Tips for Your Social Work Placement Interview
Preparing for your social work placement interview can be nerve-wracking whether this is your first experience in the field, or you’ve been a social worker for years already. Below, I’ll highlight some tips and ideas to support you in preparing for your social work placement interview to help the process go as smoothly as possible!
Tips for Your Social Work Placement Resume
Make sure to include your education at the top of your resume. Given that your resume is for an academic placement in this case, highlighting your current and past experience is one of the most important aspects. I would suggest including your current program first, and include the expected date of graduation or completion if possible!
If you have a mix of social services and non-social services experience, you could consider splitting your experience into two sections, with your more relevant experiences listed first, followed by a section for other professional experience. In this case, you might choose to use headings like “Social Services Experience” and “Other Professional Experience”, but you can adjust these as it makes sense with your experience!
You may have already completed a social work internship in the past – if so, make sure to include this on your resume as well! You may choose to include this in with your other professional roles or make a separate section for your internship(s). Either way, make sure this information is easy to find for the person reading your resume, as this will help highlight the skills and experience you have that are relevant to the social work placement!
When listing your past professional roles, make sure to highlight the skills from your experience that are most relevant to social work. For example, if you have experience as a restaurant server, you could use your bullet points to mention skills like communication, working well under pressure, and working collaboratively with your team. This helps demonstrate that although the role itself may not have been relevant to social work, you have developed the skills needed to do well in the practicum placement!
Lastly, make sure to include any relevant trainings or professional development you may have completed. Including things like first aid, your driver’s license, or other trainings or courses you have taken can also help show that you are well-prepared for the placement.
In addition to these suggestions, we have a whole post outlining tips and recommendations for your social work resume. For more info, you can find it here!
Social Work Placement Interview Process
The process when interviewing for your social work placement can differ between schools. Depending on whether your school finds placements for you, or you are responsible for finding your own placement, you may have already connected with your potential placement site, or your school may contact you and ask you to reach out to the potential site that they have found for you. Either way, in the process of scheduling and attending the interview, social work schools and placement sites typically encourage students to demonstrate initiative and independence, both of which are important skills for social workers to have.
For the interview itself, this can also vary greatly depending on the organization and program. For some placements, interviews are “competitive”, meaning that they are interviewing multiple students for one placement spot. On the other hand, for some interviews there is only one student interviewing for the placement spot. In this case, these tend to be more of a check to make sure that your goals and experience are a good fit with the placement site. In either scenario, it is helpful to prepare for the interview beforehand so you can approach it with confidence!
What to Wear to your Social Work Interview
Trying to figure out what to wear to your social work placement interview can be intimidating, especially when the dress code for difference social work jobs can range from joggers and a t-shirt to dress pants and a blazer. My advice is to take a few minutes to look into the organization to get a better understanding of the work they do, as this can give you a better idea of how others may be dressed. For instance, at a placement where social workers are frequently attending court to support clients, a higher standard may be expected for dress code. On the other hand, at a placement where social workers are mainly engaged in outreach work, the dress code may be more casual. Regardless, for your social work placement interview, you can typically wear a pair of nice jeans (i.e. no rips or holes) or trousers, paired with a blouse, button-up shirt, or sweater. Generally, aligning with a “smart casual” outfit for the interview should be a safe choice, but if in doubt it’s better to dress too formal as opposed to too casual.
Common Social Work Placement Interview Questions
Considering your answers to common social work questions is a great way to prepare before your social work interview. In answering many of the questions you may be asked in the interview, it will be important to have a bit of an understanding of the work that they do at that particular organization; for example, knowing things like the populations they serve and the types of services they offer will be helpful when tailoring your answers to the interview questions! That said, I would suggest doing a bit of research prior to your interview, such as checking out their website.
Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to start thinking about answers to interview questions. Below, I’ve listed some questions you may be asked during your interview as well as some sample answer ideas!
Why are you interested in doing a placement at this placement site?
This is an important question to prepare an answer to because having a good answer can help show the interviewer that you are genuinely interested in joining the team as a social work practicum student! To answer this one, you might want to talk about your experience related to the placement’s area of work, or, you could also talk about why you are interested in learning more about the area of work they do. Either way, the main thing here is coming across as sincere about your interest in this placement.
What motivated you to pursue a career in social work?
Again, answering this question can help the interviewer get a better sense of who you are as a student and future social worker! If you’re having trouble coming up with a way to answer this question, we have a whole blog post dedicated to the topic!
What skills and strengths do you bring to this internship position?
This is a common question, whether you’re interviewing for a social work internship or a job in the field. For this, I would suggest brainstorming 2-3 strengths you have developed in your past experience, whether those past roles have been related to social work or not. As well, I would recommend thinking about an example that you can highlight in the interview that demonstrates this strength. For example, if one of your strengths is building rapport with clients, try to think of a time where you were able to effectively build rapport and how you did that. Having an example you’ve already thought of can help you when you’re answering in the moment and will help strengthen your answer as a whole!
What do you hope to gain/learn from completing an internship at this placement site?
It can be easy to forget to prepare for this question for a job or internship interview (I’ve definitely forgotten to prep for this one before!), but having an idea of your learning goals for the practicum placement prior to the interview can help you go one step further to demonstrate your genuine interest in this practicum and area of social work practice. As with the other questions above, this answer is largely personal. To answer it, you may want to consider some current gaps in your skills and knowledge, and how completing a practicum at this organization would help you fill those gaps!
What are your career goals as a social worker?
Similar to the question above, this is a great opportunity to demonstrate how your professional career aligns with what you will learn at this practicum placement. As with the other questions, answer honestly and take the opportunity to share with the interviewer what you hope to achieve in the future – then, you can link these goals to what you will learn and accomplish as a social work intern at the organization.
What does your self-care routine look like/how do you decompress after a stressful day at practicum?
Although this question may seem minor compared to some of the other questions I’ve discussed, having a self-care routine and being able to articulate it can be an important part of the interview process (I’ve been personally asked this question in all of my most recent social work interviews!) When answering this question, it can be helpful to speak to self-care you engage in outside of work, whether that be going for walks, being in nature, spiritual practices, spending time with friends and family, or whatever else you may do to decompress. However, when answering this question I also like to speak to what self-care looks like for me as a professional, which might include things like setting firm boundaries between work and personal time, de-briefing with colleagues after high-stress situations, or balancing your workload to prevent burnout.
Final Interview Preparation Tips
Overall, it’s best to make sure your answers are tailored to the placement you’re interviewing for. For example, if you were interviewing for a placement working with people experiencing substance use, you could draw on your skills and knowledge relevant to that role. In this case, topics like harm reduction and knowledge related to substance use psychoeducation could be useful knowledge when entering that practicum placement.
As well, it can be helpful to align your future goals with the current practicum placement you’re interviewing for. Even if the placement isn’t in the exact area you’re hoping to work in the future, you could discuss how the skills and experience you would gain could be transferrable to your future career goals.
When preparing for your interview, AI tools can also be helpful when planning out your answers to commonly asked questions. You can utilize these tools by providing information about the placement itself as well as some of your relevant experience, which can allow you to brainstorm answers that are tailored to the role and your personal background.
Ultimately, the social work placement interview is a great opportunity to highlight not only your skills and experience, but also talk about how the placement will support you in your career as a social worker in the future. By ensuring that you tailor your resume and attend your interview well-prepared, you will be able to make a positive impression and hopefully land your dream practicum placement!
