Landing your first official job as an occupational therapist is an exciting event, and you'll want to prepare for interviews to help you get there.

Knowing what employers are looking for in a new OT graduate can help you highlight your unique value and also allow you to feel like you've chosen a first job that aligns with your personal and professional goals.

This article will help you understand the top five qualities employers are looking for when interviewing a new graduate.

1. Authenticity

Potential employers aren't just interested in whether you graduated with honors or good grades in OT school. They want to learn about you as a person and a professional to envision how you might work with colleagues, clients and within the company's culture.

Enthusiastically sharing what makes you tick, both as a person and as a professional, will demonstrate authenticity to a potential employer. Consider sharing some essential points about your values and journey into the field of occupational therapy:

• How you chose to pursue OT as a profession
• What specializations or areas of OT feel like a calling for you
• How do you like to spend your time outside of work

Be honest and authentic. Employers want to see that you value the profession and also have outside interests, passions and goals to support a work-life balance.

2. Alignment with Company Values

Before an interview, research the company. You'll not only be better able to speak to how you align with the company, but you will also better understand how you plan to grow as a professional with that company.

Consider factors such as whether the company is large or small, for-profit or non-profit, public or private, and its growth potential. Each type of company will be looking for different characteristics in a new graduate occupational therapist.

Understanding the pros and cons of each kind of company will help you reflect on how you might authentically fit with the company's values.

Large For-Profit Companies

Hospitals, rehabilitation centers, clinics and publicly traded companies

Pros: Continuing education and mentorship support; leadership and management opportunities; higher retirement benefits (such as a 401 (k) plan).

Cons: A high emphasis on productivity, which can lead to quick burnout without strong time-management skills or if work-life balance is not maintained.

What Employers Look For: Energetic new grads who want to learn new skills or specialize, are performance-oriented and have excellent time management skills.

Small or Mid-Sized For-Profit Companies

Privately owned clinics, skilled nursing facilities and private schools

Pros: More personalized mentorship, more direct access to management, and increased schedule flexibility.

Cons: Continuing education, retirement, and other benefits may not be as generous.

What Employers Look For: New graduates who value providing high-quality, personalized care for their clients.

Public Sector Institutions

Non-profit organizations and public school systems

Pros: Increased schedule flexibility, generous paid time off, decreased focus on business-level productivity.

Cons: Caseloads can be high, and there are often many meetings.

What Employers Look For: OTs who can independently manage a fluid, dynamic schedule and who have good soft skills, such as communication and collaboration skills. 

3. Soft Skills Learned During Fieldwork

Potential employers know that, as a new OT graduate, you are just beginning your career and will not be expected to speak to paid occupational therapy experiences.

During an interview, however, you can highlight your occupational therapy program's fieldwork experiences and how they helped you develop skills and deepen your passion for occupational therapy.

Your occupational therapy fieldwork experience was about more than developing essential clinical skills. During the experience, you likely also learned and refined the soft skills that potential employers will value.

• Communication skills: Written and verbal communication skills to collaborate with clients, caregivers, families, colleagues, insurance companies and other health care professionals.
• Critical thinking skills: The ability to effectively apply evidence-based practice concepts in clinical settings.
• Problem-solving skills and creativity: To plan interventions, evaluate and assess client needs and work around hurdles to support access to occupational therapy services.
• Empathy and compassion: To maintain client privacy, dignity and access to quality care.
• Emotional intelligence: To demonstrate cultural sensitivity, self-awareness and the ability to manage stressful situations with care.
• Organizational and time management skills: To balance planning, direct care and documentation requirements.

Come to an interview with examples of how you learned and applied these soft skills and how that translated to positive experiences for you and your fieldwork clients.

4. Clinical Skills Learned During Fieldwork

The primary goal of your fieldwork was to develop occupational therapy clinical skills in various settings. Regardless of the setting you are looking to start your OT career in, there will be applicable clinical skills to highlight from your fieldwork.

Share how you learned to use various assessment tools, modalities or treatment methods that may relate to the setting for which you're interviewing:

• Assessment and evaluation tools
• Electronic medical record (EMR) systems for documentation
• Modalities such as ultrasound
• Specialized treatment interventions  

Share not only what clinical skills you learned, but what you liked or didn't like, and what clinical skills you're excited to put into practice in your new role.

5. Organized Licensure and Board Certification

After graduation from OT school, you'll be required to pass the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) exam and obtain licensure to practice as an occupational therapist in your state.  

Depending on the laws in your state and company policies, you may not need to have completed the process of obtaining certification and licensure to be hired to provide services under the direct supervision of a fully certified and licensed occupational therapist.

Employers know that applying for licensure, especially in some states, can be lengthy, and they want to see that you're doing all you can by submitting applications and other documentation.

Demonstrate to your potential employer that you're on the ball with the process of scheduling an exam date or applying for licensure.  

Authenticity, Alignment, Soft Skills, Clinical Skills and Organization

Interviewing for your first job after graduating from an occupational therapy program can be a highly positive experience when you show up authentically and speak to your strengths.

Doing some research on the company you're interviewing with can increase your confidence that you're aligned with its values. Drawing on your unique personality, passion for occupational therapy, and skills learned during fieldwork will help you stand out to employers.