More on Clinical Psychology Interviews

More samples of questions that come up supplied by a successful candidate who had worked hard on interview technique for more than a year. There are other examples from a few years ago further back in the blog.

University interview 2008 (sample1)

 

Initial written task for about 30 mins- had to pretend that working for a government think tank and explain some graphs representing alcohol related deaths across the last few years. Checking for writing, grammar, spelling, sentence construction.

 

One interview (45mins):

 

Why do you want to be a clinical psychologist?

 

Given an on the spot clinical vignette. Imagine that you are a practising clinical psychologist and seeing a patient for the first time. Given 3 different possible sentences to start the session with (all perfectly legitimate ways to start it) had to think of the pro’s and con’s for each one

Tip: Hold client in mind at all times, formulate hypothesis about client and apply that to the sentences

 

Diversity: what be the advantages and disadvantages of working with a client from the same ethnic background as you and a different ethnic background to you

 

Supervision: Supervision is a collaborative effort, what would you bring to supervision?

 

On the spot research vignette: how would you go about evaluating a self-help programme as an alternative to therapy?

 

How would you help a manger decide what treatment services to offer in a practice?

 

Why do people do things that they know are bad for them?

 

Talk about something that you have read that has changed or influenced you

 

 

 

University interview 2008 (Sample 2)

 

Clinical interview (20mins):

 

Given a choice of 2 vignettes, instructed to prepare 1- would be asked questions about it in the interview:

 

Why do you want to be a clinical psychologist?

 

Tell us about a clinical case that you have worked with. Give a summary of the case and the treatment applied (answer in terms of theoretical model based on) What are the limitations of this approach?

 

On the spot vignette: about a possibly difficult situation at work, dealing with client confidentiality

 

Talk about a difficulty had with a supervisor and how resolved it, how has this informed your work/practice?

 

What is meant by the term effective service user involvement?

 

 

Research interview (20 mins):

 

Given a choice of 2 studies to design, prepare 1- would be asked questions about in the interview (design research project paying attention to sampling, measures, design, analysis, interpreting results, implications, ethics):

 

Can you tell us about a piece of research that you have done? Summary of what did and found, limitations and how improved it?

 

Talk about a paper that you have read

 

Talk about another paper that you have read and how you have applied it clinically

 

Is there anything else that you would like to tell us about yourself

Filling in a form for Assistant Psychologist Job

Lots of the students in Psychology disciplines talk about the difficulty of getting a job as an assistant psychologist. Here is an example of some instructions for applying for a post.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Job title: – Assistant Clinical Psychologist

PLEASE NOTE: special instructions for completing the application form.

We anticipate a high number of applications for this post, which will make it impossible for us to read long entries in the “Supporting Information” section.  For our initial screening, we will read only the first SIXTEEN LINES of your “Supporting Information”, which must be laid out as follows.

Eight of the criteria below are marked with an asterisk (*).  At the beginning of your “Supporting Information” you must provide succinct evidence to show how you meet these eight criteria (you may not meet them all).  This may be in note form, as long as it is clear.  Refer to each criterion by number, start a new line for each criterion, and use no more than SIXTEEN LINES in total. 

Wherever possible, please give an example of something that you have DONE which illustrates how you have applied or acquired the skill or quality.  For example:

2:  AP on LD team for 6 months; delivered some individual CBT and
psycho-ed group interventions.

5: presented psychological assessment results to medical and nursing colleagues; co-facilitated support group for self-harming adolescent inpatients.

Space limitations will not permit you to list here all of your relevant experience, so you will need to choose the examples that best demonstrate how you meet the criterion.

We will use this initial information to shortlist approximately 40 applications.  If your application is included in this initial shortlist, the rest of your form will then be read thoroughly, including any other text that you have included in your “Supporting Information”, in order to shortlist further for interview.

Applications to Clinical Psychology

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

 

 A client’s account of an interview for place on a D. Clin Psych Course.

 

There were two interviews of approx 40 minutes each, with a 20 minute break in between interviews to read a case study.

There were 3 interviewers in each, one of whom was in both.

 

Most of them were encouraging (lots of smiling, nodding and prompting) but there was one who I found fairly aggressive, and who didn’t smile or give any feedback

 

Academic/research interview

 

1. Why is research important for clinical psychology?

 

2. Tell us about a piece of research you have done.

   Lots of supplementary questions:

            - how did you manage your time?

            - what were the main difficulties you had to overcome?

            - what is the broader relevance of the research?

            - what statistics did you apply?

            - what were the weaknesses in your work?

            - what would you do differently given unlimited resources?

 

3. It has been reported recently that people who experience adverse events early in life are more prone to anxiety as adults. Design a study to test this.

Supplementary questions

- what would be the problems/strengths with this approach?

                         - can you design a different type of study?

- could you design a qualitative as opposed to quantitative study?

 

4. What journals do you read regularly?

 

5. Tell us about a particular journal article you have read recently.

   Lots of supplementary questions about the detail, and asked to evaluate it critically.

 

6. Tell us about a non-clinical psychological theory which you might use to inform your clinical work and how you might apply it.

 

              

Case study:

Given a vignette about a man with multiple physical and psychological problems, and asked to consider

 

(a)         what further assessments you would want to do

(b)what psychological theories you would apply to the case and how and

(c) what would be your ‘formulation’ of the problem

 

Clinical/personal interview

 

1. Why do you want to do clinical psychology?

2. How do you think clinical psychology differs from other related professions?

3. What qualities do you have that would make you a good clinical psychologist?

4. What are your strengths and weaknesses with regard to

(a)         reserach

(b) clinical work?

 

5. Tell us about life experiences which have led to your interest in

(a) psychology in general

(b)         clinical psychology in particular

 

 

6. Tell us about an experience which has changed you, and this can be either a positive or negative experience

 

7. Tell us about a patient you have worked with who you found challenging.

Lots of supplementary questions

         - what psychological theories did you apply?

         - asked to explain the meaning of various terms from these theories

and the main names associated with the theories

         - what did you learn from working with this patient?

         - how did you overcome any difficulties?

-          how did you use supervision with regard to this patient?

-           

8. Case study:

- Asked about the answers to the questions listed above

- Had to role play being a clinical psychologist explaining the meaning of a particular technical term (taken from a psychological theory) to the man in the case study

- Asked how I would work with this man within a multidisciplinary team

 

 

Usually they ask about the recent NHS reforms and their impact on the profession of clinical psychology.