The Voyager: The Interview

Kyle Barnett, PT, DPT, Cert MDT, SFMA, Area Leader

The Interview

The date and time are on the calendar for your dream interview, so how do you get prepared? What do you wear? What questions should you ask? How long will the interview last? Where should you put your hands? How early should you get there?

The most important thing to remember during your interview is that no matter how nervous you are, YOU are interviewing THEM. You are deciding, is this the place, the location, the company, the leader for whom I want to work? Don’t worry, your interviewer will get their questions asked. Make sure when you leave the interview, you have gathered the information you will need to help make the decision if and when you receive an offer.

How do you make sure that happens? Be Prepared.

Before you go on an interview, everyone tells you to write down the things you WANT out of a job, but that’s only 50% of the work. You ALSO need to write down what questions and actions you can ask and take on your interview to gather the information you need.

Let’s walk through some examples:

What you Want to Know	The Question you should ask or the Action you should take
How does onboarding a newly graduated therapist work?	Could you walk me through the first 1, 3, 6, 10, 12 months of starting to work here, how you’re going to grow, develop, and evolve my caseload?
Documentation Training	I’m not familiar with your documentation system. I know I won’t learn it in a day either. What is your continuous training process like to help me learn your EMR (electronic medical record) system?
Does your clinic have a great culture?	I really want to work for a “team”. Could you describe your clinic’s culture, company culture, and maybe share some things you do to harvest and preserve that energy?
Expectations	There’s also an opportunity here – to ask to shadow the team. There’s nothing wrong with asking to shadow the floor, spend some time, and talk to some of the team members as part of your interview. Just ask ahead of time! Note: Make sure you interview at the location, and with the leader, for where they want to hire you.
Productivity	How are you going to measure my performance for the first 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, and then eventually as a veteran clinician?
Continuing Education	How does your company/team support continuing education? I recognize this is an important investment for my growth as a clinician in the future.