Can Your Training Experiences Be TOO Broad?

[ThatPsyGuy]

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Hey, it's been a while. The 4th year has been kicking my ass 😃

I've been looking over my training experiences - particularly after reflecting on some feedback or comments I've heard in Internship interviews - and it got me wondering:

Can training experiences be TOO broad in terms of competitiveness for internships? Post-docs? Job opportunities?

I don't mean in the perspective of very specialized training (i.e you kinda NEED very specific assessment based/neuropsychology practicum experiences to be competitive for neuropsych internships). But for more of a generalist role.

I always thought that you should have a varied training experience, but have a general focus on the population/environment you wanted to work in. So if you wanted to work mainly in a school's counseling center, you'd have more training in school counseling centers. Same for hospitals, VAs, etc.

I don't think I did this:
I've done a practicum in a primary care setting at a VA. Supplemental training* at a private practice. A neuropsychological assessment practicum. Supplemental training* at a school counseling center

(If you squint hard enough you could argue that I intentionally was trying to do testing/assessment in various settings to see what population I most enjoy working with.
No.
I just fell into some of these opportunities.)

But, back to the question. Is a very broad training experience a bad look for opportunities? I'm wondering if I'll have some explaining to do for post docs.

* = Supplemental just means I got part-time jobs, negotiated supervision into my pay, and went through the proper school paperwork

 

[WisNeuro]

Generally speaking, it is good to have a breadth of experience, but one's application should also show a pretty easily identifiable niche. If someone were to only look at your application, would they have a pretty good idea of what you wanted to do for your career in a general sense?

 

[R. Matey]

Seconding Wis. I think folks really want to see where you're going and how their internship is going to help you get there. I think broad experience in training is a very good thing, but you just don't want to look like that you have no idea what you're doing.

My guess is some training sites will care more than others about this.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Like many careers, you need to be able to make your cv make sense. It doesn’t have to be this amazing journey, but the “there is an assessment component I tried to accomplish across a range of practical settings” is a clear path.

 

[Ollie123]

Agree with others - basically, you want your CV to at least reflect "I'm prepared for an internship here" or even more ideally "I have been working specifically towards an internship here." My focus is health psychology and substance use disorders and I had worked in a VA (Addiction Unit), Counseling Center (general outpatient), private hospital (Addiction Unit) and did generalist outpatient, health psych and neuropsych evals through our department clinic and affiliated AMC. I also took eons to graduate and most of these involved substantially fewer hours than you may be thinking (e.g., I think I only did 7-8 total neuropsych evals through our department clinic and most practicums were 7-8 hours/wk vs 20). Don't discount research as a way to showcase your interests too. If you have some relevant experience AND your thesis and dissertation are on that topic, that is another way to demonstrate focus/direction.

 

[PsyDr]

IMO, the setting is a factor. Some settings require 90 extra little tasks before you can do the job, while most outpatient offices don't have those requirements. Right or wrong, supervisors want to teach you to do the clinical work, not the BS parts of the job (e.g., teach you how to complete your annual data security training, remind you to get your annual flu shot/TB test thing, remind you to do the annual diversity training, remind you to complete that weird restraint training in hospitals, etc). Hint at your ability to take care of this nonsense.

 

[Sanman]

Is the concern internship, post-doc, or the job market? Training programs want a mix. The job market does not care as long as you have the experience in the thing that makes money.