By Belinda Hammond
Faculty Member, School of Education at American Public University
Interviews are opportunities to present your background and skills to an interviewer whose goal is to evaluate candidate qualifications and find the best fit for the position. What the employer hopes to find is someone who shares their values and their organization’s vision.
For employers, finding the right fit means they’re not just gaining an employee, but gaining a team member who shares a common vision for what can be accomplished. The right fit also means a long-term partnership with a happy employee eager to take on new challenges. For you, having a strong employer who is capable of providing the right work environment helps to ensure your success as a contributing employee and member of the community.
Prep Materials for the Interview
Before you submit resumes and applications, consider creating a professional portfolio. Include the essentials for any interview, such as your resume, transcripts, recommendation letters, and relevant schoolwork such as journal reviews or lesson plans. You may also add photos of relevant projects with children and confirmation of hours for related/required volunteer experiences. If you don’t have verification of hours volunteered or recommendation letters, ask your supervisor and/or instructor to provide you with an academic or professional reference for your portfolio.
Allowing potential employers to see your previous work will give them a better idea of your capabilities. While not every potential employer will ask to see your portfolio, they may ask to see elements of it. Preparing your portfolio in advance helps you look professional and organized.
Preparing Answers to Common Interview Questions
It’s important to be prepared for standard interview questions about yourself, your experience and your goals. Thinking about these types of questions in advance and preparing thoughtful answers shows interviewers that you are professional and knowledgeable about the field.
Typical questions employers ask include the following:
- What about this organization interests you?
- Why should we hire you?
- How do you see yourself getting involved within the community?
- How would you describe yourself?
- What are some of your strengths and weaknesses?
- What do you think sets you apart from other applicants?
- How would you describe an ideal supervisor?
All of these questions are fairly common in most interviews in “helping” fields.
Be Ready to Discuss Your Ideal Career Goals and Special Skills
Consider your goal “career” and know before you interview what steps you have left to become qualified. How do this organization and the role you’re interviewing for help you reach that long-term goal?
From a clinical perspective, be prepared to address your knowledge and comfort with people who come from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Be able to address your knowledge of any foreign languages, including American Sign Language. What experience do you have with cultural, ethnic or language differences?
In many settings, you may also face the question of whether or not you worked with populations who have physical or learning disabilities. How have you prepared to support people with limited skills (or new modification requirements) in your potential employer’s workplace?
Explain How Your Theories and Experience Apply to the Job
Be knowledgeable about your field. Questions specific to the field of human development include asking about theories and theorists that explain some aspect of the role you’d be taking on if you’re offered the position. Take another look at your theories and figure out which one(s) explain why children do as they do or how theories may help a child/family cope with change and grief.
Be prepared to provide example(s) of how you’ve supported coping through some aspect of your experience. If you’ve had experience in the potential employer’s type of setting, use that as your example. If not, what coping issues have you seen in classrooms, babysitting environments or any setting involving children, where you’ve had to support healthy coping through play?
If you’re interviewing in a hospital setting and have had personal experiences with medical needs, be prepared to discuss those experiences. Show how they’ve impacted your decision to pursue a career in this setting, and how successfully you’d be able to separate your personal from your professional experience.
Be prepared to provide examples of age-appropriate play. How would play differ for a child in preschool versus elementary versus high school? What aspects of play and comprehension change through these ages/stages? Be ready to address the importance of “normal” in any setting and how you’d support a child coping with something not considered a “normal” part of childhood, such as the loss of a family member or a life-threatening illness.
Be prepared to explain which theories guide you and your professional goals. For example, Thomas Armstrong’s multiple intelligences may best explain for you how to best support a child having trouble comprehending something new. Similarly, use Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development to explain different age groups and how children will likely react to being able to do something for themselves versus having help. Show how those theories allow you to focus on how you support children based on their development.
Show Your Plans for Further Professional Development
Be ready to discuss the training and experiences you’ve gained through previous professional and volunteer experiences. How have they prepared you for this next step? What do you hope to gain from this newest experience? What additional goals do you plan to meet within the next few years and how will you accomplish them through additional trainings, academic pursuits and conferences? Know what is required for licensure, certification or credentials in your field and whether you meet those requirements.
If you don’t meet the requirements in your field, what are you doing about the gap? If this is an interview for internship, you’re working towards those requirements, but learn what additional requirements are needed, and what you plan to do to remain competitive. Are you considering any other trainings/certificates/licensures in this or a related field?
Discuss How You’ll Cope with Job Stress
Working in some settings is stressful, especially when you’re working with families coping with grief and loss. Do you have a network to act as a sounding board, such as a cohort from school or a professional networking group?
Another important area of training is self-care. What have you done in the past to ensure you take care of yourself? Programs such as yoga help you relax and regroup after a challenging day at work.
Know the Qualities that Make You a Unique Job Candidate
Knowing that you want to pursue a specific career in the field of human development isn’t enough. Being able to set yourself apart from other candidates and exceed those minimum requirements is key to breaking into a competitive field.
Any additional time you have means an opportunity to build your resume and ensures you’ve gone above and beyond to secure interviews. Securing interviews means you’ve got the opportunity to share with decision makers what unique experiences and perspectives you bring to the table.
Be confident, but don’t be afraid to ask questions. Asking the right questions and learning as much about their program as they’re learning about you helps you become the ideal candidate.
Demonstrate you are a team player who wants to share your expert knowledge with the team while gaining new experiences. Recognize that being new in any field also means you have room to learn and are eager to gain those new experiences.
Whether or not you get a job offer (most of us don’t get the job on the first interview), don’t worry. Sometimes interviews are simply for the experience, so make the most of them and learn from what the employer says to you. Gain the recommended experience before reapplying; it makes all the difference in the world for that next interview!
About the Author
Belinda Hammond, M.A., CCLS, CIMI is a part-time lecturer of Human Development and Families Studies Programs at American Public University. Belinda earned her B.A. in Child Development and her M.A. in Educational Psychology, both from California State University Northridge. She has both an M.S. in Sports and Health Sciences from American Public University and is currently in progress on a Ph.D. in Special Education, Disabilities and Risk Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Belinda’s professional experience includes working in hospitals as a Certified Child Life Specialist and as a Child Life Consultant, as well as 17 years of teaching experience including 13 years of online instruction. Her mission as a Certified Child Life Specialist is to bring play, diversion and education into pediatric settings and to make being in the hospital less scary for kids. Belinda has coordinated the creation of 23 original murals in pediatric spaces and the creation of play programs throughout California, and is on the Board of Directors for the Oscar Litwak Foundation (donating mobile playrooms to pediatric programs throughout the country). In addition, she is a Community Representative for the Tri-Counties chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
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