After reflecting on my interview, I believe it went quite well. Overall, I had a great time discussing the potential job opportunity with the hiring manager. I was a little bit nervous at first because I didn’t know what to expect or how I would respond to tough questions, but I feel that it went very well. I prepared for the interview by using resources on BB that Dr. Lancaster provided. This included researching tough interview questions and writing down some personal experiences and my strengths and weaknesses. I feel that writing out some thoughts before the interview really helped me mentally prepare for questions, even though I didn’t know what questions she would ask me. I believe if you are somewhat prepared for “typical” interview questions then the rest of them will naturally flow. Only one question went differently than I expected. That question was, “What was the most difficult part of your fieldwork?” I think this question tripped me up because we haven’t gone on our level II fieldwork rotations yet, so I was basing my answer solely on the 1 level I fieldwork we had, but other than that everything went as expected. I think something I would change is that I would do in-depth research about the facility where I am interviewing. This could include looking up their mission, standards, beliefs, etc. I have found great success in performing some preliminary research about a company prior to the interview so that they can say, “wow, he is already looking into what we are all about!” For example, if I am interviewing for a travel therapy OT job, I may reach out to some current employees in the company and see if they can provide any insight into what the company looks for or likes in their employees. I feel this can give you a significant upper hand when interviewing. In conclusion, I feel that I learned how to properly interview for an entry-level OT job, and I feel better prepared in knowing what I am worth and the value I can bring to the company. I believe that is one of the main things a company is looking for; what value are you going to bring to their company. This process also taught me that we are interviewing the company just as much as they are interviewing us. We need to feel at home and comfortable accepting the position from the company and believe it is a right fit. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the process and I feel much more prepared for conquering my first, real-job interview in the future!
