Your Psychology Coach

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One of the biggest challenges you might face in graduate school is not matching with a practicum or internship.  As competition for training positions continues to increase, more and more applicants are having to deal with this experience.  But, there is no comfort in that growing pool.

You probably feel devastated...and, maybe, even humiliated.  After putting so much energy into writing applications and conducting interviews, the rejection you feel can be overwhelming.  How is it possible that these sites could not see what you have to offer?  How could they miss your enthusiasm and overlook how well your qualifications seemed to fit what they were offering?   If most of your classmates were able to match with sites, your feelings can become even more magnified by the isolation that comes with not feeling understood.

This is a fundamentally-important time to pull inside yourself and start focusing entirely on what happened to you and what comes next.  You need - and deserve - enough time to express and sort through your feelings so you can begin to heal and prepare to start fresh.

1.  Consider going through "The Clearinghouse".  If you feel ready to consider alternative placements, this is the place to go next.  (Although I am not sure it still has that name, I wish they would change it to "Second-Round Matching Pool" or another name that describes it more accurately.  Contrary to the name's connotations, The Clearinghouse is not a bargain bin or sale rack where the worst positions are marked down for a quick sale.  Actually, it is a place where, for many reasons, good internship and practicum positions remain available.  Often, they are un-filled because various sites' highly-ranked applicants accepted other offers, and the training staff ran out of names on their preferred lists before the matching process ended.  Or, they did not find enough applicants they wanted so, rather than lowering their standards, they simply stopped making offers.  If you did not previously apply to these sites, you might actually be a good fit for their training programs.  Check with your training department to see how to find all of the names and contact information for these.  You will probably be amazed at how many high-quality programs still have openings for trainees.  Take some time to start re-vamping your priorities and revise your applications to fit their requirements.  Be sure to talk with your training director and advisor about how quickly you will need to complete this process so you have a shot at these openings before they are filled with other applicants.  Some sites like to complete their matching process as soon as possible, so you might not have as much time as you would like.

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If you are currently on internship - or have already graduated and still are looking for post-doctoral employment - please consider taking my survey.  Your responses will help me write more relevant posts for readers like you in the future.  Also, please feel free to send your questions or concerns directly to me at DrCarlsen@PDI-Online.com.

Here is the link:  Survey of Interns' Post-Doctoral Concerns 

Thank you!

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Your responses to this survey will help me to identify useful topics for future posts on this blog.  They will also guide me in developing other resources to ensure your success in becoming a professional psychologist.

If you have a few minutes, please check it out:  Practicum Interviewing Survey

Another big mistake you can make in applying for practicum is acting as though you are applying for a professional job - instead of for a training experience.  In your drive to compete successfully with fellow applicants, you might unintentionally oversell yourself and your qualifications. Yet, unless you stop, pay attention, and prepare yourself, you are likely to do this without even realizing what you have done until it is too late.  In the process, you might also might wind up undermining your own needs. 

Of course, you want to present yourself to selection committees in the most professional manner possible - dressing appropriately and conducting yourself with poise, composure, and self-assurance. You want to discuss your goals and previous experiences with the depth and seriousness of someone in the dedicated to receiving a high-quality graduate education. You want to convey your strong interest in making the most of the training opportunities they offer. So, naturally, you want to present yourself as someone who has clearly started moving beyond the preliminary role of "student" toward becoming a "professional-in-training".

But, that is where the similarities end.  

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One of the biggest mistakes applicants make in practicum interviews is failing to prepare. Because they feel such extreme anxiety, they often cope by waiting until their interviews and hope they will "pull it together" during their interviews.  The problem with this strategy is that it actually creates more anxiety and prevents the applicant from showing what he or she has to offer as a trainee.

If you include yourself in this group, I hope you will find these suggestions helpful in preparing to conduct effective interviews.

First of all, your interview is not the time or the place to gather basic information about the site.  Instead, it's the place to show how well this particular training fits with your individual training goals.  By the time you arrive at the interview, you should have a basic understanding of:

• the services the agency offers
• the client population it serves, and
• the kinds of training you would probably receive there.

If you wait until the interview to get answers to these questions, you risk appearing naive and un-informed.

1.  Make sure you do not sound like a parrot.  As a supervising psychologist, I have one major pet peeve during interviews:  Practicum applicants who tell me they want to "gain experience with a culturally-diverse clientele who have a broad range of disorders".  They might as well have told me that they want a "practicum that will teach me how to become an effective psychologist".  Yes, I know that these applicants mean well: They want to show that their schools have told them the importance of learning to work across cultures and that they know what they are supposed to say (especially if they are coming from a majority perspective).  But, even a parrot could learn to repeat these principles.  You must go much deeper.

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