Format of the Interview
As part of the prelicensure BSN (PL-BSN) admission process, applicants must complete a virtual assessment using Kira Talent. You will be asked to submit timed video responses to questions that have been pre-recorded by the College of Nursing. These responses can be done anywhere and at any time during the designated assessment window provided in your invitation email. Please note – Kira Talent calls the interview process an “assessment.”
You will be asked to respond to 7 questions with a video response. Before your response time begins, you will be provided the question and typically 15 seconds to prepare your response. After that timer is up, your camera will automatically turn on and begin recording. Your response time will depend on the question, with most questions giving you 120 seconds. Do not worry though, as you are able to end the recording early if you feel that you have said all that you need to. We would rather give you too much time than too little time, so please do not feel forced to use all available time for every question.
Once you choose to finish the question, or your response time runs out and it stops automatically, you are finished with that question. It does not advance automatically. Instead, you need to click the next button to advance on when you are ready. This is great time to take a small moment to center yourself or grab a drink of water before beginning the next question.
In total, your entire assessment should take no longer than 30 minutes to complete. Once you are done, that is the final step in the admissions process!
Please note that the larger, all-campus WSU admissions department may send you admission or application information as part of automatic processing during this time. This WSU admission is independent of your College of Nursing decision. Thus, we recommend waiting until you have your Nursing decision, directly from NursingCAS, prior to engaging with WSU admissions. Remember – you do NOT need to do another WSU application, as you have already done your NursingCAS application. You only need to do one application for both Nursing and WSU.
This method of virtually meeting you allows us to get a sense of your personality and potential, plus understand how well you think on your feet. This has proven to be a helpful strategy for us and our applicants, as it is both time-efficient and meaningful.
Assessing applicants in Kira Talent helps our admissions team mitigate the impact of bias in the admissions process. Your responses will be independently evaluated by multiple reviewers who will assess your strengths using competency-based criteria and structured rubrics. They have no other information on the other elements of your application, or how you responded to the other questions of the interview. This process only ensures consistency in the way that we assess and score our applicants and we look forward to learning more about you!
Tools & Compatibility
You will require a desktop or laptop computer with a functioning webcam, microphone, and internet connection. The system allows for unlimited practice sessions during the assessment window, but once you start the formal assessment questions you only get one chance. This allows us to capture your candid responses.
The Kira platform is fully accessible in accordance with WCAG 2.0 AA standards, giving all applicants an equal opportunity to impress.
If you’d like to request additional accommodations for time extension, such as being an English language learner or if you have accommodations at your current school, we would be happy to help! Please contact nursing admissions prior to the interview window at nursing.admissions@wsu.edu
Before the Interview
On the first day of your assessment window, by 11am Pacific Time, you will receive an email from Kira Talent, thanking you for registering for the “WSU College of Nursing” assessment. Save the email as you must use the “Check-In” hyperlink in the email in order to be taken to the check-in and welcome process on Kira Talent’s site.
Once you’ve clicked “Check in” on your email invitation from Kira Talent, you’ll be redirected to Kira Talent’s site where you’ll complete/review the below series of steps prior to beginning your assessment:
- Welcome Video: You’ll be required to watch a short welcome video
- Registration: You’ll be required to provide your full name as part of the registration process
- Device Setup: You’ll be required to test both your audio and video capabilities
- Practice: You’ll be required to review and film responses to practice questions so that you can familiarize yourself with the assessment format. These questions will not be saved or viewable by anyone, they are simply for practice. Feel free to practice as much as you like.
- Payment: Once you are ready to actually go, you will pay the shown amount and be good to begin.
- Assessment: Here’s the real deal! You must complete this in one sitting, by yourself, with no aid from others or AI generated items. Do not read from a script or from information given by anything outside of the assessment, and avoid extended periods of looking down that might imply you are using a script. We want your in-the-moment thoughts and responses and do not allow any outside help.
Know that you can check in as many times as you like, and this first time does not automatically start the actual assessment process. Thus, we recommend you check in as soon as possible to make sure your technology and account and working correctly. Then you may return later when you are ready for the true assessment process.
During the Interview
When you first click “Check in” in your email invitation from Kira Talent you’ll be redirected to the series of steps mentioned before (Welcome Video, Registration, Device Setup, Practice, & Assessment) on the home page:
Once you’ve completed the Welcome Video, Registration, & Device Setup, you’ll begin filming your practice questions. All applicants are required to complete practice questions. Again, these questions will not be saved or viewable by anyone, they are simply for practice. The format of your practice question will mimic the actual format of the questions you’ll be asked in your assessment.
Before you’re given the question to view, you must click the blue “Start question” button.
From there, the video with the question will play and the question will be posted on the screen for you to read. Once your prep time has started, you’ll be given a countdown at the top of the page while you prepare your answer.
Once your prep time ends, your camera will automatically turn on (from the preview you can see during the prep time with the watermark) and you begin recording your response. From there, you’ll have a similar countdown at the top of the page that will track how much time you have remaining to respond. If you finish answering early, there will be a “Submit” button you will click to submit your response without taking up the full time.
During practice, you can rewatch your answer to see how you feel you did. However, in the real assessment, you will not be able to watch your response back.
After answering your first assessment question, continue to answer the remaining questions and then you will be all done! You are also able to take a small break in between each question as you can click when you are ready to advance on:
If any issues arise during recording, please finish the question, pause to address the emergency, and if possible, finish up the rest of the assessment questions. Once you have submitted your full assessment, immediately email the Center for Student Excellence. Include in that email which question(s) you had an issue with and what happened. Chris can verify that emergency happened and can work with you on a solution.
After the Interview
Typically you will receive a response from the College of Nursing by the end of April or November. That decision will come via email, similar to your assessment invitation, and will contain either a full admission offer, an alternate offer, or a denial decision. Please check in with an advisor if you have questions.
Again, please also note that WSU itself may send you admission or application information. We recommend waiting until you have your Nursing decision prior to engaging with WSU admissions.
Interview Tips
Practice
Before you begin anything, you want to make sure you have reflected on your skills and what makes you a unique candidate. Some guiding questions are:
- Self-Assessment: What are your values and experiences? How do they relate to Nursing?
- Purpose: Why did you apply to WSU, the College of Nursing, and the campus you chose?
- Worth: Why will you be a great RN?
- Care Plan: What are you doing before your interview to make sure you will be your best self? Make sure that you have considered your sleep plan and nutrition plan. Try to either get or avoid exercise before the interview as well, depending if you need more or less energy!
- Practice Plan: What is your practice plan? How will you have time to practice with others as well as in the Kira Talent tool?
Once you have a game plan, you will want to think through how to respond to questions. Interviewers are seeking to evaluate your fit for the nursing profession. Ask yourself, “why are they asking this question?” and work to tailor your answer to that.
Applicants are encouraged to practice interviewing with their peers and to practice by recording themselves answering questions. To assist, we have compiled a list of surface level questions to kickstart your brainstorming. We cannot give you the actual questions that will appear, so practice in addition to these questions as well. They are designed to help you reflect on your background and skills.
For example, before you can answer a scenario question about a stressful nursing scenario, make sure you at least know how you handle stress in general. That will equip you to be prepared to answer and tie the question to a real-life example or consideration.
The brainstorming surface questions below have been compiled by former nursing students:
- What are important qualities that you think a nurse should have?
- When was a moment in your life that you faced a problem where you had to do the right thing, but it was difficult?
- When was a moment in your life when someone was really angry at you? How did you handle that situation? How about examples with other strong emotions?
- Why do you want to be a nurse?
- What experience do you have working with people different from yourself?
- What does social justice mean to you? How does that relate to nursing? How about related terms, such as diversity, equity, inclusion, and social health determinants?
- When have you had to make a hard decision within a group or team? What was that outcome?
- How do you manage your stress?
- How do you manage your time?
- How do you balance personal and work lives? Why is this important to nursing?
- What other characteristics are necessary for nursing? How do you line up with those characteristics?
Questions will be asked in either a scenario-based format or in an open-ended format. After reflecting on these surface questions, we encourage you to come up with potential nursing scenarios to better prepare for the types of questions the interview will actually ask you (i.e. Tell me about a time, what would you do, etc..)
For example, you could brainstorm some stressful situations that nurses might encounter. From there, turn that into a scenario question, and ask yourself “what would I do if I was in this specific scenario?”
We also recommend practicing actually verbalizing your answers. It can be tempting to practice your response internally through mental rehearsing. However, the act of verbalizing uses different skills and it is much better to practice out loud.
Environment & Attire
We highly recommend that you plan ahead where you will take your assessment to pick somewhere quiet and calm. Avoid places that are noisy or have a high chance of distracting you and/or your reviewer. Notify your friends and family when you chose to take your assessment so they do not interrupt you, and put your devices on do-not-disturb mode. Since you cannot communicate to pets or young children, explore ahead of time if there is a room with a door you can close. Other options could include local library study rooms, or if you are on any of the WSU campuses reach out to your advisor to see if you can reserve a room. We recommend neutral backgrounds without political, distracting, or unprofessional items in view. Using the Kira Talent practice questions is a perfect way to see and hear the same things the reviewers will!
While there is not a dress code, previous applicants have mentioned that it was helpful to wear typical interview attire to get them in a mental headspace for an interview. Thus, we recommend partaking in actions that get you in the professional and prepared mindset, which may include attire! We also recommend practicing in the same clothing that you will do the full interview in so that you are in a similar state of readiness. You will do great!
Recommended clothing options can include:
- Tops: A nice blouse, dress shirt with tie or formal dress paired with a blazar or suit coat are all appropriate interview attire. Consider avoiding complex patterns or bright colors that will distract from what you are articulating.
- Pants: Pair your blouse or dress shirt with nice slacks, dress pants or a skirt that is knee length or longer.
- Shoes: Dress shoes, flats, or conservative low-heeled shoes are recommended.
- Accessories: Keep accessories subtle. Avoid flashy jewelry and keep cologne and perfume to a level that will not distract you. If you have a tie, make sure it is not distractingly tight around your neck.
Responses
An okay answer is “here is what I did…” but I better answer is “here is what I did, and here is why it will make me a stronger nurse….” If you do not have that experience, it is also best to then say “I have not had that experience yet, but here is what I know I would do….”
One detailed experience is often better to share compared to several experiences without any details. Since you have limited time, practice being concise, personal, and true. There are also different reviewers for each of your questions, so it is okay to repeat an experience across several questions. Accordingly, try not to reference an experience you mentioned in an earlier question as the reviewer for your current response may not know that reference.
We recognize that nurses are humans, not robots, so it is okay to have the occasional “um” or misspeak as you interact with your live response.
Do not read from a script or from information given by anything outside of the assessment, and avoid extended periods of looking down that might imply you are using a script.
Please also respect FERPA, HIPAA, and other protection laws. Do not share identifying information during your assessment. It is okay to say “I helped someone with a broken arm and did this….” but you do not want to say “I helped out Butch Cougar while working at Kadlek and did this….”
Remember that you are going to do great, and we are looking forward to learning more about you, your experiences, and your attributes. Best of luck when you choose to start your Kira Talent assessment!
