What to Ask When Interviewing for a BCBA Position


Picture this: You just passed the BCBA exam and now you’re ready to start interviewing at ABA companies. For many young analysts this may feel like your very first “big interview” and you want to make sure you make the right choice. While pay is a priority, it’s important to realize that salary isn’t the only thing you will want to know about. So here are a few things to look for when you interview for a BCBA position: 

  1. What are the settings and populations the company serves? Are they strictly in-home or clinic-based? Or mostly in the school setting? Each setting has it’s advantages and disadvantages to consider. If you will be expected to work at a clinic, ask about taking a tour. There is a lot you can get a sense of just by being in the building and decide if it’s right for you.

    What sort of populations they serve is also important. If they mostly serve preschool age learners but you only have experience working with adolescents and adults you might want to make sure they have mentorship available.
  2. What sort of training do the staff receive? In the ideal world RBTs would receive quality training. Just know that less training the staff has received the more likelihood you will have your work cut out for you to build up their skills. For me, if a company doesn’t offer any sort of safety management training but they will take any learner as a client regardless of the severity of concerning behaviors that is a big red flag.
  1. What are the billable hour requirements? 30 hours for a full time salaried BCBA position is basically an industry standard although for many individuals this can be a challenging schedule to maintain. It may be better, especially as a new BCBA, to take a position with a slightly lower salary and billable hour requirement than pursue a high salary / high billable hour position.
  2. When was the last time a BCBA made a suggestion and it was implemented within the company? This one may be a bit cheeky but the answer will tell you a lot about how the company values its BCBA’s input. 

AVOIDING BCBA BURNOUT

“How do I avoid getting burned out?”

It’s likely the most asked question I see in ABA provider discussions.

And if you are a new BCBA this question has probably already crossed your mind more than once because no matter how prepared you feel stepping into this role there are a lot of things grad school just doesn’t prepare you for: billing codes, writing reports, being a good leader for staff and setting boundaries.

So how do you avoid getting burned out?

1. Recognize your pain points
 It’s important to know what triggers your stress. For me it will always be report writing season. They are the bane of my existence. I would rather spend my time working with my staff and learners any day of the week. But given that it is an essential part of my job as a clinical supervisor I have had to learn how to better organize my time and set up the parameters that will make me productive and keep me sane.

Identifying the areas that cause you to struggle gives you a better idea of what strategies you need to have in place to avoid ever going down the road of the dreaded burnout.

2. Set reasonable goals
 I am a list maker. I have a list for my lists. It’s my jam. But one thing I have found in my pursuit for productivity is that too many tasks on my daily to do list just leaves me feeling discouraged.  So one thing I have started doing is giving myself a maximum of “5 To Do’s”  a day and identifying which of those will be the biggest time-suck and which one needs to take priority.

3.  Accept the permanent to do list
 And on that note, accept that there will always be something to do. There will always be an upcoming report, a learner’s programming that needs to be updated, an article you want to read. Accept that there will never be a day where there is “nothing left to do”.

4. Relinquish control where you can.
 If a task isn’t bound by your ethical obligation to do it yourself, consider tapping into those around you like supervisees or trusted staff. Delegating is still a bit of a tricky task for me personally but the less time I have to spend doing certain time-suck tasks the more energy I have to expend on other projects that fuel me.

5. Set Boundaries
 This is probably the most important part.  I had a supervisor once who was likely one of the calmest BCBA’s I have ever met. I asked them how they manage to stay so relaxed all the time and this was the advice: Say no and say it often. We are all in this field because we are eager to help but we run the risk of overextending ourselves when we overcommit. Whether this is saying yes to another client on your already packed schedule or attending an after-hours event. Remember: setting boundaries as a BCBA isn’t being rude, it’s protecting your energy and safeguarding you from burnou

TIPS ON BEING A TELEHEALTH BCBA

Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.com

It seems befitting that the first post I would share on the site would be on being a telehealth BCBA. After all, I have spent the past two years stepping out of the clinic and behind a computer screen. My reasons for making this shift are worth a conversation for another time but for now I wanted to share some of the things that have helped me support my clients and staff as a telehealth BCBA:

  1. SET YOUR STAFF UP FOR SUCCESS. Make sure your RBT has everything they need to be successful (a tablet and HIPPA compliant video-call program–I like the integration of Teams for this. Also consider airpods for both privacy and better audio).
  2. CLEAR AND CONCISE COMMUNICATION. Be clear with your expectations such as they need to ready to go and in the video call at the designated time, they need to do their best to keep the learner in the video throughout the supervision, and also have a back up means of taking data as necessary.
  3. USE THE RIGHT TOOLS. Invest in a Boom Cards account. Trust me on this one, it is such a game changer! I do all my rec ID programs and match-to-sample programs on there. Best of all your families can download the app and run the targets outside of session.
  4. DON’T BE A BUMP ON A LOG. Be engaged with your staff and learner. Talk to them and involve yourself. If my learner is coloring in a coloring book I might join them doodling on one of my sketchbooks. If your learner likes to show you their toys, keep a few knicknacks around to recipicate. One of the biggest critiques RBT’s often have with their telehealth supervisors is that their BCBA will keep their screen off and hardly talk. Don’t do this!
  5. COMMUNICATE WHEN YOU DO GO QUIET. As a follow up to being engaged, if you need to work on a note/look at a graph / edit a program / whatever COMMUNICATE. Even if it’s just a “Hey if I’m quiet for the next few minutes it is because I am updating that target!” No one likes creepy silence and your staff can’t guess what you are doing unless you tell them.