As the ABA field is growing with more competitors, it is imperative to learn how to make yourself stand out as a BCBA that a company wants to hire. By taking the time to learn what employers look for, you can develop the skills needed to get hired more easily and command a higher salary. The following list describes 5 factors that companies are looking for in a BCBA.
- Experience
In order to enter the ABA field as a BCBA there are already quite a few steps that you need to take. First, there’s the commitment to the 1700 required supervision hours to sit for the BCBA exam. Next, you must take and pass the BCBA exam in order to be licensed. Not to mention all of the education requirements and long hours of studying in order to obtain your degree. Even after completing all of those steps, employers are looking for someone that can bring real world experience to their company. Experience allows for you to gain exposure to a variety of situations and be able to develop effective treatment plans for your client’s unique needs. As you already know, no client is the same and each individual will need a unique treatment plan. When you have worked firsthand with a variety of clients in a variety of settings, you’re able to draw on experience to help formulate a plan that can be effective for new clients.
What if you’re a newly certified BCBA? How do you gain experience then? There is always the option of taking on more cases or asking for a more diverse caseload in terms of age, gender, behaviors, etc. to experience more varied scenarios. You can also communicate with more tenured BCBAs to learn more about the situations that they’ve encountered and how they’ve handled them. Lastly, there is a plethora of research available to gain insight from on various ABA methodologies for various types of treatment. While this won’t be direct experience, you can still take the lessons learned from those situations to help with similar situations that you personally encounter.
- Coachable
Being coachable isn’t a trait that is specific only to the ABA field. It’s a widely regarded trait that employers look for across the world. Having an employee that is coachable helps the company to be successful and also enables your success by giving you the opportunity to learn.
One way that employers determine if someone is coachable is by gauging their desire to learn. While it’s helpful to talk about the latest literature you’ve read, it’s better to demonstrate this through action. This can be done by taking training courses or CEU’s, volunteering at ABA events in your community, or being involved in your local or even national ABA organizations. This shows that you’re taking measures to learn and explore new ideas. Are there experts in the field on an issue you are dealing with? If so, seek them out to learn more and by doing so, you’ll not only boost your knowledge but also demonstrate your coach ability.
- Flexible
In the ABA field it is a necessity that employees be flexible, especially since working hours are largely driven by the clients’ schedule. There are oftentimes where a client calls out and needs to be rescheduled, throwing your schedule into disarray. What if one of your clients isn’t responding to the treatment plan that you spent hours formulating? Are you going to be attached to your plan or will you be able to adapt and create a new one? What happens if your RBT calls out sick or one of your teammates takes a new job and now your caseload increases?
It’s important to evaluate how you are handling these various situations. Are you losing your cool or able to roll with the punches? Being able to handle stressful situations is not only important for your own mental and emotional health, but also demonstrates to your company that you are a reliable member of the team. Demonstrating flexibility can also come with its own rewards of promotions and increased pay.
- Customer Service
One of the qualities that an ABA company looks for in a BCBA is their interpersonal skills with clients. BCBAs and RBTs are the face of the company and work directly with the children and their parents. Being able to understand the needs of their clients is imperative for a successful company and helps with being able to empathize with their clients concerns. Companies are looking for BCBAs that can remain calm in a stressful situation (as mentioned above), but who are also responsive and attentive to their clients. The BCBA also needs to be able to professionally handle conflicts and communicate effectively. For instance, when well intentioned parents are interfering in a treatment plan or not adhering to a treatment plan, being able to explain why it is important for them to follow through with the treatment will enable their child to have successful results.
- Attention to Detail
Lastly, employers look for a BCBA that has the ability to pay attention to detail. This is critically important in a data driven field such as ABA, where a mistaken entry can have drastic impacts on the outcome of a client. Employers need to know that their BCBAs can be relied on to check their work, but also be able to complete scheduled work on time. Being able to notice trends and patterns in clients can help BCBAs write more efficient treatment plans that yield life changing results. Attention to detail doesn’t only extend to entry of data, but also noticing recurring issues that can have an impact on the company. For example, if a system keeps crashing when entering notes, it would be important to raise this issue to your supervisor and make them aware of what the issue is and how it’s having an impact. This action, while minor, could also be occurring elsewhere in the company and by resolving the issue, more effective treatment and utilization of resources can occur.
By being aware of these traits that employers look for in a BCBA help not only your company and yourself, but your clients as well. More often than not, employers will be asking questions on these traits during your interview. It is best to understand how you’re demonstrating those traits now, and if you’re not, how you can start demonstrating them. Understanding why these traits are important to employers will help set you up for success at your dream job.
If you need help getting prepared for your next interview or are looking for an experienced recruiter that can help launch you into your dream career, then reach out to Saridian by visiting our website saridian.com or via email at [email protected]. Our team has experience with building out ABA departments and knows what companies are looking for when hiring employees.