Book VI: Conducting Persuasive Internship Interviews

Sharpening Your Competitive
Edge:

Dr. John T. Carlsen
Your Internship Coach

Book VI: Conducting Persuasive Internship Interviews

Why God Never Earned a Psy.D.
by John T. Carlsen, Psy.D.

(With apologies to for the sexist language necessary to keep from breaking the flow
and appreciation to the unknown writer of “Why God Never Earned a Ph.D.”.)

He finished only the first chapter of His dissertation.
His research subject pool never stopped expanding long enough for Him to
complete His clinical research project.
He could never produce original sources for his work, aside from Himself.
He never knew when Match Day would come
(although whole groups dedicated themselves to predicting the exact date).
He got in trouble when people misquoted by distorting his original research
and He failed to stop them.
He never developed concrete goals for his professional future
leaving it to others to set them for Him.
The Human Subjects Committee would not
unanimously approve His dissertation proposal.
(Some tried to decipher his rough drafts; others sat waiting for the final draft.)
He never learned to write measurable treatment goals.
Few people could understand His dissertation in its original form.
When the subjects in His first case study failed to follow directions, He
expelled them from His private office permanently.
He failed to warn His research subjects of the risks they faced
in participating in His research.
No scientist has been able to replicate His
initial experimental results successfully.
He never completed an APA-accredited internship
and had trouble documenting His experience adequately
for state licensing committees.
His clients were never given a direct line to reach Him
and often had to go to a mountain top or the sea shore to find Him
- either at sunrise or sunset.
He failed his dissertation defense because He spoke only in a still small voice.
He was never really sure whether His degree was as good as a Ph.D.
His advisor and His supervisors crucified him three days before graduation.

Copyright © 1997, 2001, 2005 by John T. Carlsen, Psy.D. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized Duplication Prohibited.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A PERSONAL NOTE TO INTERNSHIP APPLICANTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . III

WHY GOD NEVER EARNED A PSY . D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

CHAPTER I: DEVELOPING A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO INTERVIEWING

Handling Interviews: The Art of Making a Good Impression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Overcome the Common Misconceptions about Interviewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Define Your Core Professional Self . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Develop the Key Qualifications of Successful Interview Candidates . . . . . . . . . . 12
Determine What You Want to Say about Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Define a Wardrobe and Look that Conveys Your Professional Image . . . . . . . . . . 13

CHAPTER II: PREPARING FOR EFFECTIVE INTERVIEWS

Research Internship Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 20
Gather Information from Current and Past Interns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 21
Prepare the Focus of Each Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 24
Prepare for All Kinds of Interview Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 26
Create a Match between Your Training Goals and What the Site Offers . . . . . . 29
Package and Transfer Your Skills to Work with a New Population . . . . .. . . . . . 28
Prepare to Discuss a Clinical Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 30
Organize Yourself for Maximum Advantage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 33

CHAPTER III: CONDUCTING SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEWS

Manage the Entire Interview Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Coordinate a Professional, but Comfortable, Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Answer All Interview Questions Carefully . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Handle “Hot Seat” Interview Questions Strategically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Prepare for Follow-up After Each Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Evaluate Your Performance after Each Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
How to Ruin Your Interviews from the Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

APPENDIX A: INTERNSHIP INTERVIEW PREPARATION SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
APPENDIX B: POST-INTERVIEW SUMMARY RECORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
APPENDIX C: STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE INTERNSHIP INTERVIEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
APPENDIX D: COMMON INTERNSHIP INTERVIEW QUESTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
APPENDIX E: INTERNSHIP APPLICANT FEEDBACK FORM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Copyright © 2008, 2011
John T. Carlsen, Psy.D.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

EXCEPT FOR USE IN A REVIEW, THE REPRODUCTION OR USE OF THIS
WORK IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY ELECTRONIC, MECHANICAL, OR
OTHER MEANS, NOW KNOWN OR HEREAFTER INVENTED, INCLUDING
PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING, AND IN ANY INFORMATION STORAGE
AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM IS FORBIDDEN WITHOUT THE WRITTEN
PERMISSION OF THE WRITER AND PUBLISHER

PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

FOR ORDERING INFORMATION, CONTACT:

John T. Carlsen, Psy.D.
(773) 975-4297
DrCarlsen@PDI-online.com
www.PDI-online.com

C HAPTER I:

D EVELOP A S TRATEGIC A PPROACH
TO INTERVIEWING

2 HAPTER I: DEVELOP A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO INTERVIEWING
C

Handling Interviews: The Art of Making a Good
Impression
The professional interview is an artificial, socially-constructed situation.
Unlike most natural circumstances in which you simply interact with others,
however, interviews require you to make specific im pressions on the
other people. You want to come across as not only friendly, warm, and
caring - but also as competent, attentive, and reliable. Furthermore,
because interviews are socially-constructed situations, they follow
established protocol. That is, everyone who participates in the interview
process- from the office receptionists to the interviewers - expects
candidates to follow certain unspoken rules in how they communicate, how
they dress, and how they behave.

Briefly, you need to convey
a professional image in Your Professional Image Must
four areas: 1) on paper (in Come Across in These Four Areas:
your AAPI, your essays,
and your curriculum vitae), ! what you write on paper
2) through what you ! what you communicate verbally
communicate about ! what you choose to wear
yourself verbally in the ! what you express through your
interview, 3) what you gestures, your body language, and
choose to wear for the your voice
interview, and 4) in your
gestures, body language,
and voice. Although you might feel tempted to emphasize one or two of
these more than the others, no one of them is, ultimately, more important
than the others.

Each area plays a distinct, but equally important, role in persuading a
interviewers to consider your internship application seriously. Together,
these elements must form a complete package that communicates a
cohesive, consistent, overall image of who you are as a professional in
training.

Internship interviews provide an excellent opportunity to develop this
consistent image and to practice communicating it to selection committee
members. This is especially true if you entered graduate school soon after
college, and thus, have limited experience with interviewing for training or
employment. Applying for an internship might be the first time you have
thought of yourself as a professional and formally conveyed this image to

Copyright © 1997, 2001, 2009 by John T. Carlsen, Psy.D. All Rights Reserved

CHAPTER I: Develop a Strategic Approach to Interviewing 3
others. I encourage you to make the most of this interviewing process as
you practice refining and presenting your emerging professional identity as a
new psychologist.

Remember that You are Applying for a Training Experience,
Not for a Job

Many students approach the internship application/interviewing process as
though they were looking for a full-time professional job. It is true that the
selection process has
become more competitive during recent years, giving selection committees
more power to
eliminate candidates who do not meet their requirements and be more
selective about the qualities they expect from interns. Yet, not every site
expects to treat interns as full-time staff. (In fact, ethically, they should not
treat interns as staff - because internship is a training experience, not a
chance to exploit poorly-paid individuals by giving them independent
professional responsibilities.) Actually, most site staff still recognize the
internship as it was originally intended: the first of two full-time years of
supervised clinical training. Thus, you should present yourself as a well-
prepared trainee, ready to benefit from gradually-increasing autonomy while
still under supervision.

This perspective does not,
however, imply that you “[T]he most effective image you
should down-play your can convey during an interview is
experiences or the level of
your current competence.
an honest one that is based upon
Rather, it suggests the who you are as an applicant, not
opposite: You should spend who you wish you were by now.”
less time worrying about what
various selection committees
want in their interns and trying to construct an image of yourself that fits
those requirements (by pretending you have more or different experience
than you actually have).

And, you should spend m ore time focusing on what you actually w ant from
your training and have to offer as a trainee. In short, the most effective
image you can convey during an interview is an honest one that is based
upon who you are as an applicant, not who you w ish you w ere by now .

Copyright © 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2011 by Dr. John T. Carlsen All Rights Reserved.

4 CHAPTER I: Develop a Strategic Approach to Interviewing

Even if you could create an impression that convinced selection committees
that you had exactly what they wanted, what would you do if they chose
you? Within the first few days of your training, they would discover the truth
about you - and your cover would be blown. Remember, these are
psychologists whose specialty is uncovering and accounting for discrepancies
- and attending to latent information about people! They are not naive,
unsuspecting newcomers to this field. It is their job to weed out unqualified
and incompetent - as well as dishonest - candidates.

If, by some stroke of luck, you were to succeed in pulling something over on
them, you would still have to spend an entire year trying to maintain this
false image of yourself - investing an incredible amount of energy and
constantly re-tracing your steps to make sure that you had never let them
see who you actually are. What a miserable existence!

Who would choose to sacrifice an entire year of their lives - not to mention
their personal and professional integrity - trying to maintain such a false
image? You would spend most of your time trying to discern what each site
values and attempt to adapt yourself to fit neatly into these preferences.

Moreover, the fact is - even if you could maintain such a false image for an
entire year - you could not possibly determine accurately ahead of time what
selection committees want in their ideal candidates. So, w hy spend the
energy?

A far more reasonable approach includes three steps: First, determine what
you have to offer. Second, present it as accurately and persuasively as
possible in your interviews. Thirdly, let the cards fall where they might in
the matching process - trusting that you will end up where you belong and
having a Plan B in place in case you do not match this year. This attitude
ensures that you center yourself in your core qualifications. It gives you the
increased sense of confidence that comes from telling the truth about your
experience. And, it rescues you from feeling anxiety and guilt after
presenting a false impression.

Overcome the Common Misconceptions about Interviewing

Because interviewing is an unfamiliar - and unusual - interpersonal
experience, applicants often have three misunderstandings about it: 1) the
interview relationship is adversarial; 2) the primary burden is on you, the
applicant, to show how well you fit a selection committee’s expectations; and


CHAPTER I: Developing a Strategic Mind Set about Interviewing 5
3) interviewers always know how to interview well. Let’s examine the
incorrect assumptions underlying each of these misunderstandings.

The first
misunderstanding is Three Common Misconceptions
that the interview about Interviewing
relationship is < Interviews are adversarial.
adversarial. < Applicants, alone, must demonstrate
Applicants with this goodness-of-fit between their
perception believe that, qualifications and what the site offers.
in the interview, “it’s < Interviewers always know how to
them against me.” interview well.
They approach
interviews as though
they were going off to war or facing their critical parents or other authority
figures.

As a result, they procrastinate when they need to prepare themselves for
interviews. Or, they overstate their previous experience or leave some
important information out of the interview as a way to protect themselves.
Or, they generate and maintain an attitude of defensiveness throughout the
interviewing process, refusing to answer questions honestly or completely
and raising their anxiety levels. In short, this misconception can influence
their abilities to present their qualifications from the time they start
preparing to the time they actually interview in person.

In reality, the purpose of the interview is to determine whether there is a
good fit among the goals of the applicant, the requirements or preferences
of the staff, and the agency’s needs. Selection committee members need to
determine whether your training goals, your qualifications, and your
personality mesh with the experiences their internship offers and their needs
as an agency.

Similarly, as the applicant, you need to determine whether the training
program will satisfy the requirements for your state licensor as a
psychologist and help you develop the competencies you need for your
future work. Also, more pragmatically, all of you need to determine whether
you would enjoy - or at least could tolerate - working together for an entire
year!

In one sense, you could prepare for an interview much as you would


6 CHAPTER I: Developing a Strategic Mind Set about Interviewing

approach a blind date. Obviously, each of you would attempt make the best
possible impression on the other. On one hand, a blind date provides each
of you with only limited opportunities to gather information about the other,
derived primarily from the current situation.

So, you awkwardly stumble
through the process of getting All of you [participants in the
acquainted - grasping for interview] need to determine
questions and responses that whether you would enjoy - or at
will fill the interminable least could tolerate - working
silences - while doing your together for an entire year!
best not to humiliate
yourselves. Each of you prays that the other person will keep the
conversation going. You think ahead to come up with new discussion topics.
You try to avoid unnecessary eye contact. You do your best to cover up
your real feelings about this other person to avoid making a bad impression -
while simultaneously keeping track of the most embarrassing moments to
share with your friends later.

In an interview, however, you do not simply want to survive by filling the
silences - you want to thrive by impressing the interviewers so they will see
your attractive qualities as a candidate and give you a high ranking in the
matching process. Yet, unlike a blind date, you are not limited to the
immediate situation to learn about one another. Rather, each of you has
many additional sources of information about the other. You can talk with
current and previous interns and read each site’s written materials to learn
about the staff and the training experience.

Committee members can scrutinize your written applications and contact
your references to learn more about you. Thus, all of you can gather solid
information about one another ahead of time that you can use in helping you
prepare to make a good impression during the interview. This information
can also help you greatly in reaching a good decision about your future
potential for compatibility.

Moreover, during the interview, you can greatly reduce any appearances of
an adversarial relationship by changing your attitude toward the selection
committee and making sure that you carry this attitude into your behavior.
That is, you can envision and treat selection committee members as future
colleagues rather than as authority figures.


The secret to a successful interview begins with the following approach:
Start from the assumption that you are the best fit for this site. Then,
spend all of your interview time presenting evidence that dem onstrates
w hy you believe this . . . and convinces them to agree w ith you. This
perspective will keep your anxiety in check and enable you to present your
best qualities . . . and reduce any hit of antagonism between you.

The second common mis-
conception about The Secret to a
interviewing is that the Successful Internship Interview:
prim ary burden is on
you, alone, as the Start from the assumption that you are the best
applicant to show how fit for this site. Then, spend all of your
w ell you fit a selection interview time presenting evidence that
com m ittee’s demonstrates why you believe this . . . and
ex pectations. convinces your interviewers to agree with you.

Similar to the first miscon-
ception, some applicants believe that the interview relationship is one-way -
that the only people doing any scrutiny or evaluation are the selection
committee members.

These applicants imagine themselves standing in a lineup - as if they were
criminals - waiting to be selected by the victim of the crime. Or they see
themselves as shy wallflowers at the school dance, hoping that some cute
person - or anyone, for that matter - will come up to them and ask them to
dance.

In reality, you and the selection committee are look ing together at the
goodness-of-fit betw een you. After the interviews, they will have to wait to
see whether the best candidates chose their internship sites. In other words,
in the matching process, they will be the ones lining the wall, waiting for an
invitation to dance and hoping they will not have to search through the
clearinghouse for a dance partner.

Remember, you have as much to learn about the agency staff prior to the
interview as they have to learn about you. This is your internship training.
Don't settle for something you don't want. Learn everything about each
agency as you can before - as well as during - the interview. And,
remember what you learn when you come to the point of submitting your
ranking of sites to the matching service.



The third misconception about interviewing is that interview ers alw ays
k now how to
interview w ell.
Despite your Your Unique Qualifications are
Sometimes too Familiar to See
expectations to the
contrary, even some
One applicant met with me for a coaching
psychologists make
session to improve her written applications.
terrible interviewers. She began our first session thinking that she
Psychologists are had nothing distinctive to offer that would set
trained to gather her apart from other applicants for internship.
clinical information
and make diagnoses, As we talked further, she described her
not necessarily to interest in working with clients whose cultural
determine how well background differed from hers. She
an applicant fits a spontaneously told me about how this
training slot. interest and curiosity developed during her
childhood, in which she had grown up as the
Be sensitive to the only Caucasian person in her group of
flow of the interview otherwise primarily African-American friends.
and to your own Initially, she had viewed this experience as
perceptions and unimportant.
intuitions as you
complete the As she reflected on her background,
however, she came to realize the significant
interview. Use the
influences this experience had created in
information you pick
developing her world view and her
up to formulate your
perspectives about life. Gradually, she
responses. You must began to see how this experience of living in
make your own an ethnic minority community as a member
presentation and of the majority racial group had provided her
make it easy for the with the skills and knowledge she needed for
interviewer(s) to find cross-cultural understanding.
out about you and
the goodness of fit With guidance, she began to find ways to
you bring. Basically, apply these experiences to her clinical work
the interview is your and, eventually chose to use this perspective
sales presentation, as the core of both her internship
and you can't assume applications and her interviews.
that the customer
necessarily wants to
dig in order to find out what you have to offer. Rather, you carry the
responsibility for communicating what you want each selection committee to


know about you and for answering their questions as well as possible. Be
sure that the interview goes in the direction you want it to go. If necessary,
pause and change the direction so it goes in the direction you want.

Define Your Core Professional Self

The key to overall success in any application/interview process lies in
conveying a consistent and coherent impression on those making the
selection decisions. This is especially true in the internship application
process, in which all (or most) of the interviewers are psychologists.
Because of their training, they will notice and remember any discrepancies
between your written presentation and your in-person presentation during
the interview. Whether you are applying for an internship, a post-doctoral
position, or a full-time job, you need to define the image you want to convey
at the beginning of your preparation.

You also need to check to ensure that you continue presenting this core
professional self throughout the process - from your written applications,
through your telephone conversations with committee members, to your
interview and follow-up meetings. None of these alone will ensure your
ultimate success as an applicant. Your audience expects to encounter the
same applicant in person as they first met on paper or on the phone. This
consistency covers what you say and how you say it as well as how you
dress and how you conduct yourself in professional situations.

The process of defining your core professional identity takes some time and
some intentional reflection on the self you have developed and how your
past training has shaped it. Thinking back over the various experiences that
have molded you and considering the in-born qualities you bring to your
professional training, try to identify the unique applicant you have become.
Many students have difficulty identifying these characteristics. To illustrate
the steps involved in this process, the two examples in boxes accompanying
this text point out the kinds of qualities you might try to find. Perhaps you
believe you do not have any distinctive personality qualities or life
experiences. You might be surprised. As you gather information from
talking with your classmates, your colleagues, supervisors, and professors,
you might find that you indeed have a perspective on life that will equally
strongly influence your work as a therapist, a diagnostician, and a
consultant.



Talk at length with these people to help clarify your unique qualities and
make them more concrete. Think of some specific examples that show your
effective use of these special gifts and talents. As you begin to consolidate
this self-
understanding, you You Can Turn a Perceived Weakness into a
will have greater Fundamental Strength
success in using it to
differentiate yourself Another applicant who met with me for coaching
from other sessions told me about his long-standing learning
applicants. disability. As we worked to identify his unique
strengths and qualifications he told me that this
You will also improve characteristic had significantly influenced all of his
your ability to market impressions and experiences in life up to that point.
your particular
As we continued talking, he began to realize that -
talents and areas of
although he had suffered a great deal as a result of
competence. this disability - the experiences of trying to overcome
Furthermore, this his obstacles to learning had also helped him learn to
ability will continue to appreciate the difficulties other people face. By
serve you well, not generalizing his own experience to these other people,
only in obtaining an he had increased his ability to develop and maintain
internship, but also in empathy with clients who experience oppression.
the future as you
seek a post-doctoral Gradually, he began to realize the importance of
job in our talking about how these experiences had influenced
his entire experience of graduate school and
increasingly
practicum training. Eventually, he reached the point
competitive
where he felt more comfortable acknowledging and
profession. Learn to talking more openly about his learning disability.
value what sets you
apart. And, he decided to frame all of his application essays
and interviews in terms of how his experience of
The first step in coping with the learning disability informed all of his
constructing the work as a clinician. In this way, he was able to move
image you want to from feelings of shame and embarrassment about this
convey is defining individual difference to feelings of confidence about
who you are as a how it gave him a unique and valuable perspective on
human growth and change to bring to his clinical
professional-in-
work.
training. Notice that
I did not say, “define
yourself as a ‘practicum student’ or an ‘intern-w annabee;’”. Rather I
referred to you as a “professional-in-training.” Feel free to use this label
as you refer to yourself throughout the next few years until you have


graduated and become licensed. (The ways that we refer to ourselves have
a strong relationship to how others perceive us - and how we perceive
ourselves.)

You need to begin right now
developing an attitude that you are One of the primary
nearly a professional and determine
sources of anxiety for
the core qualities that make this true.
Even if you have not yet achieved the interviewees stems from
professional identity you want, you their efforts to construct,
must spend time now developing your maintain, and present a
current image, based upon your
existing strengths and personality professional image that is
characteristics. You are no longer not grounded in reality.
someone who is thinking about
becoming a psychologist. Rather, you
are well on the way to becom ing a psychologist. The time to start thinking
about this professional image is before, not during, the interview. The
interview is the time to practice conveying the image you have already
developed, not constructing it for the first time.

If you followed the guidelines in Volume I of this series (and completed your
AAPI), you have identified your strengths and areas of growth as an intern
applicant. You know, within the core of your being, who you are now as a
clinician and how you can use that self to interact with and help other people
as a clinician. In psychology, you must construct your professional self from
the inside out if you want to gain credibility with others. Psychologists are
trained to see through outward appearances, so you will do yourself a
disservice if you begin by creating your exterior.

One of the primary sources of anxiety for interviewees stems from their
efforts to construct and present a professional image that is not grounded in
reality. The interviewee becomes so focused on presenting the image he or
she believes the interviewers want - or changing it to fit each site’s
expectations - that he or she can never act from a secure sense of self. As
mentioned earlier, a professional image that is not grounded in who you are
will come across as false and superficial.

Many internship applicants approach the application/ interviewing process
with the attitude that they must scope out each selection committee and
determine what they are looking for in their ideal candidates. If you pay



attention to your fellow applicants (and even many professors and training
directors), they all seem to believe they have found The secret of success
for obtaining an internship, and they want you to follow their advice.
One says:

“You have to spell out every one of your credentials and
convince selection com m ittees that you are w ell-qualified. M ak e
yourself look as good as you can, w hatever it tak es. Hide any
discrepancies in your back ground. You don’t w ant to draw their
attention to them .”

Another says:

“Don’t bother applying to a site that treats adults unless you
have a lot ex perience w ith adults. I f you ex perience is prim arily
w ith adolescents and children, stick w ith those kinds of sites.”

A third artificially inflates the numbers of actual assessment batteries he has
completed
or the number and kinds of different
clients she has seen in therapy - or
m isrepresents the level of clinical Remember . . .
ex perience he or she has actually
had. I have actually heard of one No matter how you feel, you
applicant who decided to exaggerate his are applying for a training
qualifications as a way to become more experience - not applying for
competitive. Apparently, he claimed to a job.
have administered, scored, interpreted,
and written reports for 23 full
assessment batteries prior to internship, considering his partial batteries as
complete ones.

Unfortunately for applicants such as this one, however, committee members
would immediately recognize the level of competence that someone would
have after administering this many batteries. And, contrary to the
applicants’ expectations, these committee members would probably grill him
with questions that would ultimately reveal his misrepresentation.

In a very short time, his deception would become blatantly obvious. That is,
they would quickly recognize his inability to present the level of
sophistication expected after such extensive experience. Most likely, this


applicant was eliminated from further consideration at internship sites
without knowing the reason. That is, if he were luck y enough to avoid
being reported for violating APPIC guidelines - and losing the opportunity to
complete his graduate education or enter this profession.

Of course, preoccupation with the increased competition for internships
raises every applicant’s anxiety. However, the problem with each of these
approaches is that they undermine the applicant’s ability to present his or
her experiences truthfully and to spell out his or her internship goals.
Clearly, you need to present all of your credentials fully and honestly -
including the names and places of your training and the level of expertise
you have gained.

But, you do not have to (and would be very wise not to) fabricate any of
your experiences or even potentially misrepresent yourself. Aside from
being unethical, this approach is also unwise. As stated earlier, you can hide
inaccuracies from an intern selection or training committee only so long
before someone calls your bluff. And, then, how would you explain yourself
and your behavior? More importantly, how would you recover after
compromising your personal and professional integrity?

Finally, remember that internship is a training experience. What better time
is there to gain experience with different kinds of clients than during your
internship - when you can learn from experienced clinicians and rely on your
supervisor to help you learn the basics of working with a new population?

Do you think you will have an easier time gaining exposure to these other
populations after you are more advanced in your career? At that point, you
will probably have to take extra time to develop your skill and knowledge
base by taking course work or attending workshops - and pay extra for this
new learning. During your internship, you are paid (albeit minimally!) to
gain experience rather than having to pay for it. Since you are paid at such a
low rate, you might as well take advantage of the opportunity to learn
everything you can about different areas of the field.

Of course, you cannot assume that selection committees will automatically
judge you as equally-qualified compared applicants who have some basic
experience with this new population. You will have to help them see how
you could transfer your existing skills to work with this new population. And,
you will have to define specifically how you would apply your existing



knowledge to client problems. But, to assume that you have locked-in your
options because of your
previous experiences and
The Steps to Defining and Presenting
have no possibility to
Your Core Professional Self
change during internship is
absurd! If you want this < Define who you are as a “clinician-in-
new experience badly training”. Consider both your innate talents
enough, you will spend the and gifts and the com petencies you have
interview time persuading developed so far in your training.

the selection committee < Identify your core values and philosophy as a
that you can adapt to the professional helper/healer. Ask yourself why
new population and learn you chose - and com m itted yourself to
pursue - this profession.
quickly. In summary, you
stand the best chance of < Acknowledge the ways your life experiences
success in obtaining an have influenced your world view and your
internship if you present beliefs about life and helping.
your qualifications clearly < Talk at length with your supervisors,
and honestly, taking professors, advisors, and classm ates to
ownership of your current clarify your unique qualities and m ake them
level of competence and m ore concrete.
pointing out specifically < Think about how your unique knowledge and
how each site’s program experience would com plem ent your chosen
could help you fill in the internship sites.
existing gaps in your
< Com e up with som e specific exam ples that
experience. show your effective use of your talents, skills,
and knowledge in working with clients.

Develop the Key
Qualifications of
Successful Interview Candidates

As you prepare your mind set for interviewing, identify your personal and
interpersonal qualities as an applicant. In their minds, interviewers will
assess your qualifications in each of the four categories listed in the box on
this page. For training clinicians, each of these areas of personal
qualification not only reveals how others would perceive you as a supervisee
and co-worker but also gives interviewers a clear idea of how you would
work with therapy clients and with other staff members.


In preparing your professional image, think of examples from your training
and work experiences that illustrate your strengths in each of these areas.
Along with expecting you to talk concisely about your areas of clinical
training and experience, interviewers will probably ask you to illustrate each
of these more personal qualifications.

Thus, as with any interview question, you must prepare yourself ahead of
time with specific examples drawn from your experiences. As you focus on
describing verbally how your training experiences reveal your qualifications
in each of these four realms, therefore, you must also behave during the
interview in ways that show how you possess each of the qualities.

Determine What You Want to Say about Yourself

After you have identified and consolidated your core self as a professional,
you need to decide
what you want to say
about yourself to Key Qualifications of
selection committees. Successful Interview Candidates
That is, you need to
choose which aspects Category One: mental alertness
of your background includes: self-expressiveness, judgement,
and your experience creativity, aptitudes, and interests.
to highlight in each
interview. Review Category Two: motivational qualities
what you said about includes: initiative, drive, enthusiasm,
yourself in your perseverance, and energy
APPIC Application for
Psychology Category Three: emotional qualities
Internship, includes: emotional stability, emotional
summarizing your
strengths and areas
of competence, your
growth areas, and your qualifications as an intern applicant.

Having clarified your basic competencies as an applicant, you can read each
site’s written materials once again to determine the type of candidate they
seek. Then, you can find ways to link your interests directly with what they
offer in their training to show what a good match you would be if they
selected you as an intern. By starting with who you are and what you bring
to the internship, you avoid the common practice among interns of starting



with what you believe they want in an ideal applicant and trying to shape
yourself to fit that concept. This latter practice would leave you frustrated as
you realized the impossibility of determining what each selection committee
seeks and half-heartedly attempted to mold yourself to fit it.

Remember that selection committees are evaluating you in several roles:
trainee, therapist, intern group member, supervisee, colleague,
representative of their agency (if you are selected and complete their
internship training). As you describe yourself during interviews, keep each
of these roles in mind. When possible, adapt your answers to present how
well you would fulfill each of these roles if selected for each particular site.
In short, maintain a strategic mind set throughout your interviews.

Define a Wardrobe and Look that Conveys Your Professional Image

What you wear to your interview communicates a great message about how
seriously you view yourself, the intern selection process, and the members
of the selection committee. Having defined who you are as an emerging
professional, you are ready to package that identity in a wardrobe that
supports your verbal message.

As stated previously, although interviews are somewhat artificial situations,
they nevertheless follow established protocol, similar to that of weddings,
graduations, formal
dinners, and other social
rituals. That is, everyone Dress for your internship interviews
involved in the interview as if you were seeking a professional
process has certain
job. You will have plenty of
expectations of how
everyone else will dress opportunity to modify your clothing
and behave. Anyone once you have accepted a position
who veers too far from and know how other staff dress.
these unspoken
expectations will draw
unnecessary and, potentially embarrassing, attention to themselves.
You would not, I am sure, show up at a wedding or formal dinner party
dressed in cut-off shorts and a t-shirt or halter top (unless it were clearly a
very informal group of people who intended to break with traditions).
Similarly, you would not show up for a back-yard barbeque dressed in a
tuxedo or ball gown (unless the event were a costume party). Yet, some


applicants consider showing up for internship interviews dressed as though
they were attending classes at school. You have spent upwards of $80,000
to $100,000 for your graduate education and will earn the title of “doctor” in
just under a year. I sn’t it w orth spending an ex tra few hundred
dollars on the appropriate suit that m ak es the im pression you w ant
as an em erging professional - instead of a student?

You probably have a credit card with a enough left on the spending limit to
invest in an appropriate suit, shoes, and accessories. Besides, you will need
to have an interview suit to wear when you search for jobs after graduation
and, even, to attend graduation. So, you might as well make the investment
right now. In short, there is no better time than internship to start dressing
as a professional. After all, this is the time when you begin seriously to build
the foundation for your entire professional career. You might as well start
by developing coherence between your internal sense of yourself and the
external image you present to the world.

On the other hand, when
planning your style of dressing Other people form strong and
for interviews, avoid the long-lasting first impressions
tendency to go overboard and of you within the first thirty
dress too formally. If you
interview at a community mental
seconds after meeting you.
health center in an expensive
designer suit, you will certainly These initial impressions are
convey an incongruous very difficult to change.
impression to interviewers if you
say you want to work with
clients from lower socioeconomic classes!

Dress for your interview as if you were being interviewed for a professional
job. Your clothes should present you conservatively and professionally,
according to the environment in which you will work. You should convey the
impression of authority and formality, not casualness or familiarity. You will
have plenty of opportunity to modify your clothing once you have accepted a
position and know how other staff dress.

Psychological research has documented what most people have known
intuitively for a
long time: Others form strong and long-lasting impressions of us within the
first thirty seconds when meeting us for the first time. And, these initial



impressions are very difficult to change. Remember those two concepts
from Psychology 101, the “prim acy effect” and the “recency effect”?
You can be sure that these effects will come into play during your internship
interviews. After meeting and talking with so many applicants, the selection
committee will likely remember best the first and last impressions you made
on them. If you are fortunate, they will remember some of what you said
between these impressions.

Generally, people remember
the m ost about what they see THE HAZARDS OF CHOOSING
and the least about what they THE WRONG ACCESSORIES
hear. So, if interviewers
A particular female applicant chose to wear
encounter something visually
her favorite pair of earrings to an internship
distracting about a candidate,
interview for good luck - little jet airliners.
this distraction will very likely Her interviewers - exhausted and punchy
draw their attention and focus. from the previous 99 interviews - said they
In short, assume that you would always remember her. They said that
must make strong efforts to every time she answered a question, she had
overcome your audiences’ a habit of shaking her head from side to side,
distractions. (See “The making the jets take off in flight.
Hazards of Choosing the
Wrong Accessories”.) Unfortunately for her, they had no memories
of how she had responded to any specific
question.
Does this mean you have to
dazzle the committee with an
N eed I say m ore?
expensive shirt or a finely-
polished professional manner?
Not necessarily. Both your
wardrobe and your ways of conducting yourself should reflect an integrated
presentation of who you are internally and at this point in your professional
development.

Remember that they are selecting candidates for a clinical training program,
not a job at a Fortune 500 company. On the other hand, they are also not
interviewing you for a factory or warehouse job. Think about the
environment you will work in - and dress toward the high end of it. You can
always dress down, but you cannot dress up once you have made your
impression.

Remember also that the committee might make interpretations of your
clothing if it veers too far from the personal image or values you present.


Your interviewers are mental health professionals, after all! For example, if
you are a low-key, casual person - and you are wearing an expensive
designer suit - or if you interview at a site that serves economically-
disadvantaged clients and you wear expensive jewelry, your dress will
directly conflict with what you say about your professional aspirations.
That is, throughout your interview, selection committee members’ thoughts
might return frequently to wondering about why you chose to wear that
particular outfit - and miss what you say to them. For a dramatic illustration
of the possible implications of failing to coordinate what you wear with what
you intend to say and the image you intend to project, remember those
airplane earrings!

The Look for Men

Men should wear a dark- or neutrally-colored, well-tailored suit, a white or
subtly-colored shirt, and an understated, conservative tie. You always want
your clothing to
make a solid impression that is secondary to, but supports, the verbal and
personal impression you make. The basic principle is this:

Never let your tie enter the room before you do!

Sport coats are generally inappropriate for interviews because they convey
too casual an impression. Avoid them unless you simply have no choice
financially. It is much better to convey a casual attitude wearing slightly
more formal clothing than to attempt a formal attitude when you are dressed
casually.

Also, wear sharp, neatly-polished
shoes with new heels and soles. If You can always dress down,
your best dress shoes have worn
significantly, and you cannot afford
but you cannot dress up,
a new pair, have the soles and once you have made your
heels replaced. You can generally first impression.
do this for less than one-half the
cost of new shoes. And, you will be
very embarrassed if you cross your legs to reveal old, scuffed shoes beneath
your sharply tailored suit. If you cannot keep your shoes polished and in
good condition and your shirts neatly ironed, how will the committee believe
that you would tend to the little things your clients need?



The Look for Women

You should, similarly, wear a dress suit or conservative dress in a dark or
subtle color. Avoid distracting scarves or accessories. You, too, should wear
clothing that supports your verbal and professional impression, not vice
versa. Your basic principle is this:

The interview is a place to present your qualifications, not to
show off your fashion sense!

Wear sharp-looking, but conservative, shoes - with low heels. You are
conveying an image as a professional-in-training, not trying to draw
attention to your body. Dress slacks with a jacket are certainly appropriate,
but remember that this is a professional interview, so make sure they are
made of good fabric and are finished with good tailoring.
Both female and male applicants should avoid accessories that might distract
your interviewers’ attention from what you are saying. Limit the amount of
jewelry you choose to wear. Generally, neither males nor females should
wear more jewelry than a wedding ring, simple earrings, and a watch.
(Remember those airplane earrings!) If you have piercings, consider
removing the non-traditional ones for the interview. If you have piercings
that others will see but that are unusual, recognize that you might convey an
impression that you do not wish to make. This is a conservative profession -
and many internships sites are located in very traditional settings - so be
sure to balance your need for personal self-expression with the need to fit in
enough to complete your training and get a job!

Have your hair cut and styled at least a few days before your first interview
so it has time to grow out a bit and look more natural. Moreover, do not
make any major changes in your appearance during the interview period.
Men, do not shave off facial hair that you have worn for a long time.
Women, do not change your hairstyle drastically. You do not need the added
discomfort of a major body change that will distract your attention and make
you self conscious during your interviews.

Avoid eating powerful-smelling foods such as garlic and avoid smoking just
before an interview. If you must eat or drink just before your interview, be
sure to brush your teeth and always have breath mints available. You never
know how closely you might sit to your interviewer(s), and bad breath is not
one of the impressions you want to leave with your committee. Many people
are extremely sensitive to odors, and you don’t want to leave an interviewer


with an unpleasant impression of your hygiene.

At the same time, do not wear perfume, cologne, or aftershave. You never
know who may have particular sensitivity or allergies to scents and you may
make breathing difficult for your interviewer. Besides, you don’t want people
wondering what you are trying to hide under that powerful scent! If you
drink coffee or caffeinated soda, don’t try to stop until after you have
completed your interviews (or, better yet, until after the matching process
ends!). You need all the secure and familiar qualities you can keep during
this very stressful time.

In summary, take enough time to prepare yourself internally before your
interviews. Think about the personality qualities you want to show. Develop
a positive and friendly demeanor and convey an attitude of genuineness.
After settling on the internal image you want to project, plan your interview
clothing to convey this image effectively. Choose the best, most
professional image you can present that allows your strongest qualities to
shine through. Remember how much people base their impressions on how
we look and how we conduct ourselves and plan your presentation
accordingly.


Sharpening Your Competitive Edge: Get the full book
(or the entire set) at:
Strategies for Getting the Internship
The
You Want:
Internship Resource Center
Store

Dr. John T. Carlsen
Your Internship Coach

Book VI: How Do I Conduct Persuasive
Interviews?

About the book

Finally, for a generation of doctoral students who are dedicated to becoming highly-
competent psychologists but facing unprecedented competition for internship positions
comes Sharpening Your Competitive Edge, Dr. John T. Carlsen’s proven approach to
distinguishing yourself from your fellow applicants during your interviews. A completely
practical approach to preparing for even the most difficult interview questions that not
only tells you what to do, but also shows you how to do it.

Book VI: Conducting Persuasive Internship Interviews

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