This past Thrusday I had my panel interview with KPSA. I think it was a rather nice experience despite all the stressing I've been going through up until this point. Regardless, I'm glad it's over. For the skinny and debrief skip to the bottom, for the detailed synopsis, read on.
A couple months back I got the invitation for the panel interview at KPSA. Unfortunately, it fell right in the middle of a military tour I'd be doing at the Navy Medical Center in San Diego. I called Sandra Hinkson over at KPSA to see if I could reschedule, but unfortunately, interviews were fixed due to the logistical issue of getting the panel together. So it was basically figure out a way to skip duty for a day and scoot my way back up to Pasadena for the interview. Fortunately, the department head on my assigned unit was understanding of my Reserve/civilian status and made accommodations for my schedule.
So after my 12 hour shift on Wednesday, I drove back to home to Long Beach. Tired from the drive, I did little prepping for the interview. I figured everything I needed to know I already did and had already figured this would be more of a personality and behavioral interview. The next morning I woke up, had breakfast that my girlfriend prepared for me and drove up to Pasadena, knocked out my interview, and then came back to San Diego for my shift on Friday morning. It's been a busy week needless to say.
Anyways, here's how it went down:
I would break the interview process down into three parts. There was an initial introduction, the panel interview itself, and a teamwork/scenario workshop.
My interview was scheduled at 1400. On the invitation there was a note to come in 30 minutes earlier than your scheduled interview time. When I checked in at 1320, I told the guard I was a little early, but he noted I was right on time, stating that I was scheduled to check in at 1330 and logged in my time in the book. Basically, if you come early, you're really on time, and if you come on time, you're late.
The first part of the interview is the introduction. After checking in, you go into a room and sit down with Sandra Hinkson and a few other candidates. This is your "staging" room. Sandra introduces you to the other students and you have time to talk and get to know everyone. The conversations we had had nothing to do with the interview process or anything CRNA related and were definitely not of professional in nature. We actually talked about some rather potentially offensive topics: the shitty parking situation, gay marriage, animal abuse, euthanasia, incest, alcoholism, politics, and the Olympics. Sandra is quite straight forward, cusses a lot, and I found it quite amusing. She also gives you some papers with FAQs and instructions for the interview process. I think the point of this was to serve three purposes: to help you calm your nerves, to observe your ability to interact with other candidates, and to see how you really are in an informal setting. I have a feeling that although Sandra was just an administrative assistant, she has a large say in who gets picked.
When its your turn, Dr. Boytim comes and pulls you into another the room for the panel interview. He gives you a quick briefing, tells you that panel members have your packet and have reviewed your resume and that the panel consisted of faculty and current and former students. He tells you they ask 6-8 questions which, for the most part, were pertinent to your resume and it should last about 10-15 minutes. He tells you to be youself and to answer the questions. The interview is basically self guided.
As you enter the room and take your seat; the seating arrangement in the room makes the interview a little bit more intimidating. The room is situated as a horseshoe with you in the middle. On one side of the room are Dr. Boytim, Dr. Nagelhout and another senior faculty member; everyone else is on the otherside; nobody is really directly in front of you, which makes addressing the entire audience at the same time awkward.
As you answer your question, you'll notice that only half the room is paying attention. Everyone else is doing something; staring down, talking amongst themselves, or just blanking staring at you. Based on my previous interview, I figured most of them just are skimming your resume and reading your mission statement. The only people that seem to be paying attention and initially asking questions are Dr. Boytim and Dr. Nagelhout; but remember to try to make eye contact and address everyone.
Here's a few questions they asked me and how I answered them.
1) Tell us about yourself. - I basically outlined my resume quickly, told them my ICU and work experience, my educational background, certifications, and current goals.
2) What do you think makes a good team. - I cited my experience from the Air Force; a good team has a good leader to direct the team towards a common goal, to provide an environment that fosters growth of team members through education, providing resources, and allows for opportunity to debrief and allow feedback to improve performance.
3) What kind of ICU did you work in, did you deal with ventilators/weaning/drips/etc.? - I quickly discussed my experience in KP WLA's and Centinela's ICU and the types of disease processes we treated.
4) Please clarify "focused-introvert" in regards to your mission statement. - I stated that I have an introverted personality type; while I work well as a team and can be sociable, I do best when I am left to think on my own. I also stated that while I am able to grasp a general idea or goal, I tend to have an easier time in situations require tactile skills and compartmentalized focus. I also made it clear that while I am by no means OCD or type A, but I have a high level of attention to detail and efficiency. I provided examples of having meticulous line hygiene contributed to my ability to work quickly and how attention to small details, such as having positive pressure valves on your drips and swiping a stick of antiperspirant across my forward before the interview contributed to better outcome.
5) We see that you started your master's program. Did they make you declare a focus of study and why did you decide CRNA over NP? - I figured that they would ask me this question. I stated that one of my goals was to continue my education and no matter that I'd be going on to graduate school, so I started my graduate program at CSULB to start some core courses. I stated that I declared Adult Geriatric NP as my area of focus and discussed my shadow experience with both NPs and CRNAs. I expanded on how I didn't think being a clinician/diagnostician was a fit for my personality. I discussed how I enjoyed the fast paced work flow and procedural aspects of being a CRNA.
7) Tell us about your shadowing experience. - I briefly discussed shadowing a day with a former KPSA alumni that recent graduated. I also mentioned shadowing with another CRNA that graduated from an east coast program who let me get a little more hands on.
8) Did you do any precepting on your ICU? - I mentioned one of the candidates from the week before that happened to be my coworker.
9) You've been working for a few years and have been making good money; do you believe you are ready for this program? How is your support system? - I discussed how I've been paying off credit cards and student loans to prepare for full time graduate school. I told them I was prepared to revert back to my cup ramen and PB&J diet. I also mentioned that although I applied at other schools, one of the reasons KPSA is my number one choice because my primary support system is in Southern California.
10) Please expand on your use of the term "reduction of daily fecal matter load" in your mission statement. - One of the interviewers stated that in his 25 years of reading mission statements he's never had anybody use the term "fecal matter" in their mission statements. I just smiled and reverted back to my goals; I stated that one of the main reasons I wanted to pursue higher education was so that I could get away from bedside before 1) I hurt back back, and 2) so I could reduce the amount of fecal matter I deal with on a daily basis, literally and figuratively. At this point most of the room started chuckling. I don't know if this is good or bad.
11) Do you have any questions for us? - I avoided asking questions that were on already answered on the FAQs. I basically asked for feedback in regards to how the interview went and if there was anything I can address in regards to my resume and qualifications that I may have been of concern. They said that I did pretty well and that there weren't any pertinent issues they were concerned about.
They ended up asking a lot more questions than I thought they'd ask. After the interview, I asked Dr. Boytim in the hall how he thought it went. He said he thought I did well and answered all the questions appropriately. After the panel interview you and another candidate proceed to another room. In the room, Dr. Elisha, Dr. Heiner, and some current students present you a scenario.
It's a pretty simple scenario, much easier than the scenario I had to deal with at the USF interview but I think they just want to get a feel of how you problem solve with your peers. I believe the other candidate and I did a pretty good job, we bounced ideas off each other and discussed how we would intervene, what diagnostics we would need, and what we thought the diagnosis was. We came to a conclusion and presented how we would manage the situation. I think we did so fairly well.
The second part of the scenario had to do with how well you dealt with criticism and the question went along the lines of 'you overhead other nurses stating that you were incompetent and that your care would lead the patient's dismise, how do you deal with that situation?' My partner stated that she would complete the patient care and since she obviously knew she wasn't incompetent, she would approach the other nurses and the manager and see how she would deal with the situation. I took a more conservative approach and stated that after stabilizing the patient, I wouldn't necessarily confront the other nurses nor would I take it to heart. I would approach my manager and without stating names say that I overheard other nurses saying that my care was incompetent and if there was any performance feedback she could offer. I saw the faculty members taking notes and took that as a good sign.
After the scenario portion we were told we were free to go. I still, however, wanted to pick Sandra's brain for a minute, since she said she would answer any questions we would have after the interview. I went back to the room and sat down and asked her in a straight forward manner: "So how do they really pick who gets in?"After a brief discussion about how the admission process was an art form of behavioral and personality analysis mixed with science. I asked her if there was a point in reapplying if I didn't get in this year and she said yes of course. After our discussion, I told her that if I didn't see her in August, I'd see her same time next year. She told me that if she didn't see me in August, she'd track me down herself. I left with a smile. :)
TL;DR:
It went well, I left feeling good about how the interview went. Now it's just a waiting game to hear back.
Theme of the interview:
The words that kept reverberating in my head that the alumni I shadowed with kept mentioning was, "Just be yourself." and I used that as the common theme for how I approached the interview. I tried not to overly prepare or sound too rehearsed.
I think the whole point of the interview was to figure out a few things; how dedicated you are and how well you'd get along with other students in the program. To this, you have to answer the following questions: do you know what you want, why do you want it, and how you prepared for it. You'd have to so while being personable and "real."
