"Before anything else, preparation is the key to success." - Alexander Graham BellAs Alexander Graham Bell so eloquently states in this quote, preparation is critical and this definitely holds true with respect to the interviewing process.
There are 20 interview questions that every social worker should be prepared to answer, as well as an additional 9 questions that may or may not be applicable to you depending on what type of position you are seeking.
General
- Why have you selected a career in social work?
- How is your previous experience applicable to the work we do here?
- Have you had the experience of working with people of a race or sexual orientation different from yours? (be able to articulate how culture impacts our work re: abuse/neglect/prevention/ intervention etc.)
- What do you hope to accomplish as a social worker?
- What do you judge to be your major successes or accomplishments in your fieldwork? How did you achieve these?
- What major disappointments/failures have you had in fieldwork? Or
- Knowing what you know now, is there something you would do differently in the management of one of your fieldwork cases?
Assessment of Skills/Technique
- Are you sensitive? Are you intuitive?
- Are you an active listener? Are you able to engage clients?
- How do you describe your personal boundaries?
- What kinds of things go into a psychological assessment?
- Do you believe in short term or long-term treatment?
- How do you handle termination?
- Think of a client you have liked/disliked and tell me how you dealt with the counter transference issues.
Personality/Working Style/Other
- This position requires a lot of independent thinking and initiative. There is minimal supervision. Could you handle that?
- Would you rather draw up plans and design a program or be responsible for implementing a program? Why?
- How would your weaknesses interfere with your ability to do this job?
- What kinds of problems do you like to handle? Can you give me an example.
- What do you think is going to happen in the field in the next five years?
- Are you a member of any professional organizations?
May/May Not Apply Depending on Position Type
- Do you feel you can be objective in counseling a teen about abortion?
- What do you think of the welfare system?
- What do you think of the recent welfare changes?
- What are your thoughts on managed care?
- What techniques do you use in crisis intervention work?
- How would you handle a psychotic outburst in the clinic waiting room?
- In terms of family therapy, what is your theoretical orientation?
- Are you prepared to make home visits?
- What are the risk assessment/signs of abuse/neglect?
Based upon my readings, I've learned that it's a good idea to put together 2-3 stories in which you solved a problem at work and 2-3 stories in which you have learned some lessons on the job.
Having prepared these stories, in turn, will help you answer behavioral interviewing type questions that may get thrown your way.
When drafting your responses to situational questions, it is recommended to use a Problem, Action, Result approach; i.e., describe the action you took and then the result.
Finally, once you've completed your stories, write out in the margin the personality characteristics that you feel your stories illustrate.
This way, you are likely to have some stories prepared for when you are asked to describe a situation with a particular strength.
For those of you who have gone on interviews already, do these questions look like ones you've been asked? What else would you add?
You May Also Enjoy:
Social Worker on Job Interview: A Drunk/High Client Shows Up…
34 Social Work Career Development Resources
Twitter Chats for Mental Health Professionals
Social Worker Pay By Setting, Practice & Region
How to Manage Your Career When Unemployed
How to Tame Your Job Interview Anxiety Once And For All !
Photo credit: Light Crystals by Patrick HoeslyFor those of you who have gone on interviews already, do these questions look like ones you've been asked? What else would you add?
You May Also Enjoy:
Social Worker on Job Interview: A Drunk/High Client Shows Up…
34 Social Work Career Development Resources
Twitter Chats for Mental Health Professionals
Social Worker Pay By Setting, Practice & Region
How to Manage Your Career When Unemployed
How to Tame Your Job Interview Anxiety Once And For All !
Reference: Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Note: I extracted the typical and toughest questions from Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter and reorganized them by topic or skill set as shown above.
I remember being asked what I knew about the agency. I think its also important to prepare questions to ask the interviewer to show that you did your research. Selling yourself to show that you are a good fit for the agency is beneficial.
ReplyDeleteFor more interview questions follow this link: http://careers.socialworkers.org/findajob/interviewQs.asp
Good luck!!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteYes - you've added some valuable key points for successful interviewing ▸ do your homework on the agency and be prepared to show how you are the right person for the position!
Thanks so much for providing your guidance as well as sharing the link to this great list of interview questions from NASW.
Also, thanks for your good wishes :)
DorleeM - Another great post! Those of us in mental health bring our personal histories along with us to add to or contaminate the clinical hour. So . . . I would want to know something like "How do you handle conflict in the workplace?" and also "How might your personal history be a strength in your work and how might it also be a hindrance?"
ReplyDeleteI have been asked the conflict question several times. I always feel that a good answer is, I believe that conflict is not always a bad thing. That it helps people communicate and problem solve."
DeleteThanks so much, Tamara, for both your kind feedback and the additional possible interview questions we may come across!
ReplyDeleteHi Dorlee,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great interviewing resource for your social work colleagues and peers!
As usual, a pithy post that you've clearly done your homework on in order to provide value for your readers. Any serious-minded social work careerist would do well to heed your advice.
Love the Alexander Graham Bell quote, as well.
Regards,
Jacqui
Thanks so much, Jacqui for your kind support and feedback :)
ReplyDeleteDorlee,
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you've taken the time to write this post and share your findings with others speaks highly about the type of person you are - one who is interested in the well-being of others. A desirable trait in a social worker!
Marianna,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your thoughtful comment :)
I am gathering these materials as I am getting ready for my job search... and it is my pleasure to share these with others.
Two questions that seem very important to the interviewing process is: How have you worked with other professionals and agencies?
ReplyDeleteDue to the multidimensional nature of social work many of us will collaborate with doctors, lawyers, nurses, parole officers, and individuals from other disciplines. Even if it isn't asked, I think stating your ability to work with different agency and professions is a strong indicator of a progressive social worker.
Work Climate
One thing that really excites employees that I always ask is, "How would you describe the work culture of your agency?" Every job has hidden rules and to be able to ask that question not only shows that a candidate is interested in understanding an agency's hidden rules, but they are willing to adapt.
Another question to ask is, "What is the agency's funding sources?" I know this is for questions to prepare, but I seriously recommend asking this question. I have had a number of friends sign up for a social work job only to be cut because the agency was fiscally irresponsible. If no one knows where the money comes from and how to keep it coming... you might not want to work there.
Thank you for this post, Dorleem. It was great!
Thanks so much, Mozart, for sharing these very important points - the questions relating to one's ability to be a team player, as well as the necessity of assessing the financial viability of the agency for which one is interviewing.
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right - it would be horrible to start at a new organization, just to find out weeks or months later, that it is one that is in trouble.
Actually, I believe that there is some research that one can do about this on one's own even prior to the interview to get a feeling for this.
As I recall, there is supposed to be one site that provides this information for many of the agencies. When I find/remember it, I will make sure to make mention of it.
Thanks again :)
Great questions and interviewing strategies!
ReplyDeleteI would add this questions:
How do you handle conflict with coworkers? And be ready with some examples...if you don't have a "coworker" example, use peer (e.g., conflict that comes up working with other students on a group project).
Thanks so much, Nancy, for adding for this great question on handling conflict.
ReplyDeleteIt will definitely help to have thought of a good example of this prior to one's interview.
Also thanks for your kind feedback :)
This is a very helpful post, Dorlee! As are all you yours. I am currently interviewing for jobs, and it seems that I am having a hard time understanding the true purpose of some of these types of questions. I tend to be pretty straightforward, and started out giving answers to the question asked. Your third general question is a good illustration, though, of the question that underlies the question:
ReplyDelete"Have you had the experience of working with people of a race or sexual orientation different from yours? (be able to articulate how culture impacts our work re: abuse/neglect/prevention/ intervention etc.)"
I would have answered this question with a "yes," then gone on to give an example as an illustration of my abilities in this area. But your parenthetical comment indicates that what they are really asking is, "How do you think culture impacts our work of __________?" I find your comment here extremely helpful. I find this question subtext thing a little difficult to discern in the interview environment, for some reason, even though I am otherwise a quite intuitive an d perceptive.
I would really love to know what is the subtext of some other common interview questions. Here's one that I can tell I'm not answering to interviewers' satisfaction, but I can't figure out why: "What management style do you prefer/work best under?" In truth, I'm quite flexible, and can enjoy and work well with almost any management style as long as the supervisor is fair and communicates. Is it ok to say that? Or are they getting at something else, entirely?
Another question I've gotten in all four interviews (I did get an offer from one and but had to turn it down) is this: "Describe a conflict you've had with a supervisor." In two interviews I felt like my response to this question was received well, but in the other two things seemed to go south after it, though I gave the same example each time.
Any help you can give illustrating the subtext of any interview question would be so very helpful!
Thank you for your wonderful blog.
Thanks so much for your kind feedback.
DeleteRegarding your question about management style, a good post to read is: http://www.wikihow.com/Answer-an-Interview-Question-About-Defining-Your-Management-Style
Briefly, the interviewer is looking to find out what your thoughts are about managing people and how you would go about doing this on a day-to-day basis.
Some of the recommendations include: knowing the exact expectations of the role you are applying for, showing a willingness to learn and update your management skills, and responding in a way that demonstrates your ability to get the job done which includes motivating and looking after those who are getting the work done.
With regards to the conflict question, the interviewer may be testing you to see if you will speak badly about your previous supervisor (don't).
I'd recommend you check out these two articles: http://www.careersearchdatabase.com/conflict-resolutions-interview-questions.html and http://www.collegegrad.com/jobsearch/Mastering-the-Interview/Ten-Tough-Interview-Questions-and-Ten-Great-Answers/
In short, the interviewer probably wants to know how you behaviorally reacted to a conflict with one of your supervisors and what you did to resolve it. Therefore, briefly describe a conflict that will serve as a good illustration of collaboration (as opposed to an unresolved conflict).
Hoping this helped and wishing you the best of luck in your job search!
Ah, thanks, that's helpful! I should have been more clear: The questions are about how I like to be managed. I'd have a lot easier time with questions about how I manage others!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!
Oh, I misunderstood... yes, I like your approach of demonstrating flexibility... you could also state that you want a supervisor that will mentor you, give you clear direction, is there if/when you need her/him, and lets you do your work.
DeleteYou may also want to say that you'd like your supervisor to be fair, empathetic and upfront with you and let you know when you make a mistake so that you can fix it as soon as possible.
Alternatively, if you have management experience (even if it's not from the social work field), you could say that you'd like to be managed in the same way that you have managed others and cite an example in which you have succeeded in getting great results from someone else illustrating the key traits you want to stress that you have (that would be most desirable for the position you are seeking).
Let me know which approach you go with and how it works in the field!
Thank You so much for this informative session. I have an interview tomorrow and feel that this has been a great form of research. Thank you for your time and effort!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that you found this post helpful, Maz
DeleteWishing you the best of luck tomorrow!
Hi Dorlee, I`ve been studying for my second social work management interview - the first one didn't go too well. There were a few of those subtext questions for which I had no idea what they were asking of me as the questions were basically statements. Some of the questions I was stumped on were; Supervisory skills - are these different in a unionized environment? What are the ethical considerations/concerns with respect to research and evaluation? In an environment where government bodies are pushing for regulation and mental health how does this impact on staff, managers, agency? What's involved in research and evaluation? Bill 168 places new obligations on employers - please discuss these obligations? Any suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated!!
ReplyDeleteHi Olivia,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear that your first interview didn't go too well. However, it sounds like it was an excellent training or prep class for future interviews...
Thank you for sharing some of the tough questions that you faced. Based upon the ones you mentioned here, I gather you are from Canada. While I am not familiar with the laws and regulations in your country, I can offer you a few suggestions.
1A) As per this site http://www.iapa.ca/Main/articles/2009_workplace_violence.aspx, Bill 168 addresses workplace harassment and violence. This site has a wealth of information about this bill - I would read through it to get an understanding of some of the key obligations that are now in place for employers. They have a specific pdf toolkit preparing employers on this very topic.
1B) The answer to how the staff is impacted by the changes in regulation is a function of what those changes are... I do not know what the changes are in Canada. However, I would read up about the latest changes and then think about them.
In all likelihood, the changes lead to some sort of increased pressure for the staff - to do more with less (less staff, less funds, less resources). In addition, there may be stricter requirements (more paperwork, electronic filing, new codes etc) that require additional learning and/or time/effort in order to keep up.
In truth, these pressures are ones that are faced by nearly everyone in every industry... you would want to demonstrate some awareness of the changes in regulations in your country as well as your ability to keep up with and adapt to changes.
2) Re supervisory skills in an unionized environment, I think you may be able to gleam some helpful info from one or both of these two sites http://hrcouncil.ca/hr-toolkit/keeping-people-supervision.cfm and http://www.tbglabor.com/services.aspx?cid=13.
I would also try if you can to ask any social worker(s) whom you know who employed in a supervisory role - how being a part of a union - impacts their work... While different unions may have different rules, I assume that there are some general ones that one must adhere to in a supervisory role. If/when you find out, could you please come by and share these with us?
Regardless of the specific union laws, I think the underlying message you want to convey is your ability to learn and adapt to new ways of working (and share an example demonstrating this).
3) Re research and evaluation, I would recommend that you check out the book: Program evaluation for social workers: Foundations of evidenced-based programs by Grinnell, R. M., Gabor, P. A. & Unrau, Y. A. . This is the book we used in my research class.
Very briefly, the underlying goal of research and evaluation is to seek quality improvement. Quality Improvement means that you continuously measure the effectiveness of processes in order to enhance client services.
Plan, Do, Check, Act > Study process and decide what improvements should be made to improve quality; Put plan into action on trial basis; Check if change is working as planned; If change works, implement on a larger scale. If not, refine and repeat.
Re the ethical considerations of research and evaluation, these include conducting the research ethically that is: obtaining informed consent, ensuring voluntary participation, doing no harm, maintaining confidentiality (identifying information is not made available to anyone but the program coordinator), as well as anonymity (identity of the research participant needs to remain unknown to the research team), and accessing only those components [information] that are of relevance to the program.
In addition, evaluations should not be used inappropriately i.e., to justify decisions already made or as a public relations tool.
Caveat: Do not rely on my brief description... please check out the source I've referred you to.
I would wish you the best of luck but you don't need it - with such great learnings from your first interview, you will do beautifully on your next interview :)
I interviewed for an internship at LA County Dept. of children and Family services (and got the internship). They gave a situation and asked about strengths and weaknesses of the "client" and the risk factors. They also made me prioritize a "to-do" list. And the infamous, dead child on your caseload question, which I am always dumbfounded about...
ReplyDeleteHi Mrs BKay,
ReplyDeleteWith respect to "to do" list type questions, I would suggest you keep in mind Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs so that you always address food, health and safety first (before employing other interventions that assist in the belonging/loving, status/esteem or self-actualization levels).
Alternatively, you could refer to the two acronyms that I recommend memorizing for the LMSW exam in http://www.dorleem.com/2012/08/how-to-use-two-acronyms-to-go-for-gold.html
As for the child question, could you provide more details?
Hi Dorlee
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the amazing feedback. I actually have another interview this week for another clinical manager position!! I will keep you posted and after I complete my studying I will post a few extras!
Thanks so much!
OliviaRS
I recently graduated with my BSW and have been interviewing. One question that has come up is "How would you react to a person that just walked in and appears to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol?" as well as the question "How would you react to a psychotic outburst?" I'm conflicted as to the appropriate way to respond to these situations. What do you all think would be the best way to respond to these scenarios?
ReplyDeleteThese are good questions. I will consult with an experienced colleague and get back to you.
ReplyDeleteTo give you an update, the responses for these questions are rather long. Therefore, I will be addressing them in a post later this month.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Thanks Dorlee!
ReplyDeleteI have an interview for social work assistant tomorrow, what would be the most likely questions I should expect at the interview?
ReplyDeleteHi George,
ReplyDeleteI'm wishing you the best of luck on your interview tomorrow!
Unfortunately, this is not a lot of lead time... and I don't know the answer off the top of my head. Could you share with us the job description as well as what country you are writing from? Based upon this information, it is possible that I could make some educated guesses on what kinds of questions you could expect.
Hi DorleeM,
ReplyDeleteI'm in the UK.
The following are some of the main duties of the job applied for. Hope this would help:
1.To contribute to the management process through the following:-
Ø Provision of practical advice and support to service users.
Ø Liaison with other agencies and providers as appropriate.
Ø Completing under supervision contributions to written assessments e.g. core assessment or action and assessment record documentation.
Ø Participation in child care planning meetings as required.
Ø Ensuring that practical tasks e.g. arranging transport and contact meetings are completed via liaison with appropriate agencies.
Ø Preparation of life story books for looked after children.
Ø Visiting looked after children as required.
2.To assist colleagues in carrying out statutory requirements
3.To participate in the performance management system including supervision, PDR, team meetings, section and divisional briefings and reviews of service.
4.To be committed to practice that is anti-discriminatory and that actively promotes equal opportunities.
5.To follow all Health and Safety procedures in the performance of all duties
Thanks for sharing the job description, George
ReplyDeleteI will need some time to think about this... and would only have the time to do so tonight. Would that still be helpful to you or would that be too late?
I have a job interview on the 30th , I have no experience as a social worker. The interview is for senior social worker. My work background is mainly in mental health and counseling. What tools and information should I know in order to have a good turnout for this interview?
ReplyDeleteHi Nikki,
ReplyDeleteI would look at the job description you have for senior social worker. The key skills that are being sought after for the position you are seeking would be listed there.
Demonstrate how you have used similar/identical skills in your mental health and counseling work. And if there are some requested skills that you have not employed in your work, have you used them in another capacity? If so, use that as your example of how you have put that skill to use.
With respect to bodies of knowledge, I would suggest you do the same thing as well as demonstrate an interest to learn and grow (so that whatever you don't know, you will work hard at filling in).
Good luck!
Thank you, another question is, how do I deal with interview jitters. They are real bad when I have an interview for a job I really want.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great question, Nikki. I will write a post to address it :)
ReplyDeleteHello Dorlee,
ReplyDeleteI have an interview working with infants 0-5 and addressing parenting skills. As a therapist I will be supporting their emotional/behavioral concerns assisting them developmentally. My interview will be on the 30th. Would you know what type of questions I would expect?
Hi brebre 128,
ReplyDeleteI think you can expect to be asked questions about: your past experience with working with infants and their parents, your knowledge about early childhood development, what are some of the key developmental milestones that you would be watching out for with kids in the under 5 age range, can you give an example of how you have or would handle a situation in which a child has not met a key developmental milestone and what are the steps you take in order to develop a positive relationship with the parent(s) of the infants you are working with.
This website has lots of helpful information http://www.earlyinterventionsupport.com/fortherapists/default.aspx
Wishing you the best of luck! Please come back to let us know how it went and what questions you were asked... so we can all learn from one another :)