You are about to sit for performance based interview (PBI) for a nurse manager position for a unit in your present hospital. You are to answer the interview questions with well-developed answers
using PAR, which represents problem, action and result.
The interviewer will be looking for concrete examples, not generalizations. A helpful hint would be to remember the initials “PAR” for “Problem, Action, and Results” such as “PAR for the Course.”
Sample PBI Questions
PBI questions focus on learning about a particular performance situation or task, the action taken on your part, and the outcomes of your action. Here are several examples of what you should
expect:
• Describe a situation in which you had to use your communication skills in presenting complex information. How did you determine whether your message was received? (With the original question you
are assuming the person did understand.)
• Share with me an example of an important personal goal that you set, and explain how you accomplished it.
• Lead me through a decision-making process on a major project you’ve completed.
• Have you ever had many different tasks given to you at the same time? How did you manage these?
• Give an example of a time you had to make a difficult decision.

Questions as follows:
1. Personal Mastery———- Specifically, what are you doing to keep up with changing concepts in healthcare management? What attributes do you possess that make you able to keep up with the
times? Give an example to convince me that you can keep up with these changing, chaotic times.

2. Creative Thinking——– Explain the approach you use for performance improvement. Explain specifically how you identify problems, what strategies you incorporate to measure the impact of the
problems, how you deal with the problems, and how you measure success or failure. Track one problem you have dealt with from identification to closure.

3. Flexibility/Adaptability—— Tell the interviewer about a time when you had to deal with two very different employees that could not be treated the same way. How did you deal with each? How
did you decide what you were going to do? How well did your intervention with each employee work?

4. Systems Thinking Describe a change you are responsible for that improved the performance of your work area or organization. How did: 1) you come up with the idea for the change, 2) you go about
implementing the change, 3) staff respond to the change, and 4) you measure the outcome of the change? In looking back, what things would you do differently?