Preparing for Your University of Iowa Health Care Interview

Interview Questions You May Be Asked

Preparing for your interview will make your interview more successful. Before your interview, take the time to review questions that you could be asked. You don’t need to know the answers to these questions by heart, but be ready to talk about yourself, your skills, and your experiences. The following questions can serve as a guide to prepare you for an interview.

Personal: These are intended to help the employer understand how you best function and what your strengths are.

• Tell me a little about yourself. (Keep your answer career oriented).
• What are your strengths?
• What causes you stress and how do you handle it?
• Give me three adjectives that describe you.
• What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?
• What do you like to do in your spare time?

Career Goals: These are meant to show the employer how well you plan and what your hopes and dreams are.

• In five years, where do you see yourself? (Again, think about your career goals.)
• How do you define success?
• What kind of supervision do you like? What do your past bosses say about you?
• What do you do to keep up with changes in your field of work?
• How do you feel about working late at night and on the weekends for special events or activities?

Employer Information: These are meant to show the employer how much you know about the company and how prepared and excited you are about the job and the company.

• What do you know about our company/organization?
• What do you know about this position?

Educational Background: These are meant to help the employer see how your education fits with the job and how much you think about it.

• How did you decide on your career/field/major?
• Which college classes did you like best and worst, and why?
• What effects have the things you did in college had on you?
• Do you have future plans of furthering your education?
• What electives did you enjoy the most? Why?

When you talk about your experience, you should explain how your past jobs and experiences have given you the skills and knowledge needed for the job you are interviewing for.

• How would your co-workers/supervisors describe you?
• Tell me about a time when you had to get someone to agree with you.
• If you had to make a choice, please describe the situation and how you arrived at your choice.
• When did you have to work with someone who was difficult? How did you handle it?
• Tell me about your job at __________ and the useful skills you picked up.
• Given the chance, please give me an example of a time when you worked well with others.
• Give me 3 reasons why I should hire you.
• Is there anything you would like to add?
• What was your favorite and least favorite thing about your last job?

Questions that aren’t typical: These are meant to show the employer how well you can think on your feet, how you make decisions, or how creative you may be. There are no correct answers.

• Pick one: fork, knife, or spoon. Explain your choice.
• Why are manhole covers round?
• Sell me something in this room, anything.
• What were some things you did badly in your last job or project?
• Would you rather be an elephant or a giraffe? Explain your answer.
• Either pepper is better than salt or salt is better than pepper. Make a case for either one.
• What would you call an autobiography about your life right now if you had to choose a title?
• What kind of food would you be if you were one, and why?
• Who would you want to have dinner with from history, and why?

Behavioral Interview Questions

Behavioral-based interview questions are the most popular among recruiters. The purpose of behavioral questions is to identify how a potential new employee would act in future situations. Behavioral questions are often open ended, leaving the interviewee to fill in the blanks. To answer these questions in the most effective way, follow the STAR method. Remember to talk about the result most of the time—that’s what employers want to hear right away.

During the interview, your responses need to be specific and detailed. Tell them about a particular situation that relates to the question, not a general one. Briefly tell them the situation, what you did specifically, and the positive outcome or result (i. e. what did you learn). Your answer should contain these four steps: Situation, Task, Action, and Result.

• Set up the situation where you had a good result or a result that has something to do with the question. One example is something you did in class, an internship, or as a volunteer.
• Task: What goal were you working toward?
• What specifically did you do that made a difference? What was your part?
• Result: Describe what happened as a result of your actions. What did you learn? That’s what they want to hear most from your answer, so spend most of your time talking about that.

Example Question Tell me about a time when you took on a difficult project. What were the results?

Example STAR Answer to the Above Question

• During my internship last summer, I was in charge of planning and making events better.
• Task: I saw that attendance was going down every summer and wanted to get more people to come and make the events better.
• I made a new marketing plan that focused on free sites like social media and others. I asked focus groups what our target audience would like to see changed about our events and then told the event manager what I thought should be done.
• As a result, we used some of the ideas we came up with and advertised things every day. The number of people who came to our event increased by 80% last summer, which led to more money being raised. Our board of directors was very pleased with this increase.

Sample Questions About You

• Tell me about a time when you had a list of things to do and your boss or teacher told you, “I need this project/assignment done by 5 o’clock.” How did you handle the situation?.
• Tell me about a time when you didn’t reach your goal. What did you not do? What happened as a result?
• Tell me about a time when you were given a task but not much explanation on how to complete it. What steps did you take to finish the job? What happened?
• How do you stay organized so you can meet your goals or deadlines?

Sample Questions About Working With Others

• Please tell me about a time when you had to work with or be in class with a difficult person.
• How did you handle the situation? What were the outcomes?
• Tell me about a time when you had to make a tough choice that affected the people you worked with. What was the outcome?.
• Describe a time when you were a team leader. What did you do to help your team do well? Who else was on the team?
• Share a story about a time you had to get someone to agree with you. In what ways did you act? What happened? What did you learn?
• Tell me about a time when you came up with a new idea, finished a project, or worked with someone else creatively. How did you tell people about your idea, and how did they react?
• Share a story about a project you worked on with a group.
• Tell me about a time when you had to keep an eye on someone.
• Tell me about a time when a coworker told you they didn’t like your work. How did you handle the situation? What was the outcome?.
• Tell me about a time when you had to get other people to do something. What were the outcomes?.

HEALTHCARE Interview Questions and TOP-SCORING ANSWERS!

FAQ

How to answer health care interview questions?

What are your strengths and weaknesses in a healthcare interview?