How to Prepare for a Psychology Internship?

If you want to complete your psychology internship from a prestigious organisation, you must prepare yourself well. Other than keeping all your certificates ready, you must work to master all the skills you developed in the classroom. The section below lists things you must do when preparing for a psychology internship. Stick to these steps irrespective of whether you are joining a developmental, cognitive, behavioural, social, or clinical psychology internship Gurgaon.

Create Your Resume

Your resume is a crucial tool, as your first impression depends significantly on it. Tailor your resume after considering the opportunity you are looking for. Don’t miss adding all the relevant accomplishments and skills you have. Your resume must appear professional and should be 100% error-free. Here’s how you should create the resume you would submit for your psychology internship.

• Your psychology internship resume must include your contact information. Mention your name, email address, phone number, and mailing address. Include your professional portfolio if you have any prior experience.
• As you are looking to do your internship, write your objective intelligently. Interns typically have negligible professional experience, which makes a detailed objective more effective than a resume summary. Write about your professional goals and explain why you will be a great asset to the company. Experienced senior psychologists like Dipti Yadav prefer candidates who are realistically ambitious.
• List all your degrees. Mention them in reverse chronological order. Don’t forget to mention the names of the institutions you have studied at and the dates of degree completion. Write about the relevant coursework you have completed.
• Interns are unlikely to have much experience. So, if you have some experience, it will be a big plus for your resume. Write down details of professional exposures you had. These may include:

1. Joining a psychological study in your college as a volunteer
2. Your experience of working as a research assistant
3. Previous internships (if any)
4. Your experience of completing clinical practicums

• The resume of a psychology intern must have a dedicated section for skills. This section should mention both your soft and hard skills.

Under soft skills, write about your expertise in verbal and written communication, your problem-solving ability, your ability to collaborate, your interpersonal skills, etc. Under hard skills, mention knowledge about various assessment tools, therapeutic procedures, and software.

Submit a Case Study

If your internship application includes an interesting case study, your chances of getting approval will be much higher. Submitting a case study is even more important for individuals looking to join a clinical psychology internship Gurgaon. The case study you submit must include the following sections:

• Background information
• Problems
• Data collection
• Interpretation and analysis
• Conclusion

Use Your Networking Skills

Your aim should be to assist the best psychologist in India if you want your internship to increase the value of your resume. This makes using your networking skills crucial. Begin by staying in touch with your professors. Join some professional groups. These groups will not only help you get a desired internship but will also keep you informed about the activities of your peers.

You can use online platforms like LinkedIn to interact with experienced psychologists. Volunteering in various mental health studies and attending webinars and conferences may also help. To make your networking efforts effective, ensure you do the following:

• Identify the branch of psychology that interests you most (for instance, substance abuse, research, clinical, etc.) before targeting your networking.
• Keep your pitch ready. It should include all your interests and goals.
• Following up is crucial. Keep sending personalised follow-up messages to professionals you contacted seeking an internship.

Your need for networking will be next to zero if you want to complete your internship under Dr. Dipti Yadav and her team. Once you know her name and the organisation she heads, all you will need to do is apply for an internship. You will not need to waste your time and effort networking.

Use the STAR Method

STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result. These four components play crucial roles in deciding your worth as a psychology internship candidate. STAR helps structure the answers to various interview questions. They make it easier for internship candidates to showcase their soft skills like ethics, empathy, problem-solving ability, etc. To make the best use of this method, do the following:

• Inform the interviewer about a mental health “Situation” you encountered. Describe the setting and time.
• Explain your “Task”, i.e., what kind of goal or responsibility you had when dealing with the above situation.
• Talk about the “Action” you took to manage the situation. As you narrate the events, your focus must be on your performance.
• End the process by informing the interviewer about the “Result” of your action. Tell him/her about the positive outcome of your action or the lessons you learnt.

Prepare for Interview Questions

To get your desired internship, you must prove that you deserve the position more than the other applicants. For that, you will have to answer a few questions. Here are the most common questions interviewers ask:

• Why do you want to become a psychologist?
• Why are you interested in joining this organisation as an intern?
• How far do you want to reach as a psychologist in the next five years?
• Can you share the most difficult client case you encountered so far? How did you handle the case? (This question is common for individuals with previous experience working as a research assistant or intern.)
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• What skills will you need the most when working with multicultural populations?

You must do your research to shortlist a few more such questions and prepare possible answers to them.

Final Words

Your internship will land you high-paying and prestigious jobs only if you do it at a renowned organisation. One name that stands out when it comes to organising Internship programs is Wellbeing Help. It is a mental health organisation run by Dr Dipti Yadav and some of the most successful psychologists in India. Contact them for more details on the programs if you want to become the best psychologist in India.

About Author

The author is a senior psychologist with years of experience practising clinical psychology. Her track record is highly impressive as she has managed to help many patients with extreme psychotic symptoms lead a normal life.