It’s true that substance abuse counselors are in great demand across the country. But it’s also true that no organization wants to hand one of those jobs to someone who is less than completely qualified. If you want to walk vulnerable and at-risk individuals back from the depths of addiction, you’re going to have to prove you are the right person to do it—no matter what you state certification or license says.
For all the education and expertise you will build up through your degree or certificate programs in substance abuse counseling, you can still expect to face tough in-person interviews when you start looking for counseling jobs.
So it’s worth taking some time out from your studies of Dialectical Behavior Therapy and the Matrix Model to devote a little time to mastering the substance abuse counselor interview process.
Your License Lays the Foundations for Having a Successful Addiction Counseling Job Interview
Although your license or certification isn’t the end of the process, it’s an absolute must for getting started. Yet such is the demand, and such are the licensing laws in many states that many people will start their job hunt before getting official credentials.
That’s not something that will keep you out of interviews, but you will need to have good answers about the progress you are making toward becoming a substance abuse counselor and getting that legal authority to practice. Many organizations are willing to take on new hires who are on the last legs of building their required field experience for licensing; none of them want anyone who is going to hang around without clearing the hurdle of testing and certification.
So you should be able to show that you have been making steady progress toward getting authorized to practice in the role you are applying for. A consistent pattern of educational advancement is one good sign. Test prep courses are another. Diligent pursuit of accumulating practice hours is also good.
Starting and stopping your career progress over the course of a couple of years may be understandable, but it’s not desirable.
Much of this is going to be clear from your resume, however. If you have landed the interview in the first place, it’s a good sign you have shown the right pattern of progress. You may still be asked to explain or outline some of your thinking and progression.
For most people, the tough part really comes down to the interview, however.
Preparing for the Complex Questions in Substance Abuse Counselor Job Interviews
Plenty of the questions that get asked in substance abuse counselor interviews could be pulled out of any generic job interview session… why do you want this substance abuse counseling job, where do you see yourself in five years, what is your biggest weakness?
But you will also be asked directly about more technical and skill-based parts of the job. The general questions will get at your personality and your fit for the organization. But these are where your genuine counseling expertise will be assessed.
They will tend to land in three categories.
1) Questions About Ethical Conduct for Substance Use Disorder Counselors
No organization wants to be in the headlines of the local paper when a counselor goes sideways in their ethical responsibilities. This is a field filled with landmines for counselors who didn’t stay entirely sharp during their ethics training classes. From oversharing to attachment issues, every counselor has to deal with tough questions of ethics at some point during their career.
You’re going to get grilled on your ability to deal with ethical challenges.
These questions are often sneaky, in a certain sense. It’s not because the interviewer is trying to put one over on you. Instead, it’s just that no one is likely to offer a straight answer to a question like “Have you ever taken on a client that you had a relationship with?” or “Have you ever mentioned personally identifying information about a client on TikTok?”
Instead, expect questions that are more about your personality and boundaries. You may be asked about specific ethical challenges you have faced with clients in the past and how you have handled them.
2) Questions Addressing Your Technical and Clinical Knowledge of Substance Abuse Treatment
Although you will have covered much of the same material in class or on your certification or licensing exams, expect some questions that drill down into the essential knowledge of assessment, treatment planning, counseling, and crisis management.
These nuts and bolts questions about motivational interviewing, CBT, or methadone schedules are basic but important to get right.
You may also face questions about what you consider to be the most effective treatment approaches, or methods for engaging clients for whom traditional treatments aren’t working. It would be nice to say there are no wrong answers here, but the reality is that everyone has an opinion, and the closer yours is to the person hiring you the better your odds.
The best way to beat these is through research—understand the typical treatment approaches used by the organization and what their philosophy is, and you’ll be better equipped to offer the “right” answers even to subjective questions.
3) Penetrating Questions About Your Personal Experience and Background in Addiction Counseling
Since almost every substance abuse counseling degree has field experience requirements, and licensing or certification will come with even more, expect to be asked about real-life scenarios you have had to deal with.
This isn’t an area where you can bluff. Real-world cases are something that the people interviewing you will have seen plenty of. So you should stick to the genuine article and resist embellishing or borrowing. Anything that doesn’t ring true will get sniffed out.
Just as importantly, you should be able to draw some lessons from your experience. You need to be able to show you have thought about how you handled those cases, and come to conclusions that could either be valuable to use in the future, or which you have decided need to be done differently. Your ability to learn on the job and improve your skills is being assessed just as much as what you have done in the past.
Turning the Tables on Interviewers: Asking Your Own Tough Questions May Be the Most Important Part of Your Addiction Counseling Job Application
Sometimes, the most important questions in any interviews aren’t the ones that you answer, but the ones you ask.
These are your opportunity to show that you are committed to addiction counseling and deeply interested in the organization where you are applying. They should go beyond the inevitable practical interests of salary and vacation time. You should also be asking about things like:
- Co-workers and their specialities and experience… find out who you will be working with and how their skills and expertise can complement yours.
- Co-workers and their specialities and experience… find out who you will be working with and how their skills and expertise can complement yours.
- Success rates and goals… how good are they and how do they expect to improve with your assistance?
- Funding for the organization and long-term prospects… are they expanding? Taking on new types of clients or new geographical areas?
In general, you want to show an interest in both the organization and its mission. And your questions should show that you have already done some investigation on your own into both—a sure sign of interest that interviewers look for.
With the wealth of substance abuse counseling positions available in most parts of the country today, it should be no problem for anyone with the right education in the field to land one of them. But to get that one perfect spot that pops up that is the exact fit for your dream goals and population, getting your interviewing prowess polished can make all the difference.