New Graduates

I am teaching a course at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. I love it! About two thirds of the members of my class are second year students about to enter the world of job interviewing and jobs. I am interested in preparing them to interview better and enter their jobs with a semi-coherent theoretical framework. In other words, I would like them to be able to demonstrate that they have thought about their work! I often didn't find that when I was interviewing candidates for therapist jobs. When asked about their theoretical framework they all said they were eclectic. So I have developed the following exercise for my students to do to prepare for this question, and then plan to have them practice answering it.

Developing a Theoretical Orientation Statement

Complete these statements:

1.       I believe that people are…

2.       When people experience difficulties it is usually because…

3.       My reading/studying learning of…
has helped me to understand the following about the origins and meaning of problem behaviors:

4.       My reading/studying learning of…
has helped me to understand the following about how to help people change

5.       I believe that the most powerful methods to help people change are:

6.       When doing this work, the helper must:

Compose your answers into a short, coherent statement that summarizes what you believe and know.

What has been your experience with interviewing new graduates? What do you wish they knew or were able to articulate?

You can be sure that the graduates from my class know a lot about trauma, how it affects people, how people can heal, and how the treater needs to care for her or himself to remain alive and hopeful in this work!

Click on comments and let me know your experiences.