Post Doc Interview Questions

[Catnapped123]

Does anyone know where to find commonly asked interview questions for clinical psychology postdoctoral fellowships (or where one can find resources with these questions?) Currently preparing for interviews and any resources that people are aware of would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Catnapped123]

For those who did postdocs, do you remember any interview questions that caught you off guard/ surprised you?

 

[PsyDuck90]

I interviewed for neuro postdocs, so it may be different, but the majority of my interviews were more conversational. I had a few PBI style questions, but the majority of the interviews were focused on discussing my goals and how they aligned with the site. As one of my mentors reminded me while I was preparing, they already know you’re qualified or they wouldn’t have invited you to interview. The interview is to get to know you and see how you fit together in terms of personality and work culture.

I honestly wouldn’t stress too much. More and more people are opting for informal postdocs or VA graduate psychologist positions, so the postdoc application market really favors the applicants.

 

[Catnapped123]

Thank you so much for your response! This is super helpful to keep in mind.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Like Psyduck90, I completed a neuro postdoc, so my experiences may or may not be applicable. But I've also been involved in postdoc interviewing, selection, and training for non-neuro fellows, and at least IME, there's a lot of overlap (other than that the neuro match is generally more structured). I don't remember specific questions, but as was said above, the interviews overall were more conversational and were also more about the site wanting to get to know my training interests and goals.

There might be some of the standard, "tell me about a challenging patient," or, "tell me about a challenging situation involving a supervisor/peer" questions. And if it's a VA, at least a few PBI questions could certainly be fair game. But for the most part, the interviews mostly consisted of the TD/supervisors telling me about the site and asking questions about what I was looking for while on fellowship.

Overall, although I enjoyed the internship interview process, fellowship interviews were much lower-stress and more fun (especially after getting through the jitters of the first one or two). For the few sites I went to that offered on-site interviews (most, back then, were at INS), I felt more like a junior colleague being sold on a site than I did a trainee interviewing for a position.

 

[summerbabe]

Agree with what the other 2 poster said.

I want to emphasize the advice that the market is tipped in favor of applicants rather than sites so while sites will likely have some standard clinical/teamwork/situational questions like internship interviews, the focus of the interview should actually be you interviewing the site and assessing for how they will (or won't) fit your training needs.

Even the most 'average' of candidates who are applying broadly should have multiple options since postdocs aren't necessary in the way that internship is necessary while also paying significantly less than the typical unlicensed salary one could make so a site needs to make it worth your while.

Hopefully your questions will help you avoid 'bad' sites such as ones that want you to be a cheap workhorse while not providing much in terms of training or development. Or a site dedicated to training but not in the areas that you'd like to grow in.

So yes, be prepared to answer some basic questions like theoretical orientation and think in advance about a couple of complex cases that demonstrate your skills that you can talk about in a pinch. But make sure you have a nice long list of questions for them. Good luck!

 

[SomeGreatNotion]

But make sure you have a nice long list of questions for them.

Agree with others especially the idea that having good, thoughtful questions is just as important, especially if you are looking to stay on afterward as an ECP. Consider: Where have previous postdocs ended up? Are there opportunities to be hired afterward as an ECP? What would that process look like (and when!)? Do they offer support for licensure (hours, time off for EPPP, etc. )? Ask about supervision (who and how often) If a research postdoc, does the facility have the resources you will need to launch a research career? These questions also reinforce the idea that you are thoughtful and serious about the site.

 

[foreverbull]

Common questions at postdocs (some of these may not be relevant for all sites, I compiled this from UCC postdoc questions):

➢ What attracted you to our site?
➢ Tell me about yourself.
➢ What are your strengths and weaknesses clinically? What do you want to specialize in?
➢ What is your theoretical orientation?
➢ What do you hope to learn here?
➢ Talk about a difficult or interesting case.
➢ Tell me about an ethical dilemma you’ve encountered and how you resolved it.
➢ Tell me how you handle conflict or give an example of this with a supervisor in the past.
➢ Clients you enjoy working with?
➢ Clients you struggle working with?
—Career goals?

—Almost every postdoc at a UCC gave a vignette of a client with a multicultural background with suicidal ideation and several concerns such as MDD, etc. What would I do first? How would I approach working with the client short-term and longterm?

(Copied and pasted this from an old document from my postdoc interviews).

Just as an aside, my several interviews for UCC postdocs were highly structured and most were actually not conversational at all. I was surprised at this. Non-UCC interviews I attended were more conversational.

 

[Catnapped123]

Thank you all for your insights about the postdoctoral interview process! Do you remember how long it usually took between the interview and sites making offers for postdoctoral positions?