifts. Your supervisors might need you to work on different days, or take shifts that may pay less. It’s hard for recruiters to choose nurses who aren’t willing to compromise.

If you show ability to compromise, your leaders would be more than willing to grant you favors in the future.

Positivity

It’s hard to be positive in difficult situations. Whether it’s you being tired or having problems back at home or struggling with a patient’s critical condition, some situations might bring your mood down. In turn, your quality of work might be affected. But if you show ability to be positive regardless of these situations and give hope to others, your recruiters would love you.

Stamina

Everyone can get tired after a 10- or 12-hour shift. However, if you’re taking a rest only a few hours after your shift started, your leaders and coworkers will definitely notice. You can’t easily prove stamina, but you can show that you are physically fit and are even actively involved in sports or improving your fitness.

Compassion

Why did you become a nurse? Most likely you would say it’s because you want to take care of the sick. The best nurses are the ones who go above and beyond because they care about their patients.

In an interview, if there’s an opportunity, talk about an experience with a patient that stood out to you the most. If you can also show that you’re active in causes and charity, put it in your resume. It would show that you care about others and strive to make a difference.

You can definitely ace this interview with these tips! We can take care of your international exam applications and help you review for the examination. Just contact us on the official IPASS Processing website or the contact details available below.