Behavior Technicians (BTs) work directly with patients to implement treatment plans that foster skill acquisition and behavior reduction. At GBC, BTs work under the supervision of a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA) while providing applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy to children with autism.
BTs increase the ability of our patients to maneuver through problems and obstacles in everyday life in constructive ways. A behavior technician must be at least 18 years old and have a high school diploma or GED and undergo training.
If you are an empathetic, compassionate, patient person who enjoys working with children who have autism, you may thrive in a career as a BT. Below, we’ll go over how to tailor your resume to a BT role, questions you can expect, and how to interview successfully.
How Do I Tailor My Resume to the Role?
Below is a sample of a job description for a behavior technician pulled from GBC’s careers page. After each section, we’ll parse out what it means and how you can showcase those skills both on your resume and in the interview.
Clip of Job Description: “As a Behavior Technician, you will be working one-on-one with patients in their homes or in clinic under the supervision of our Board-Certified Behavior Analysts. You will implement a structured program to help your patient develop new skills like daily living, academic and social skills. We provide training to earn a professional certification (RBT), as well as ongoing opportunities for development.”
Resume tip: Don’t be afraid to pull language directly from the job description and copy it into your resume. For example, try to work the phrases “help patient develop new skills” and “implement structured program” into your resume. The insertion of keywords will hopefully trigger the AI scanning your resume to send it up the ladder to human readers.
Interview tip: The company wants to know you’re passionate about what you do. Communicating your love of the field/the work is one of the most important parts of the job interview. A BT is a tough role, and the company will only want to hire people who are passionate enough about the job to work through the challenges as well.
Clip of Job Description: “Candidate will implement a structured program for each patient to help reduce negative behaviors and learn new social and communication skills.”
Resume tip: The company wants to know that you work well with patients and can form meaningful relationships with them. In your resume, include an example of a time you worked well with a patient. For example: “Was the only BT on the team who succeeded in getting patient to finish his meals without tantrums.” What is it about you that allows you to connect authentically with the patients? Showcase your best moments as a BT.
Interview tip: In the interview, you may be asked to expand on the anecdote in your resume or tell a new one. Have success stories prepared and be able to talk about each one in terms of 1. The presenting problem. 2. How you handled it and 3. What the outcome was. For example: “One of the children refused to finish his meals, and none of the other team members were able to disrupt this problematic behavior. I created a song to sing during mealtimes that made eating more fun for the child, and then he started finishing his meals every time, no problem.”
Clip of Job Description: “The Behavior Technicians that do well at GBC can multi-task while providing instruction to a child, stay calm in stressful situations and can follow a structured plan while providing excellent service to patients and their families. You would be a good fit at GBC if you are energetic, caring and want to make a difference in the lives of others.”
Resume tip: Empathy is the name of the game in BT roles. Note times that demonstrate you showed patience with a child or their parents when the going got tough. For example: “brought child back from the brink of a meltdown by singing their favorite song with them” or “became the go-to person for difficult conversations with parents.”
Interview tip: Recall a time when you “wanted to quit” but didn’t. What kept you going? Maybe it was the face of a particular patient when they reached a milestone, or the relief in a parent’s eyes when they saw their child do something they were told he could never do. Keep those moments close to your heart and be ready to talk about them with your interviewer to show them (and yourself) why you keep showing up for work every day.
Clip of Job Description: “Candidate will communicate effectively with their BCBA supervisor, collect data during patient appointments using the Rethink app, and will reliably follow a weekly schedule for each assigned patient.”
Resume tip: Your prospective employer will want proof that you’re organized so you can keep patient files straight and stay on schedule. Are you the person who keeps everyone on deadline in the office? Are you the owner of all of the team spreadsheets? Companies love people who are always trying to improve and economize workplaces and workflows. If you made a system change–even a small one–in your company that upped productivity, put it on your resume. For example: “Organized play area so that toys were easier to put away after recess” or “Made a list of each child’s favorite stories and placed them in the reading area for quick reference.”
Interview tip: “How do you juggle competing priorities” is a common interview question. It’s something that we all have to do, but everyone does it in their own way. If time management skills are listed on the job description, have something to say when the interviewer asks you this. It can be as simple as “I use monday.com or Asana to track my tasks” or “I set aside an hour for each task and then I move on to the next to keep things flowing and come back later if I need to do more on it.” There’s no wrong answer to something like this. The only wrong answer is having no answer.
Clip of Job Description: “Our core values are community, integrity, communication and… FUN!”
Interview tip: Employers want to know your core values align with theirs, so make sure you’ve researched what the company’s mission/values are and be able to connect them to your working philosophy and style.
What Questions Should I Expect to Be Asked?
This is not an exhaustive list, but here are examples of a few questions you may be asked (or some variation thereof) in your interview:
Q: How do you react in stressful situations with patients?
A: Your prospective employer will want to know what specific techniques you use when calming down difficult patients. Have specific strategies in mind and one or two anecdotes (with a happy ending, of course) that you can use to point to these strategies in action.
Q: Why do you enjoy working with this population?
A: This is the “why do you want this job” equivalent question in this interview. Why did you choose this field? What do you love about it? Again, have specific examples of a time when you realized or reconfirmed your love of the kind of work you do.
Q: What do you feel is the most challenging part of working with this population?
A: Being a BT is not all sunshine and rainbows, and any company worth its salt understands that. Feel free to talk honestly about challenges you’ve faced in the field, but don’t disparage any patients, parents, former colleagues, or managers.
Q: How do you collaborate with colleagues who may have a different working style than you?
A: Any workplace has multiple personalities, work styles, and value systems at play. Your employer wants to know you “play well with others” so recall a time when you disagreed with a colleague but worked through the problem and be prepared to talk about it.
Q: How do you handle parents of children who may be problematic or dissatisfied with your work?
A: Working with children means working with their parents too, and parents are very protective when it comes to their children. Being able to manage parents’ expectations around their child’s progress is crucial, so be ready to talk about a time you dealt with a difficult parent. If you don’t have an example of that, talk about a hypothetical situation. That’s fine too. The interviewer may give you a hypothetical situation to begin with and ask how you would respond.
What Should I Wear?
They say to dress for the job you want, not the one you have. You don’t have to go overboard, but you also want to show you put some thought into your appearance. Khakis or slacks or a skirt on the bottom, a button-down or nice blouse on the top. Dress shoes or flats or even nice sandals are good–no work boots or sneakers. Don’t wear bold or eye-popping patterns or colors. You want your interviewer to focus on you, not your outfit! Brushed hair that’s out of your face is important. Jewelry is nice, but again, don’t wear anything too flashy. If your interviewer doesn’t notice the outfit you’re wearing and instead focuses on you, that’s the best possible outcome!
One Last Thing
After asking you all of these questions, the interviewer will ask you if you have any questions. And you should have some intelligent questions ready to go. Do your homework on the company, learn what they value, who their leadership is, what the media are saying about them, if anything. It will show that you’re interested in that particular company and role and will boost your chances of getting a second interview!
Interested in Working With Us?
If you’re interested in working with us at GBC, check out our careers page.
Sources used: https://www.betterteam.com/behavior-technician-job-description
https://learn.gbcautismservices.com/careers-at-gbc
https://gbcautismservices.com/blog/careers-in-aba-therapy-roles-and-growth-opportunities/