Physical therapy job candidates are likely to face a variety of questions regarding their training, methods and communication styles. Being ready to face each type of question will help you to answer the questions concisely and confidently. Prepare your answers before the interview and practice them to be as prepared as possible.
Certifications and Registrations
You may be asked about your professional certifications and registrations as a physical therapist. Be ready to provide the titles of all of your diplomas, certificates and what professional organizations have certified you and where you have received training.
Methods
Interview questions may involve your style and methods of working with patients. You may be asked how you help set patients at ease or how you deal with particularly uncooperative patients.
Qualities
Your interviewer may ask you what you believe are some important traits in successful physical therapists and then ask you to name the area in which you are the weakest.
Future Goals
At your physical therapy interview, you could be asked where you see yourself in five years. Your interviewer is trying to get a feeling for where you want to take your career next and whether you are likely to stay with the company for a significant period of time. In addition, the interviewer wants to know if you are a person who constantly seeks to improve himself professionally. Vault, a career website, says that physical therapists "may decide to conduct research and try to publish clinical studies, they may decide to become a board-certified clinical specialist, they may decide that they want to go into teaching."
Population
If you are interviewing at a health care facility that offers treatment and care for a specific population, you likely will have to answer why you want to work with that population. You may be asked how your interest in working with that population came about. If you are interviewing for your first job as a physical therapist, it's acceptable to tell the employer that you want to become a skilled physical therapist for all populations and then specialize in one population later in your career.
Your Questions
When it is your turn to ask some questions, ask questions to find out about new technologies or therapies the employer utilizes in the facility and about the backgrounds of the people with whom you will be working.
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