I’ve had the privilege of sitting in and assisting with several internship interviews, in person and via skype, for the internship at my current place of employment. Here are some insights/opinions/thoughts/words of wisdom regarding internship interviews.
1. We have a musical portion to the interview, so if you are going to answer the question “What are your strengths?” with, “well, I’m really good at accompanying myself on the guitar and transposing songs into keys that work well for my voice range. I have gained a lot of confidence in my musical abilities.” Then when you get to the musical portion, you should be able to demonstrate that confidence, and the ability to sing while playing the guitar at a consistent tempo and rhythm, and it should be in a key that works with your voice. When you claim to be strong at those things, and then your musical audition shows us the opposite of what you just said, it makes it seem like you can’t accurately describe your strengths and weaknesses, or that you aren’t able to self-assess, or it makes us wonder what else you are lying about to pad your resume.
2. Really listen to the questions asked, and then make sure you answer them. If you don’t understand a question, don’t guess, ask for clarification. If you still don’t know, it’s okay to say you don’t have a knowledge base for that question but you’d definitely be interested in looking into it more. Ex. We ask about the applicant’s knowledge of NMT, usually using the abbreviation. In one instance an applicant proceeded to describe how she really loves the concepts of Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy techniques and looks forward to learning about it and working it into sessions. That is awesome, except we don’t do much Nordoff Robbins work in our facility and Nordoff Robbins is completely from NMT which stands for Neurologic Music Therapy. If the interviewer uses an acronym and you aren't positive you know what it stands for, it's better to ask.
3. We understand you get nervous. We get nervous for you. It is nerve-wracking, even scary to have to perform in front of strangers who might hold the key to your future in the profession. It’s okay to be nervous; it’s okay to acknowledge that you get nervous. It’s important to know how to deal with the nerves. When you are playing focus on tempo, going faster is natural when you are nervous, make sure you are maintaining the integrity of the song and not letting your nerves drive your tempo too fast. If you start singing and realize it’s too fast, don’t stop and start over, just slow yourself down, which brings us to the next point:
4. Keep Going!! In a session, if you mess up a chord or get lost in the music, you are probably not going to stop playing, apologize and start over. You will have to keep going because your clients are going to keep going with or without you. We expect some hiccups in chord progressions or notes, it’s natural when you’re nervous. Keep going when they happen. We did an interview recently, and the gal hit a really sour chord on the piano, then she hit a second one. She kept singing, stopped playing the piano for a measure and came back in when she could pick the progression back up. She gets bonus points for this. You might be thinking “But she stopped playing.” Yes, but she kept the song going with her voice and found her way back. This demonstrates and ability to keep going even if you make a mistake. The song progressed even without the piano, her voice carried it through. This is much better than someone who misses a chord, stops singing, finds the right chord, restarts the song, and continues to stop and start or pause while trying to find the right chords. Keep going. We know you missed the chord, we know you know you missed it, what matters is how you deal with this situation when it happens. Missing a chord change isn’t the end of the world, how you react shows significantly more about you and your clinical skills than whether you hit all the right notes.
5. Memorize your songs or have the music for reference, but make sure you are looking up and engaging the interviewers in the music. You are after all looking for a music therapy internship. In MT we engage with the clients, it's vital to the job. If you are buried in the music then you aren’t engaged with the clients. When we are making you sightread something unfamiliar, go ahead and be buried in the music if you have to be, but in the selections you choose yourself you should know them well enough that you can look up and engage. Pick songs appropriate to the population you are applying to work with. Please don’t play “you are my sunshine.” We've all heard it a million times. We know you can play You Are My Sunshine... MT 101. Play your songs in different keys. If your first guitar selection is in D, play the next one in C or G or anything else. If you play every song in the same key it doesn’t show a very good musical range.
6. Be honest. If while interviewing for the internship or touring or talking with the staff you start to realize that you don’t think it will be a good fit, It’s okay to say, “Thank you for your time, but I don’t think this is going to be the best fit for me.” It shows a good level of responsibility and self-assessment to realize it is wrong, and accept it. Don’t accept an internship you think is not a great fit, or won’t be comfortable for you, just because it’s offered to you. If you aren’t happy with the site, then you won’t do your best work, and it is hard on you, and hard on everyone who has to try and teach you.
7. Have some questions to ask. Find something you are curious about. Ask about group dynamics with the clients, ask about group dynamics with other staff, ask what the typical schedule looks like, ask about how much time will be spent in groups versus doing reading or written assignments or documentation, ask about groups you are interested in, ask what the person interviewing you likes most about the program or the facility, ask which group they think is the most challenging for interns to pick up. Ask questions, it shows you are really interested and actually listening to what we’re saying.
8. Try and relax and be yourself and let your personality come through. Remember why you chose Music Therapy as a profession. Know the answer to “Why do you want to do an internship in this setting?” or “Why are you passionate about working with (older adults, dementia, children with autism, inpatient psych, hospice, or any other population the internship requires you to work with)? If we ask you why you want to work in our setting or with our population and you don't know it looks rather suspicious. Did you just apply to every local internship because you have to do one? If you aren't passionate about our populations, that's okay, but then maybe our internship isn't the best choice for you. I was applying to an internship when I was in school and I got to the question on the application that said, "Why are you passionate about working with young children?" and I realized I wasn't passionate about working with young children. When the internship supervisor emailed me to find out if I was still going to turn in an application I was honest with her. I explained when I got to that question I realized their site wasn't going to be the best fit for me and where I hoped to go professionally. She thanked me for not applying since it wasn't what I was really passionate about.
9. Send a Thank You note. After you finish your interview, send the internship director a thank you note. (this goes for job interviews, too) If you prefer to send an email that’s okay, and more efficient, but an actual Thank you note is better. Regardless of whether you are offered the position, it gives one last positive impression of yourself. Thank them for their time. Make it personal to the site you are interviewing with, don’t write a generic note that could be going to anyone or anyplace. Try and put in a few details that came up in the interview about things you’d look forward to working on/with if you were offered the position. It’s okay if it’s short and sweet. “Thank you for taking the time to interview me for the internship position at __________. It was really exciting to hear about the work you are doing with Jug Band, and with community outreach MT groups. I have a strong interest in NMT and would love to gain more experience with this area. I really enjoyed hearing about your program and the internship requirements. I appreciate the opportunity to come in for an interview and feel like your program would be a good fit for me. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, _______.
10. Have fun. Be excited. This is an exciting time. This is the final step towards being a professional Music Therapist. This is a time to network and get to know some people in the field. Show that you are excited about Music Therapy. Pick songs you like that are also appropriate to the population. We want to see that you are passionate and enthusiastic about what you'll be doing.
11. Don’t overanalyze what happened once the interview is over. Know that you are doing the best you can at this moment and if it’s meant to be then you will get an offer. Just because you don’t get an offer from one site doesn’t mean we don’t believe you will make an excellent Music Therapist. It also doesn't mean you are never going to find an internship. Maybe we just didn’t feel like you fit into the group dynamic of our staff. Maybe you need a little more work on guitar. Maybe you mentioned how you really enjoy working with a different population and we agreed that you would be better off doing an internship with that other population you are really passionate about. Maybe we had 20 applicants for Fall, and we had to tell 19 really qualified MT students that they didn’t get it. It’s hard for us to turn you down, just like it’s hard for you to be turned down. Believe me, we hate making the rejection calls as much as you hate getting them. It's hard to disappoint really qualified applicants. Unfortunately we only have so many spaces to fill.
Best of luck to all of you who are in the middle of applying for internships. If you have specific questions about interviewing feel free to ask. Be your passionate, enthusiastic selves, and you’ll find the right place for you. Welcome to the profession.
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