If you are the type of person who does not like to talk about themselves, you need to read this! You have skills and accomplishments. The interviewer will almost always ask you to talk about an accomplishment or something of which you are proud. Look at the achievements and successes that have helped you define your skills and traits. Those are the important qualities for which a potential employer is looking.

The following exercise, called SOAR, will help you identify your skills so that you will be able to communicate them at the interview. Use the exercise to get ready for interviews:

Situation: Describe a situation from your clinical or work experience.
Obstacles: Describe the obstacles you faced.
Actions: List the actions you took.
Results: Describing the results you helped obtain and the benefits to your employer/classmates/patient.

Source: Stressed Out About Your First Year of Nursing, HCPro Inc., 2006. For more information on our series of Stressed Out books, visit www.stressedoutnurses.com