Ask any travel nurse, and they will tell you that for the most part, their interview process for assignments is almost always over the phone, which can be very different from a face-to-face experience. All of those nuances like eye contact, the way you move your hands, posture, a friendly smile and a professional appearance can’t be translated on a phone call, so there is typically an entirely different protocol that needs to be followed.
There are several ways that travel nurses can present the best versions of themselves over the phone, and there are some key things that they’ll want to avoid. Here are the top four to keep in mind:
1. Don’t ramble: This is a difficult thing to conquer for many interviewees, because many individuals don’t want to leave out crucial details about their background. It’s also tough to read cues that would indicate you are rambling over the phone, as a lot of these are related to body language.
However, there are ways to showcase your professional life without revealing too much, even over the phone. Keep in mind that interviewers aren’t looking for the life story that lead up to your travel nursing career, they are simply trying to see if you will be the right nurse for a specific assignment.
According to Career Cast, when an interviewer asks you to “tell a little bit about yourself,” you should already have a brief explanation of each job in your work history already prepared to avoid rambling.
2. Avoid asking about salary range or other worries: Unless the interviewer offers you the assignment at the end of the call, it’s not tactful to bring up salary range for positions during the beginning stages of the interview process. Plus, discussions about salary are generally handled through your healthcare staffing agency.
3. Watch your voice: 80 percent of human communication is done through body language, according to Hcareers, so the quality and structure of your language is going to be crucial during a phone interview. Make sure that your choice of words and sentence structure are selected carefully. Don’t be afraid to take your time when responding to questions (this will also keep you from rambling). It’s always better to ensure that you are giving thoughtful responses, even if there are some brief lulls in the conversation.
Additionally, your tone should have a high level of energy and enthusiasm to indicate that you are excited about the assignment. This is the one way to showcase your personality over the phone.
‘Mirror’ the interviewer’s vocality. According to Hcareers, patterning the tone and rhythm of the interviewer can also help you look more credible for the position. For instance, if the interviewer speaks slow and softly, you wouldn’t want to answer with a loud and booming voice.
4. Have a great set of questions prepared: The interviewer can’t see your visual cues, so if there are any lingering questions you might have, you will need to address them at the end of the interview. This is an excellent way to showcase how your set of skills as a travel nurse will be best suited to the assignment.
For instance, if you are interviewing for a position in the NICU, you might want to craft some questions related to the position that will shed more light into your background and experience with this patient demographic.
Phone interviews can be tough, but they aren’t impossible. With these pointers in mind, travel nurses can steer through a phone interview successfully and find the meaningful work that they are seeking.