School Counselor: Common Interview Questions
- What Made You Decide to Become a School Counselor?
- Why Do You Want to Work at Our School?
- What Do You See Yourself Doing in Five Years?
- Why Do You Want to Work With Students on this Grade Level?
- How Will You Handle Criticism?
A big concern of many school counseling graduates is what type of interview questions they should prepare for as a school counselor. Although interviews can vary depending on the particular employer who is conducting the interview, there are a few questions that are common to most school counselor interviews. Five of these questions along with recommended answers for each can be found within the sections that follow.
What Made You Decide to Become a School Counselor?
One interview question that school counseling graduates should prepare for is what made them decide to become a school counselor. Most all employers will want to know what attracts applicants to open positions. When answering this question, it is best to talk about the desire to make a difference by helping students. It is also a good idea to talk about the value that applicants can bring to the school using their knowledge and skills in the field of counseling.
Why Do You Want to Work at Our School?
According to the American School Counselor Association, another interview question that people should prepare for as a school counselor is why they want to work for that particular school. Acceptable answers for this question may be that the applicant is excited to help the school’s diverse population or maybe the applicant has conducted a bit of research pertaining to the school and would like to help improve an area in which the school is currently struggling.
What Do You See Yourself Doing in Five Years?
Another common interview question that school counselor grads should prepare for is what they see themselves doing in five years. Employers want to hire applicants who plan on staying with them for some time into the future. Because of this, it is best to answer this question by explaining the desire to acquire experience working for the employer for the next several years. Applicants may also want to discuss how the job position they are applying for is their dream job.
Why Do You Want to Work With Students on This Grade Level?
Why the applicant wants to work with students on the particular grade level of the school is another interview question to prepare for as a school counselor. For this question, it is perfectly okay for applicants to say that they feel more comfortable with certain age groups. It is also great for applicants to explain that they have more experience with certain age groups and can relate to them more than other age groups.
How Will You Handle Criticism?
Yet another interview question that persons with school counselor degrees should prepare for is how they will handle criticism. School counselors are often subject to varying degrees of criticism by parents, students, and teachers. As such, employers want to know if applicants are prepared to handle this criticism. A good way for applicants to answer this question is to explain that criticism can help them improve their skills and find more effective ways to accomplish their goals.
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Job interviews can be highly stressful, but preparation can help to relieve some of this stress. One way to prepare for a job interview is to practice some common interview questions that the employer may ask. Although these questions may vary a bit from one employer to another, five great interview questions that people should prepare for as a school counselor are described above.