37 Questions to Ask a Clinical Psychologist in an Interview (Plus Answers)
A clinical psychologist is a mental health professional who helps people with emotional, behavioral, and mental disorders through clinical or counseling services. Most clinical psychologists have a lot of experience either in clinical work or in research. If you want this kind of job, you can increase your chances of getting hired by reviewing common clinical psychologist interview questions. In this article, we talk about some of the most common questions a clinical psychologist might ask during an interview and how to answer a few of them. 37 Questions to Ask a Clinical Psychologist
General questions to ask a clinical psychologist during a meeting
Most of the time, hiring managers ask questions at the start of an interview to find out more about you. They can also figure out what kind of person you are by asking you these questions. When they have this information, they can decide if you are a good fit for how they do things at their company. Here are some general questions that hiring managers might have about this job:
- Tell me about yourself.
- What do you like most about being a clinical psychologist?
- What do you like least about being a clinical psychologist?
- What do you think are your best traits as a clinical psychologist?
- What are your weaknesses as a clinical psychologist?
- What do you hope to get out of your first three months on the job?
- What sets you apart from the other people running?
- Why do you want to play that role?
- Why are you interested in working for us?
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
- How much money do you want?
- How long do you have left?
- When can you get started?
Questions about your past and present
Hiring managers want to know if your skills match what they are looking for before they give you a job. Before the interview, look over the job description and tasks. Find out why you are the best person for the job based on your background and experience in the field. Here are some questions a hiring manager might ask you about your background and experience as a clinical psychologist:
- Tell me about the work of a clinical psychologist.
- How long have you been a psychologist in a hospital?
- When you were a clinical psychologist, what did you do?
- What do you think are the most important skills for a clinical psychologist to have?
- Tell me what you’ve learned about psychology from the different ways you’ve looked at it.
- Tell me about the things you look for when you’re counseling someone.
- What is CBT, and how has it helped you?
- Tell me about an effective treatment plan you made.
- Talk about what your dissertation is about and how it relates to this job.
- Tell us about the different types of counseling sessions you’ve been to.
- Tell me about the worst illness you ever had to deal with and how you felt.
In-depth questions
Most of the time, people who are in charge of hiring will ask you about your work ethic and how you handle different situations. For instance, they might ask you how you would handle certain situations. Here are some specific questions that hiring managers may ask:
- Have you ever fought with someone you worked with? Talk about what went wrong and how you handled it.
- Tell me how you decide which tasks to do first when you’re a clinical psychologist.
- What problems did you have to solve at your last job? What did you do about it?
- Tell me about a time you and your boss had different ideas. What didn’t go right, and how did you fix it?
- Which part of this job do you think will be the hardest?
- As a clinical psychologist, how do you keep going?
- Tell me about a time when you did something wrong as a clinical psychologist. How did you fix it? What did you learn from it?
- How do you work when you have a lot on your plate? What strategies do you implement?
- How do you tell a client what they can and can’t do when you’re counseling them?
- Tell me about the hardest thing you had to deal with as a clinical psychologist this past year.
Questions about clinical psychology that might come up in an interview, with examples of how to answer them
You should look over the clinical psychologist interview questions and also think about how you could answer them. You can practice answering these questions in front of a mirror or with your family and friends. By doing this, you can figure out how to give better answers at the interview. Here are some questions that clinical psychologists might be asked at an interview, along with examples of how to answer them:
1. Tell me about a case you had a hard time solving. What happened in the end?
When hiring managers ask you this, they want to know how much experience you have. This question also lets them know how you handle some client cases. Show how well you can connect the treatment to the results in your answer. Give an example that is hard to understand that shows how good you are as a clinical psychologist.
Example: “At my last job, I helped someone who had been hurt as a child. They were able to do better in everyday life after an evaluation and a few months of therapy.”
2. Tell me about the most common diseases you’ve had to deal with. What happened in the end?
The people in charge of hiring want to know if you can easily treat a wide range of illnesses. They also want to make sure that your experience matches what they are looking for. Because of this, it’s important to find out what their organization needs before you answer. Also, talk about what you know about a few mental health problems and what you’ve done with certain age groups.
Example: “As a doctor, I’ve mostly worked with people between the ages of 20 and 50. Most of the time, these adults are depressed or anxious because they were hurt as children.”
How can nonverbal cues be used in a counseling session?
As a clinical psychologist, it’s important to pay attention to what a patient says and what they do when they don’t say anything. When hiring managers ask this, they want to see if you can figure out what people are trying to say without saying it. Talk about how well you can read body language in your answer. Show that you know how to use them to make a diagnosis and a care plan.
Example: “During a counseling session, I look at a person’s body language to figure out how they are feeling and what they are thinking. As I listen to a patient’s answers, I look for nonverbal clues, write them down, and then tell the patient about them when the time is right.”
