Nursing Supervisor

Nursing Supervisor qualifications to look for

Nursing supervisors take charge of day-to-day management and long-term planning of patient care. Your top hire will have significant hands-on experience as well as excellent managerial knowledge. 

This position usually requires an RN plus ample experience working in healthcare. Your candidates should have a thorough knowledge of nursing duties, and relevant work experience pertaining to your specific job duties like administrating tasks. 

 📌Don’t forget: Check local legislation as licensure requirements vary per location and job description.

Keep an eye out for candidates who are:

• Calm under pressure
• Strong communicators
• Powerful leaders
• Solid conflict resolvers
• Detail-oriented
• Compassionate
  

Top tip: Diversity is key to a thriving workplace. Keep an eye out for management and exec-level candidates from varying backgrounds and aim to eliminate bias from your hiring process.

Role-specific interview questions

• What’s your experience in training, supervising and evaluating? Are you comfortable taking on this role? 
• How do nursing or management skills balance out as a nursing supervisor? Is one more important than the other? 
• How would you report to the nursing director? How do you maintain relationships with your supervisors?
• What do you do differently when managing newly trained nurses as opposed to experienced nurses? How do you mentor new nurses? 
• What kinds of patients did you deal with as a nurse? What is the typical volume of patients you handle each shift? 
• Do you have solid computer skills? What programs are you comfortable using? 
• Are you comfortable taking up nursing responsibilities if you are short-staffed?  

Behavioral interview questions

• Give me an example of a time you improved efficiency in clinical operations. What was the outcome? 
• Tell me about a difficult case you handled as a nurse. How did it help you become a better nurse and how will you use these skills to support your team? 
• Tell me about a time you had a disagreement with another director. How did you handle it and what was the outcome? 
• Has one of your staff received a negative performance review? What did you do about it?
• Recall a time you made an unpopular decision. How did you get everyone on board with it? 
  

Problem-solving interview questions

• What clinical experience has been important in your career?
• What do you hope to gain from this position? Why do you want to work in this department? 
• How do you evaluate your team’s performance? How often do you give performance evaluations? 
• If a nurse under-performs, what do you do to motivate them?
• How do you confront a nurse who isn’t following your instructions?
• How do you deal with conflicts between team members? What are some guidelines you put into place to keep peace among your team? 
• How do you keep up with changes in the field? Do you follow certain resources or attend continuing education courses?