Interview Questions for Child Life Specialist Positions
Child Life Specialist Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself.
How did you get your start in child life?
Why do you want to work at this hospital?
What makes you stand out from other candidates?
What will you bring to our hospital and team?
Tell me about your internship.
What was your favorite rotation and why?
Tell me about your biggest challenge during your internship.
What kind of self-care techniques or coping mechanisms do you have?
Tell me about a difficult patient interaction.
Tell me about a difficult procedure.
Tell me how you would introduce services.
How would you prepare a 5-year-old for a procedure?
Pick a developmental stage and explain how you would prepare a child in that stage for a procedure.
Tell me about a time that you had to work with someone who communicated differently than you do.
Tell me about a time that you had to prioritize patients.
Tell me about a time during your internship or practicum experiences that a supervisor provided criticism. How do you apply that?
Tell me about a time that you had conflict with a co-worker.
Tell me about a time that you had conflict with a supervisor.
Tell me about a time that you had to advocate for yourself.
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
What developmental theorist do you utilize most in practice?
Tell me about a time that you made a mistake? What did you learn from it?
Tell me about your experience in your practicum(s).
List every procedure that you have ever prepped and supported for.
Tell me about a time that you have dealt with bereavement.
How do you collaborate with others?
What are some things you do to build relationships with team members?
What was the most stressful part of your internship?
What would you do if a patient or family member asked to follow you on social media or asked for your personal phone number?
What would you do if a parent asks about another child’s diagnosis or reason for hospitalization?
How do you handle stress?
Tell me about a time you had to be flexible.
Extra Theory Questions
Pick a developmental theorist and explain the reasoning for using the theory for child life practice.
Pick a developmental age group and tell me the interventions you would provide for that age during hospitalization.
Pick a theorist and tell me how you would use this theorist to provide interventions.
Pick a stage theory, explain the stages, and tell me how you would prepare a child in each stage.
List the stages for Piaget’s theory and provide an intervention for each stage.
List the stages for Erikson’s theory and provide an intervention for each stage.
Tell me about how ecological systems theory is valuable to child life.
What is your favorite theory/theorist? Why?
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