Career Interview - Student Guide

Byron Center High School

The student will interview (in person) a single individual or team or persons currently
working in the career that the student is focusing on.
Student Name: ________________________
Employee Name: Sean McWhorter

Visit Date/Time: ___________________

Title: Registered Nurse

Company: Spectrum Health

Students: Ask the following questions and fill out this form. Do NOT ask the person
you are interviewing to fill this out for you.

INTERVIEW:
1. How and why did you choose this career?
I choose nursing as a profession because I have always liked helping people. Going to
the hospital or doctors office can be a scary thing for many people and I like to think
nurses can play a big role in helping people calm their nerves. Nursing as whole is also
very diverse and allows for many different types of nursing whether it is in the hospital,
at a doctors office, at home healthcare or health education in schools and hospitals.
2. What is a typical Day in Your Work Life like?
A typical day for me in the hospital is a bit longer than most professions. In the hospital
most people do 12 hour shifts and being new, typically means you have to work nights
as a nurse at first. Generally I have 3-4 patients that I care for a night. This involves
lots of charting (At least once an hour on each patient), passing meds, monitoring lab
values and vital signs (temp, heart rate, blood pressure, Oxygen saturation), helping
people ambulate in their rooms and hallways when possible and any other patient
related needs throughout the night.
3. What are the most and least rewarding aspects of your job?
I would say seeing the joy you can bring patients and families throughout their stays in
the hospital as well as seeing people continually progress and get better, knowing you
may have had some small part in that.
4. What are the working conditions like (Stress, Pace, Physical Comfort, Travel, Environment,
Relocation, Hours, Routine vs. Crisis, etc.)?
A typical week for me involves 3 12 hour shifts from 7 pm to 730 am. The hospital can
be a very stressful place when you are really busy and often have to work as a team to
make sure all meds are passed on time. Most nights are a bit slower than days due to
the patients sleeping however when things like codes happen, the pace and stress level
increases tremendously.
5. On the job, are you part of a team? __________ If so, what is the most important ingredient
for getting along?

I have my own patients but the hospital is very much a team setting. The most important
ingredient for getting along is being open to help other staff members if they need help knowing
that you would want the same from them when you need help.

6. Are you in charge of others?

No, charge nurses and floor managers are the ones in hospitals that watch over the floor
and team members.

7. What education requirements, college degrees, licenses are needed for your career? What Colleges
do you recommend for pursuing an education leading to this occupation?
You need your Bachelors in Science and Nursing for most hospitals now as well as you
nursing license which you obtain through taking your boards after school. You also need
other certification depending on the floor like CPR, BLS, ACLS and so on. Michigan
State, Michigan and Western Michigan all have very good nursing programs.

8. What are the most important skills and abilities required (Creativity, Emotional Distancing,
Emotional Involvement, Language/Communication, Manual Dexterity, Leadership, Physical Ability,
Persistence, Social Skills, Time Management, Logic/Reasoning, Negotiation, etc.)?
I would say Emotional Involvement, Language/Communication, Leadership, Persistence,
Social Skills, Logic/Reasoning, Time Management, Teamwork and Detailed are all very
important skills for nursing.
9. What High School and College courses have you found to be most applicable/important for
your occupation?
The most applicable/important courses I had in college where Fundamentals of Nursing,
Medical/Surgical nursing, Leadership and any course that has clinical/lab work as this
allowed for many hands on activities.
10. Have you continued to learn on the job?
Yes, healthcare professions require continually learning as it is always changing.
11. Would you choose this career if you could make the decision again? What (if anything)
would you do differently?
Id like to think yes but as Ive gotten older, I think there are many different directions I
would have also liked to explore. The only thing I would have done different was start
out at a community college first to get some pre recs out of the way to save some
money.
12. What do you wish you knew (but didnt) when you first contemplated this career?
I wish I would have known what a typical day for a nurse was like and what area of
nursing I most enjoyed.
13. What are the best opportunities for someone entering into your career?
The best opportunities involve lots of diversity in the many different areas of nursing
and the opportunity for advancement in various different fields once you have some
work experience.
14. Are there any trends (e.g. demographic, social, legal) that concern you? Any trends that will
make this career choice more or less attractive in the future?
I would say this career has really picked up in the past years and only continues to
become more attractive for the future as all of the baby boomers start to retire.
15. What is the Outlook for this career? Is there a shortage or oversupply of people in this
career today?

In reality there is a shortage of nurses around the world however it is getting harder in
some areas of the US to obtain a job due to hospital cutbacks for monetary reasons.
With Obama Care just getting started, it should open many more nursing jobs as the
need will increase due to vast amounts of people and families having healthcare
coverage they previously hadnt had.
16. What changes do you see in the future for this career?
Its hard to say as its always growing and changing.
17. Does this career involving living in one community all of your life or moving to different
cities/states/countries every couple of years?
You could do either. Stay at one hospital or doctors office or you have the ability to do
different things like be a traveling nurse and move to a different city or state every few
months.
18. Does this career provide the opportunity to balance time between work and family?
Yes, with full-time being three 12 hour shifts, you get to enjoy lots of time off during the
week for family and friends.
19. How much money does this career provide at the entry level? After you work for 10 yrs.?
Maximum potential for most talented/experience people? How much of the $$ is usually
base pay, bonus (performance driven), profit sharing, stock/partnership ownership, etc.?
Entry level is probably around 50-60K depending on the area and city and with 10+
years of exp. you can reach higher depending on your hospital but probably around 7080K. I would say max for a regular nursing position would be around 100K. Much of the
money typically comes from making an hourly rate and are not salaried employees
which allows for OT.
20. What are some related careers that I should consider?
Related careers include physical therapist, nurse practitioner, nurse anesthetist and
physicians assistant.
21. What advice do you have for a high school student thinking about this career?
Make sure you research the career first and go shadow a nurse in the hospital a few
times so you can see what a typical day is like. I would say to also explore the different
areas of nursing to see if something stands out more than others but you will also get
this from doing clinical work throughout school.
22. Where can I find more information about this career (i.e., Associations, on-line)?
You can find more info on-line from the American Nurses Association
(www.nursingworld.org).
23. Do you have any other information you would like to share? (You may use the back for
additional space, if needed.)
Just be you, find something you love and everything will work out fine