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How would my hours look working at your company?

Currently practicing how to ask certain questions in a future interview. I plan on asking these questions when applying for a psychologist position.

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Michelle’s Answer

Hello, Gabriella ! :)

This seems to be a repeat question and again I would like to impress some advice for you on what you can expect in the future when you apply for Psychologist jobs. This particular question is not something you will need to ask during an initial interview as a professional psychologist.

Let's take this step by step. You see an employment notice and read the notice. It will say whether it's full time or part time, per diem, consultant, contract or remote or hybrid. Read the notices for psychologists on Indeed to get an idea of this. So, you've read the ad and you're looking for part time work. You would only apply for the jobs that offer part time work. Next step is to write a cover letter stating that you are available for and seeking a part time position and the days of the week that you are available. If this is acceptable to the employer, they call you for an initial interview. When you are at the interview, most times the interviewer may mention what days of the week they need someone. Even if they don't mention this, this interview is a time that you will be needing to impress the interviewer, not asking about hours. They already know what days of the week and times you're available from your cover letter. Next, they will be interviewing other psychologists for the position and they will get back to you if they choose you.

When they call you back and offer you the job, most employers will discuss/offer the salary and hours/schedule with you because they want you to know when to show up for work. A question about schedules is not appropriate for this field of work. Maybe for clerical, food service or other work, but in your initial interview you will need to discuss the populations you've worked with, if you have any special certifications, populations that you have done diagnostics with, awards you have received, any articles you have written, etc. It's really important that you don't come off focused on the technical aspects and just focus on the psychology based elements and your achievements.

Once you are in college involved with your studies and trainings, you will probably learn that applying for a position as a psychologist is not like applying for a retail or minimum wage job. As I've mentioned before, if any questions about schedules, benefits, or the like go unanswered, talk to the Human Resource Department of the company that you've applied to. Also, your manager will always tell you what your schedule is, so I wouldn't be worried about putting that question forward at the initial interview.

Some questions you might want to ask in the initial interview are : What are some of your funding sources ? What support staff do you already have in place ? How long has this clinic been operating ? What populations make up most of your clientele ? Questions about the clients and the agency/company would be appropriate but not questions about time off, benefits, etc.

You can make a list of questions for interviews now, save the list and go back to it once you've become a psychologist and you just may see that your list that you made 8 to 12 years ago may not be what you've grown to learn would be the best. I just give this advice for your insight as you will learn exactly what to do during your studies, internships and any work you do and you will have many mentors guiding you through it all.

I wish you all the best !
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