Are you wondering how to prepare to answer interview questions about your short-term goals for your nursing career?
When you’re interviewing for a nursing position, the interviewer will want to get to know more about what motivates you and where you are hoping to go in your career.
This often brings up the question of short-term goals. This question can take many forms, but it’s best to be prepared to answer it honestly and clearly.
The interviewer will want to get a sense of your personal and professional goals and how they will impact your potential role on the team.
We are going to give you 5 sample answers to help you craft the perfect response to questions about your short-term goals in your nursing career and help you nail the interview.
Short-Term Goals for Nursing Interview Answers
The key to acing your nursing interview is preparation.
When you know what’s likely to be asked, you can spend time thinking about how you feel and how you want to answer each question.
While there’s no way to predict every question you’ll be asked, it’s a safe bet that you will be asked about your short-term goals for your nursing career.
Spend some time before your interview thinking about what those goals are and how they align with your potential employer.
To help you start thinking about your own short-term goals for nursing, here are 5 sample answers to this question that you can use or build on for yourself:
1. Find a specialty
A common goal for many new nurses who are just starting out in their career is to find the specialty that they want to work in.
Although you have spent time doing rotations during nursing school, nothing beats true on-the-job experience to show you where your passion lies.
See also: Interview Questions for New Grad Nurses
This is a great short-term goal to share with an interviewer because it shows that you are focused on finding a path and sticking with it.
If the hospital or medical center you are interviewing at has all of the specialties that you are hoping to explore, share your excitement about that.
2. Train for a supervisor role
Many nurses love working directly with patients and don’t have aspirations to move into supervisory positions like charge nurses or other lead roles.
However, many nurses aspire to move up the ladder and take on more responsibility in hopes of advancing their careers.
See also: Charge Nurse Interview Questions
If you think that you would ultimately like to go for a supervisory role in nursing, this is a great thing to share during an interview.
Explain your loose plan or timeline for when you hope to take on additional responsibility and express interest in how the organizational chart works at the hospital.
Talk about how you hope to use leadership in your everyday work to help you build up to that point when an opening comes up or the time is right.
See also: Nurse Leadership Interview Questions
3. Improve your teamwork skills
You already know that nurses are the glue that holds hospitals together.
Teamwork is one of the number one skills that all nurses must possess, and it shows commitment and aptitude to share that you are focused on improving those teamwork skills consistently.
This is a great opportunity to share experiences where you feel like your teamwork could have been better or important lessons that you have learned in nursing school or in past nursing jobs.
Let the interviewer know about your goal to improve your teamwork with your fellow nurses, doctors, and other staff for the good of the hospital.
4. Develop a patient-centric style
Nurses spend so much time with patients, so it’s crucial to love that person-to-person interaction.
Over time, you will hone your own personal style of how you relate to patients and communicate with them.
Telling your interviewer that one of your short-term goals is to become more patient-centric is a great answer to this type of question.
It shows that you are self-aware and focused on continuous improvement in one of the fundamental areas of your job.
See also: Band 8 Nurse Interview Questions
5. Advance your knowledge
If you are interviewing at a particular hospital or medical center because you hope to learn something like a special teaching style or unique specialty, expand upon that.
Show the interviewer that you have a thirst for knowledge and that you hope to grow in their program.
This will both flatter the interviewer and also show that you are not looking to remain complacent, but rather that you take your education very seriously.
How to Answer About Short-Term Goals for Nursing Interview?
When you are asked to answer questions about your short-term goals as a nurse, it’s important, to be honest, and speak from the heart.
Let them see your personality shine through your goals so that you can help them understand a little bit more about what drives you and what you will bring to their nursing program.
If you’re feeling stuck, spend some time thinking about what your long-term goals are for your nursing career.
Asking yourself this question will usually help you back into your short-term goals because the short-term goals are stepping stones toward those that are further out.
It’s important to have clarity on what your short-term goals are and be comfortable speaking about them.
Write out your short-term goals in a list format and expand upon each one in great detail.
Use what you’ve written to create a more concise version of your goals that you can easily and comfortably talk about.
Consider having a mock interview with a friend or colleague who is also a nurse or someone who is knowledgeable about the industry.
Ask them to help critique your answers and give you feedback on things to improve.
Conclusion: Nursing Interview Short-Term Goals
It’s inevitable that you will be asked to share your short-term goals for your nursing career, so it’s important to be prepared.
Speak candidly about the small micro-goals you’ve set for yourself on your way to becoming a supervisor, taking on a specialty, or developing your own personal care style.
Best of luck with your upcoming interview!
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