Job interview stress

[Oh the Irony]

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Just currently agonizing over what I perceived to be a not wonderful interview for a clinical job. Any empathetic docs out there they can reassure me that "it's not as bad as you thought?" 🙂

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I was convinced I'd tanked my first VA job interview. Didn't end up getting the offer, but was told I was their second choice (if #1 didn't accept), and was "strongly encouraged" to apply for a more clinical research lead-related position that popped up a couple months later and which hadn't yet been publicized. Take home message: they must not have thought I was a complete idiot.

So hey, even if this one doesn't pan out, it may lead to other opportunities down the line.

 

[erg923]

Just currently agonizing over what I perceived to be a not wonderful interview for a clinical job. Any empathetic docs out there they can reassure me that "it's not as bad as you thought?" 🙂

Why "not wonderful?" It certainly possible you had some flubs, but it is also possible you are mispercieving.

 

[Oh the Irony]

Why "not wonderful?" It certainly possible you had some flubs, but it is also possible you are mispercieving.

Well, I just felt that my answers veered more towards the vague and rambling end of the spectrum than the smooth and concise I would have preferred. In general, I don't think I did a great job articulating my specific skills, more so seemed to discuss my overall training. Of course, this was a phone interview as well, so I have no non-verbals to work off of. Just a general feeling of, "I could have done that better."

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

To be fair…you very well could have bombed it. That said, we are often our own harshest critic, so sometimes a mountain in retrospect is a mole hill in reality.

Edit*

Phone interviews are generally tough bc of the lack of non-verbal feedback…so I'd caution being too harsh on yourself bc you have a lot less information to draw from.

 

[Oh the Irony]

I'm fortunately not feeling like I bombed it, but who knows...I definitely had one internship interview that I knew walking out of was absolutely terrible--too much travel, too much sick. I don't feel that extreme about this one--I am more in the ambiguous limbo of not great, but maybe not terrible.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

It's funny you mention internship interview…I *still* remember one such interview where I literally wanted to 'tap out' 10 minutes in because it was that terrible. I had a phone interview for a site that had a change in DCT and they were much more psychodynamic than I could stand. I also flew and then drove through a blizzard to interview at a site that was equally awkward. Ugh…I do *not* miss the internship process.

 

[PsyDr]

Even if you bombed it, it's still practice. Analyze where you went wrong,what you could do better,etc. write down a plan for the next one.

10 years from now this will be funny.

 

[smalltownpsych]

I have had interviews where I felt like I couldn't string two coherent sentences together and others where it seemed like everything flowed. I look at it now from the perspective of, if I didn't feel comfortable during the interview, then maybe I wouldn't have been comfortable with the job. On the other hand, my first interview as a licensed psychologist had me thinking that there was no way they were going to offer me the job and especially when they didn't contact me by the end of the week like they said they would. Then they called me on Monday and told me how excited they were to work with me and wanted to make me an offer and I accepted it. I also agree with the learning process. My skills have continued to improve over the years and the doctoral process with its many interviews was helpful for that. I still don't like interviews, but at least its not really a phobic level stimulus anymore.

 

[foreverbull]

Eh, dont' worry about it! you will be doing a ton of interviews in your life, and not all of them will feel wonderful; in fact, most will probably feel "eh." I've done many interviews for internship/jobs in the past 2 years, and during internship interviews, I specifically recall one interviewer over the phone being kind of stiff and unfriendly, and he literally interrupted me while I was speaking (and my response wasn't very lengthy to begin with!). One of their questions was even a bit rude, I thought, because the only time they even mentioned my CV was when the psychologist/interviewer asked me why I didn't have a lot of assessment experience, rather than asking me about experiences I actually did have. I didn't feel great after my interview as you don't, but reflecting on it now, am much more self-compassionate about the interview process because I believe that both interviewer and interviewee share responsibility in how the interview goes and setting the tone...it isn't just you!