UCC Job Interview: Advice, experience, etc.

[pittpsych2014]

Dear Fellow SDNers,

I have an interview coming up at a Univ Counseling Center and was hoping to hear from others about their experiences, especially with regard to meeting with campus stakeholders, res life, etc. This will be my first job interview since starting postdoc (which is in a very different field) and is expected to be an all day affair with case and outreach presentations. I'll be meeting with both the search committee (which is a variety of folks from UCC, Health, Res life, etc.) as well as the UCC staff. I haven't been at a UCC in a few years (since practicum) and doing a lot of prep/research. But any advice would be most helpful. What kinds of questions did you get, what was most challenging/surprising, etc.

Many thanks,
SM

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[calimich]

Hello pittpsych and congrats on the interview!

Since no one has answered, I'll offer some thoughts. Disclaimer: I never interviewed for a UCC job, but many of my friends have and I've had the experience of being on the interviewer side.

Be prepared for questions about brief therapy, why you want to work with college students, how you might collaborate with other mental health and medical professionals (assuming the UCC is well staffed/part of the health clinic), outreach experience, group therapy experience, supervising experience (assuming the UCC has trainees), drugs, sex, and suicide applied to college settings, and working with international students and first gen students (assuming they are represented at the U). Of course be prepared to talk about your theoretical approach, diagnosis, assessment, & intervention strategies as applied to college counseling.

Other stakeholders will likely ask more general questions about your interest/experience in college counseling. They will want to see how you'd relate with the student population and what you add to the UCC.

For day-long campus interviews I was surprised by the fatigue of being "on" for so many hours. Some advice I found helpful was to bring your own snacks & water and have small amounts of any OTC medication you might need (ibuprofen, antacids) just in case, take a few extra moments in the restroom to gather your thoughts, and carry mints.

Good luck, imo universities are great places to work.

 

[G Costanza]

Echo the above.

When answering case examples, be thinking about referrals to campus partners and include them in your response. Ex - If a student is struggling with xyz which is impacting academics, talk about academic advising and/or academic tutoring services on campus. College campus partners connected to UCCs often include:
Student health
Student disability services
Housing
Title ix office
Academic advising
Psychiatry
Student led organizations
Multicultural affairs office
Dean of students
Campus police
Financial aid
Career services (sometimes part of UCC)
Team monitoring high risk students
Dietition/Nutritionist
Campus Wellness
Office for international students
Office for veterans

Look up the basic tenets of outreach (starts with a needs assessment)

Have a theory for supervision if it's a training site.

Have an ethical dilemma ready (that's interesting) and include a model for resolving the dilemma.

UCCs can feel like a family so they may lean on personality a little more than other settings. This means being able to laugh at yourself, make conversation with people in the downtime, and being appropriately vulnerable can go a long way.

 

[GoPokes]

Hate to dig up a (somewhat) older thread, but didn't see the need to create a brand new one that is very similar. I have my first job interview at a UCC tomorrow (45min skype) with the director tomorrow. I'm working in a UCC now as an intern, so I was wondering if anyone had any additional guidance on interviewing for a staff position.