Are You Prepared for These Top Healthcare Interview Questions?

As the U.S. job market continues to improve, healthcare is among the industries experiencing the largest surge in employment. Availablehealthcare job openings are expected to continue to increase through 2012 and beyond. If you've been considering a career in healthcare, you will likely find many available positions, even if you currently have little real world healthcare experience. In fact, according to one survey of health care employers, 37 percent have open positions available for which they have not yet found suitable candidates.

In order to fill their staffing needs, it is predicted that more healthcare employers will hire inexperienced medical program graduates. It is also predicted that a greater emphasis may be placed on character over skill. This has already been seen in a shift in focus of healthcare interview questions. Many healthcare hiring managers and recruiters are asking more character-discerning questions of candidates during each interview. This enables them to get a feel for a potential employee's character qualities and values as well as predict behavior in tough situations.

Whether you're just beginning your healthcare job search or have already been around the interview block a few times, you can expect to encounter at least some of the character-based questions in the following list. As with any other interview questions, advanced preparation of your answers will enable you to respond with ease.

- Sometimes an absence is unavoidable. However, what do you feel qualifies as an excessive number of absences in a year?

- How do you deal with situations that could cause you to be late for work?

- If your shift ends at 5:30 and your replacement has not arrived by 5:45, what do you do?

- If your shift ends at 5:30 and you've finished all your work by 5:00, what do you do with the remaining time?

- Tell me about the last time someone critiqued your work. How did you respond?

- Have you ever disagreed with a supervisor's decision? Tell me how you handled the situation.

- Give me an example of a time when you did more than what was expected.

- When you have a lot to do, but not enough time on your shift to do it, how do you handle the situation?

- If I were to ask your previous employer about your character and job performance, what would he/she say?

- What do you think dependability means to an employer? How about honesty? Sensitivity? Compassion?

- What keeps you motivated?

- What character traits do you possess that will make you an excellent physician assistant, nurse practitioner or other doctor's office employee?

Think about your answers to these possible healthcare interview questions. Write them down. Practice them on your family. While you don't want your responses to sound too rehearsed, some preparation is usually better than answering on the fly. Answer correctly and you may even end your healthcare job search with a job offer.