Questions to Expect in an RBT Interview—and How to Prepare
- Ashleigh
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
The ABA field is rapidly growing, with rising demand for Registered Behavior Technicians
(RBTs). RBTs are the heart and soul of an ABA therapy program, providing vital direct care services that help individuals with diverse needs thrive. Whether you're a seasoned technician or brand new to the field, the interview process can be a little intimidating—but it's an important step to ensure you're a good fit for the company and they're a good fit for you. To help you prepare, this article shares insights into common RBT interview questions.
Prepare for the Interview
Before we dive into the questions you may be asked, let's cover some ways you can prepare.
Practice common interview questions—Since you’re already reading this article, you’re on the right track! Take time to read through typical interview questions and think about how you’d respond. Consider practicing your answers out loud, or role-playing with a friend or family member to build confidence and comfort with your delivery.
Review the job post—Thoroughly read the job post and any other communication you've had from the company. Ensure you meet the qualifications of the role to avoid wasted time. Also, be sure you understand the responsibilities you would have in the role.
Research the company—Get familiar with the company, including reviewing their mission, vision, and values statements. If you haven't yet, take a look at their reviews, particularly on job sites. Reviews can be helpful for generating questions, but take them with a grain of salt. Many people only review a company when they're displeased or when they're offered an incentive for doing so. In either case, results are likely to be skewed and don't always represent a true picture of staff satisfaction.
Prepare questions—An interview isn't just for the company to ask you questions. It's also for you to gauge whether they're a quality company and a good fit for you. Using the information you've gathered about the company and the role, write a list of questions you'd like to ask.
Related article: 10 Questions to Ask in an RBT Interview
Reflect on your experience—Consider how the job you're interviewing for aligns with your own experiences and what would make you a good candidate.
General Interview Questions
If you've ever interviewed before, you'll be familiar with many of the common interview questions. While your RBT interview will have ABA-specific questions, you can expect some of these more general ones as well.
Share a little bit about yourself.
This is your opportunity to share a high-level overview of who you are. You can share about your education, relevant job experience, future goals, and why you're interested in a career as an RBT.
What are your strengths?
Highlight positive qualities that make a strong Registered Behavior Technician—like patience, reliability, adaptability, and eagerness to learn and accept feedback.
What are your areas of needed growth?
This is a tricky question, but try not to let it trip you up. Be honest, but focus on weaknesses that aren't critical for the role. Share an area that you're actively working to improve upon. Bonus points if you can communicate what you're doing to work on it!
What did you like most about your previous role?
This is a great opportunity to highlight your positive experiences in previous positions. Focus on something relevant to a job as an RBT, even if your last job wasn't in the ABA field. For example, if you previously worked in childcare, you might say that interacting with children and watching them grow was something you enjoyed most.
Why are you leaving/did you leave your last company?
Keep this professional. Don't use it as an opportunity to speak negatively or be overly critical of your previous employer. Consider focusing on reasons like seeking career growth, additional support, relocating, pursuing a new career path, or schedule conflicts.
What interested you about this position/our company? Show that you've done your research and aren't just applying anywhere and everywhere.
Where did you hear about our position? If you came across the position on ABA Resource Center's ABA Job Board, be sure to let them know!
What are your short-term and long-term career goals?
Share what your goals and aspirations are for your career. It's okay if you don't plan on working in ABA long-term. Not every RBT aspires to be a BCBA, and that's okay. While ABA may not be your long-term career path, employers like to see that a candidate is ambitious and dedicated. They also want to know that this isn't a position you're just planning on working during the summer and then leaving.
ABA-Specific RBT Interview Questions
Now, on to the RBT interview questions that are more specific to the ABA field and the RBT position. Keep in mind that this is just a list of potential questions. Every company has a different interview process with varying questions.
What's your experience working with autistic children/people with special needs? Depending on the population you're applying to work with, they may ask about specific experience working with those with diverse needs. If you don't have professional experience but you do have relevant personal experience, like you're raising an autistic child, that's still highly valuable to share. If you don't have any experience, be honest about that. If possible, try to tie in any related experience, such as working with children in a general education setting.
What motivated you to pursue a career in ABA? Share what brought you to the ABA field. If you've been in the field for a while, highlight what's kept you working as an RBT.
How do you/would you handle challenging behaviors?
Your interviewer may provide a more specific scenario, like what would you do if your client began engaging in high-intensity head banging? Following the individualized behavior intervention plan (BIP) is the best answer. Your BCBA should have a BIP for each client who engages in challenging behaviors. You would follow the steps outlined in the client's specific plan. If there isn't yet a BIP available for that client, a safe response would be to block the behavior, ensuring the client is safe and redirect.
Can you share a difficult situation you encountered with a client and how you handled it? First, be sure to follow HIPAA and do not share any identifying information about the client. This question gives the interviewer insights into how you respond under pressure, follow protocols, and apply ABA principles during challenging situations. Briefly explain the situation and how you handled it. Highlight any knowledge you took from that situation that you can apply in future roles.
How do/would you handle feedback from your BCBA? Feedback is so important in ABA. You can expect ongoing feedback—both positive and constructive—in this field. Companies want to know that you're open to feedback, accept it graciously, and use that feedback to improve your performance. I say this often but don't forget that feedback is bidirectional. While your supervisor will regularly give you feedback, you should also be encouraged to provide them with feedback.
What characteristics help you to excel in a role as an RBT? Highlight positive traits that enable you to provide quality care. Consider traits like empathetic, compassionate, patient, detail-oriented, energetic, team-oriented, resilient, willing to learn, and flexible.
Do you have experience collaborating with parents or other professionals?
ABA therapists collaborate with other technicians, BCBAs, parents, teachers, speech therapists, and other providers. Your potential employer will want to know that you can work well in a team.
What experience do you have collecting data? Recording data is a major part of the RBT role. Share about the types of data collection you have experience with, highlighting whether your experience is with paper data collection or digital data formats. You may want to discuss any tools you use to stay organized and ensure accurate data collection, like using clickers and entering data as soon as possible after the behavior or skill.
What behavior management techniques are you familiar with?
Discuss any techniques you have experience with, such as positive reinforcement, token economies, and antecedent strategies.
What would you do if you're unsure how to run a therapy program? The best answer is to default to your BCBA. Your interviewer will want to know that you understand who to contact when unsure how to run a program and that if you're uncertain about something, you know not to implement it without additional guidance.
RBT Scenario Questions
In an RBT interview, the interviewer may ask scenario questions to gauge how you would respond to potential day-to-day situations in the field. These questions help them assess your problem-solving abilities and evaluate how well you understand ABA, the role of an RBT, and ethical expectations.
Here are a few examples of scenario questions.
You're running an in-home session, and the client's parent asks you to deviate from the typical therapy routine. What would you do?
Imagine your supervisor gives you feedback on your program implementation, telling you to do it differently. You've always done it this way and don't understand why they're telling you to change things now. How would you handle this?
Your client refuses to participate in therapy, yelling, "No!" every time you try to present instructions. How would you proceed with the session?
You see a new program in your client's session plan, but there isn't a program write-up outlining how to run the program. You've run a similar program with another client before, so you think you know how to run it. What would you do?
The end of the month is approaching, and you haven't received the minimum required 5% RBT supervision. How would you handle this?
Your client's caregiver asks to end the session early but says you can clock out at the normal time session should have ended. What would you do?
Find an RBT Job on the ABA Job Board
Searching for your next RBT position? Check out ABA Resource Center's ABA Job Board!
Comentarios