Best preparation tips for your speech pathology job interview

As an employer, it always fascinates me how people approach interview preparation differently.
One thing that is certain, you can always tell the ones who have tried to “wing it” and perhaps would have benefitted from better preparation techniques.

So, I have interviewed my team who have a wide range of interview experiences with the government and private sectors and want to share the top five tips to prepare so you can feel confident before you go into the speech pathology interview!

1. Research the company before your interview

This goes without saying, however when you are applying for positions at several companies it can become confusing. Open your notes app on your phone (so you can always quickly review while waiting to be called in for your interview) and create a new note for each company.

Look at the speech pathology job description and find out the:

• Age range they service
• Communication conditions they assess and treat
• Professional development (PD) package they offer

Look at their website and find out:

• Company purpose, mission, vision and values
• What geographical locations are serviced by the company
• Who is the head of the speech pathology department
• Who are the clinical supervisors
• How many speech pathologists are on the team
• What other allied health professionals work there

Look at their social media and find out:

• Does their social media reflect the values and team culture that are described on the website?
• What type of information do they share on social media?

2. Prepare questions to ask the interviewers

If you aren’t able to find the answers to any of the above questions, these are great questions that you can ask the interviewers when you are asked “Do you have any questions for us?”. Be sure to make reference to the research you have done. For example, say something like “When I was researching your company, I was reviewing your website but I wasn’t able to work out who on the team were clinical supervisors. Could you tell me more about the clinical supervisors in your company and how clinical supervision is provided on a week to week basis?”

3. Preparation of speech pathology specific questions

You can work out some possible clinical questions that may be asked based on the ages and conditions of clients who are serviced by that company. For example, if it is a government agency that services schools, write out possible questions relating to developmental language disorder (DLD) and the school aged child such as the signs and symptoms of children with DLD, or the different assessments used to help diagnose DLD.

Also, remember how you were to research the information shared on social media? Well, this gives you a good insight into information that that company values so much it wants to share it with its clientele. Makes sense to brush up on your clinical knowledge of these topics then, doesn’t it!

4. Draw on your own experiences

This tip is a crucial part of your preparation for your speech pathology job interview. Anyone can recite theory and reproduce it in an interview. To make sure you REALLY STICK OUT, draw on your own experiences. If you are a new graduate, simply talk about specific examples from your university placements.

This shows how you integrate your learnings and makes your answers so much more genuine. Also, it is easier to recall your practiced answers when you can match them with a real-life client whom you have helped.

5. Teamwork, problem-solving, strengths and weaknesses

Most interviews will also include questions relating to teamwork and problem-solving. Simply write out answers to practice questions relating to these topics. Use personal examples of HOW you have been a team player or HOW you were able to solve a problem. Be able to describe what the consequences of your actions were. This demonstrates great reflection and insight – two very desirable qualities of a team member!

Some companies may want to know more about your strengths and weaknesses. Don’t try to fob these questions off by saying you have too many strengths to name or you simply don’t have any weaknesses.

If you are not sure of the answers to these questions, ask those closest to you.

Also expand on how you are aware of your weaknesses and name some strategies that you are actively practising to help you overcome them.

Speech pathology jobs

Once you nail that interview, you are ready to start your next exciting chapter in your speech pathology career.

If you feel that the promises made during the interview process don’t match your reality, it is always best to raise your concerns directly with your team leader first. They can’t fix what they don’t know!

If you feel like your voice is not being heard and you are contemplating changing speech pathology jobs, take the TalkHQ Careers Quiz to help you become really clear about what you are looking for in your ideal speech pathology job.

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Truth is, there is no easy answer. This is because the dosage and frequency of therapy can differ depending on your child’s speech condition.

Therapy Dosage

When thinking about dosage, we often think of antibiotics. For example, when the doctor says, “Take these antibiotics three times a day,” we know that dosage is what is needed to help us get better faster.  Doctors know this dosage because of the clinical trials that show that three times a day for 7 days was most effective for optimum recovery.  When we follow the instructions, we get better faster. The same concept applies to fixing your child’s speech with therapy. The dosage refers to how many times a communication target has to be said (by the parent or child). Your speech pathologist will typically recommend the dosage and frequency that research shows will help fix your child’s speech faster.

Research

While there is still a lot more research to be done around dosage, frequency, and speech pathology, there are certain things that we do know. For example, we know that children with speech sound disorders using the multiple oppositions approach require a dosage of at least 50 trials and a frequency of 30 sessions. Similarly, children who have a diagnosis of Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) who have ReST therapy need a frequency of 4 times a week for 3 weeks OR twice a week for 6 weeks. Weekly therapy is the commonly recommended frequency for language therapy. Research also shows child’s communication gets better faster when there is practice randomly at home or school. For example, when parents can say the target words meaningfully throughout the day, their child’s communication improves a lot faster (but more on that in our follow-up blog).

Therapy approaches targeting early language, stuttering, reading and spelling therapy (such as Sounds-Write), vocabulary therapy, grammar therapy all require at least 45 minutes to 1 hour every week with the speech pathologist. Plus, these skills must be reinforced at home or at school in between therapy sessions.

Fortnightly Appointments

For different reasons, there are only specific times when fortnightly therapy is effective. This is typically when the clients are phasing out of therapy. For example, a child only needs to attend fortnightly or monthly during the maintenance stage of Lidcombe therapy. Some research supports spacing between therapy sessions. However, I am yet to find a paper that recommends fortnightly therapy as a standard frequency. A recent informal survey of speech pathologists revealed that many practices do offer fortnightly sessions however many clinicians admitted that they had observed progress to be slower in most cases. Some clinicians found there was a small percentage of parents who were consistently able to do therapy every day during the fortnightly sessions. They also reported that most parents were not consistent with homework. Home practice is crucial if you want to fix your child’s speech sooner!

Similarly, we used to offer fortnightly appointments but we found anecdotally that parents struggled to get the required dosage of incidental practice between sessions. Kids had to continue to attend therapy for a lot longer and ended up costing parents more money anyway.
So that’s why we don’t do that anymore.

At TalkHQ, we will discuss with you the recommended dosage and help work with you to implement this therapy schedule. This is because we want to help you and your child achieve outcomes faster.

Bootcamp Model

When financial or time commitments make this service delivery difficult for families, we have our TalkHQ Bootcamp option. The Bootcamp model likens therapy to the exercise boot camps that we often participate in.

Families commit to attending weekly and focussing on homework for 10 consecutive weeks. During the 10 week consolidation period, children practice these activities at their own pace. This takes away the time and financial commitment of weekly visits to the speech pathologist.

Feedback from our Bootcamp families has indicated that this has made accessing therapy much more manageable. Best of all, our families and speech pathologists have seen the progress from their weekly sessions.

The post How long does it take to fix my child’s speech? appeared first on TalkHQ.

Speech pathology students recently asked me these two questions and were genuinely concerned.  They were applying for online speech pathologist jobs. However, they became suspicious when the recruitment agency would not reveal the speech pathology business they were representing.

Recruitment agencies are not cheap

Many speech pathology students don’t realise that speech pathology businesses choose to use recruitment agencies to find the best match for their company. AND this is a significant financial investment for the company. Basically, if the company uses a recruitment agency, it must have the financial resources and interest to invest in getting the best candidate for the job.

Why do recruitment agencies withhold the details of the employer?

Some recruitment agencies want to protect the anonymity of the company until they have selected the shortlist of candidates for the company to interview. This may be because of past experiences where candidates have bypassed the recruitment agency and contacted the company directly. This is not recommended.

Similarly, some companies specifically request that the recruitment agency withholds their name until the interview stage. This doesn’t mean that they are hiding anything. They may have had a previous unpleasant experience so they want to stay anonymous until all the checks have been completed.

Recruitment process

Sharon Vandameer, CEO of On the Ball Personnel recruitment agency, sees the recruitment process in a very different light. Sharon describes recruitment as a two-way street. Both the company and the candidate need to have all the information at hand before making a career decision.

Firstly, the speech pathology business gives the recruitment agency a detailed job description. Then, the recruitment agency screens applicants to determine the eligibility for the position. Interestingly, Sharon always advises applicants to do their own research of the company. She feels it is important for the applicant to get a feel whether their values align with the company or not.

Whether you take up this advice or not is up to you. However, if you are genuinely interested in the position, researching the company should be your priority!

Once you approve, the recruiter organises an interview with the company. Meanwhile they do their reference checks in the background.

You may be the only applicant or you may be on a shortlist. The interview may be face-to-face or may be via Zoom. Whichever the case, the most important thing to do is PREPARE for the interview. Check out our blog on interview preparation here!

The post Why speech pathology businesses use recruitment agencies appeared first on TalkHQ.

It’s recruitment time! Speech pathology students from La Trobe, UQ, ACU, Griffith and other universities across Australia are now busy applying for speech pathology jobs. They are also finding themselves competing with their fellow student colleagues for the same speech pathologist job.

So, they find themselves asking “How do I make my job application stand out?”

Here is my advice for you!

Personalise the cover letter

As an employer. I have seen plenty of resumes over the years and what really makes an application stand out is a great personalised cover letter.

Here are my top tips in a nutshell:

• Address the letter specifically to the owners or Head of HR. Avoid “Dear Sir or Madam”.
• Show that you have done some type of research of the organisation e.g. “After reviewing your values on your website and focus on teamwork, I was compelled to forward my resume.”
• List your experiences with speech pathology practices such as volunteer shadow days, AHA paid work, volunteered resource making; volunteer/guest at PD days etc
  

Speech pathology student volunteering or paid opportunities

Your job application will stand out from the rest if you can demonstrate interactions with established speech pathology clinics. Many students are proactive in securing paid and volunteering positions at private speech pathology services. 

As an employer, this is very attractive as it shows the speech pathology student has initiative and a deep desire to put theory into practice.

When applying for speech pathology jobs, it is important that you list your volunteering or paid work. Ask the manager or director of the private practice if you can list them as a referee. These additions are truly eye-catching and will make your application stand out!

If you haven’t had experience at speech pathology clinics (beyond your clinical placements), contact us!  We can invite you to join our team group mentoring sessions, or even offer you experience at our holiday assessment clinics.

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