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You know what the job entails, you are aware of the downfalls and the tremendous personal rewards associated with the field of social work. You’ve put in your time and earned either a bachelor’s degree or you’ve gone on with some post-graduate studies and done clinical work.
Now it’s time to go out there and get a job as a social worker.
It might seem like your next step is applying for jobs and interviewing. But taking that path would skip one huge step that can ensure your success. To make sure your interview is successful, you need to study for it and prepare.
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Of course, you knew that interview preparation was key, that’s why you’re here. It’s time to research what questions the interviewer might ask you. It’s also time to start formulating your responses.
We’ll give you some samples of the most common interview questions for social workers. We’ll also give you some ideas about how to answer. But to nail this job interview, you’ll have to come up with answers that fit your unique circumstance.
That’s why thinking about what questions you might be asked is so important. You can plan your answers, consider the different anecdotes you’d like to share, and decide which ones are really to your benefit.
You’ll find that your interview questions might be grouped into different categories. Sometimes it helps to think of them concerning the category they fit into. It can help you formulate an answer. Some of the categories you might encounter include:
Skills and experience interview questions. These questions are the ones you’re probably most expecting and prepared to answer.
The recruiter or hiring manager just wants to make sure you know your stuff. With all of the education you’ve had, there’s a good chance that you do.
Teamwork interview questions. Interestingly, a lot of your work as a social worker will require you to be a part of a group or a team.
You might be on your own a lot, but there are times when you’ll need the cooperation of others to create an ad hoc team for someone’s betterment.
Leadership interview questions. While you’ll often be asked to play a team role, you’ll also need to be willing to step up as a leader. Leadership interview questions will play a big role in your interview, but in a subtle way.
You’re not looking to be a coach, but you’re going to be someone’s cheerleader. You need to be authoritative, confident, and have ideas that people are going to want to follow. That is an excellent description of a leader.
Behavioral interview questions. Another key question series for social workers in the behavioral interview questions. These will be open-ended questions that leave you room to explain your answer and detail your process.
Any employer wants a social worker who can respond in a comprehensive, collected, and informed manner – no matter what the situation. And you might have some very dramatic or serious situations in your work.
Situational interview questions. The situational interview question is a lot like the behavioral one. They might blend a lot. Given a certain situation, the employer needs to know how you’ll react.
You’ll be dealing with people at their lowest points, rarely at their highest, so you need to know how to manage emotion and unexpected events.
Personality interview questions. The most common interview personality question is, “Tell me about yourself.” Typically, in this type of profession, you can have any personality and still succeed.
The interviewer is looking to see how you’ll fit in with others and what your approach might be.
Common interview questions. Many of the common interview questions are the ones you’ve heard about a lot because they can apply to just about any job.
Here is where you’d categorize questions like, “What’s your greatest strength or weakness,” or “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
Now that you know what categories the questions might fall under, and a bit more about what they want when they ask those questions, let’s dive in.
Why did you choose this profession? It’s a tough question, but it should be one you know the answer to and are prepared to answer.
This can be a very personal answer and it’s in your best interest to be honest and show as much enthusiasm and excitement about the role as you can. If there’s a story behind your career choice, tell it.
Why do you want to work for this organization? This question is not a social work-specific one, but because of the uniqueness of the job, it has a different nuance. When you work for a corporation, you’re looking for prestige, paychecks, advancement, etc.
In social work, most of your opportunities are going to be with a government services agency. So, your answer will center around why you chose that specific agency. Are you working with criminals, homeless people, children, etc? Explain why you’re drawn to that specific field.
What are your experiences with our population? Again, this question refers to the agency you’re applying to work for and the clientele they typically work with. More than likely, you have had some experience with that population during your education, so you will have something to share.
What would you like to learn or accomplish in this position? The questions keep getting harder.
Have you considered what this job would mean to you, outside of a paycheck? What are your professional goals and is this job where you’ll accomplish them or is it a stepping stone for you?
There’s no right way to answer this question and you will have to determine if you’re going to be completely honest here.
Tell me how your education or any work experience you’ve had has helped you prepare for this position. This is one question you definitely should have thought about before the interview.
When you read the job listing, it should have sparked some ideas in you. Let them know why you’re the best person for this role; don’t just list your experiences, but relate how those moments helped you grow and develop skills.
Explain the level of supervision you had at your past position and what level of supervision you’re comfortable with. This position already has a supervision structure established. The interviewer is probably looking to see how you’ll fit into their model.
If you’ve done your research on the company or the agency, you should have a better idea of how to answer.
What is one of the most difficult experiences you’ve faced professionally and how did you deal with it? This question is loaded with opportunities to show your behaviors, how you react in a situation, and your personality.
Not only that but going beyond the immediate situation, you should come out of it with some lessons you can share. It’s going to be hard to answer this question well if you have an impromptu approach, so a bit of practice can go a long way.
Do you have experiences working with people of a race, religion, culture, or sexual orientation that is different from your own? In most situations, the short answer is yes. But that’s not what they want from an interviewee.
They’re going to want to hear how someone’s experiences in abuse/neglect/prevention/intervention can be affected by who they are and where they come from. You’ll want to show that you can empathize and understand, even when it’s outside of your ken.
What do you think is the most important skill for someone in this position? This is where you can emphasize your soft skills and how important they are. Listening is going to be pretty high on the list, but maybe you think something else is more important.
It doesn’t matter what you believe is the most important skill; just make sure you can back that up.
Tell me about a time when you disliked a client and how you dealt with countertransference. It’s important to see beyond the obvious and realize this question is all about countertransference, not necessarily how to deal with a client you don’t like.
You should have a way to answer this. Even if you didn’t do a good job of dealing with countertransference, you can explain what you learned and what you’d do differently today.
How has your view of social work changed from when you decided to pick this as a major in school to today? There should have been some eye-opening moments in your education and training. This is a field that can be very challenging and frustrating, yet it has its high points, too.
Was that what you expected when you started? What about the level of rules and regulations and the amount of paperwork involved? That often comes as a surprise.
Dealing with different personalities can be a huge learning experience. You’ll also find that not only have your ideas about the profession changed but maybe your thoughts about your role have changed.
What kinds of problems do you enjoy handling? Why? Think of this as a hiring manager asks you what your strengths are. That’s really what they want to hear. What do you do well and why do like doing it.
Have you ever made home visits or are you prepared to do them? This might not apply to the position you’re interested in. But if it does, then having a level of familiarity and comfort with home visits is important.
You can stress how they first made you feel and how your comfort level has grown with experience. If you’re inexperienced, it doesn’t hurt to tell them that this is an area where you know you need work and you’re willing to put in some effort here.
How do you deal with failure? Tell me about a time when you failed or weren’t as successful as you had expected. This is not a different way of asking what your weaknesses are.
This question is truly looking at how you manage failure because in social work failures occur. There is no shame in admitting to a failed situation; it’s expected. But it’s how you respond to it that can have the greatest impact on your professional success.
What do you do for self-care? This is a very important question for anyone in the social work field. It’s easy to get burnt out and discouraged. Being able to put aside your work emotions and focus on yourself is key to staying mentally healthy.
If you don’t have a self-care plan in place, you’ll want to create one, not just for the interview but for your wellbeing.