How to Answer: Why did you decide to become a Speech and Language Pathologist?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Speech Pathology job interview.
15. Why did you decide to become a Speech and Language Pathologist?
How to Answer
What is it that makes you wake up each morning and get excited about going to work? Perhaps it is the patients. Perhaps you really love seeing people succeed. Maybe you saw a speech and language pathologist as a child and it inspired you to become one. Share your true passion with the interviewer.
Written by Heather Douglass
Entry Level
"During my high school years, I was very driven to pursue a career in healthcare. Through a shadowing program in my high school, I spent time shadowing a nurse, a physical therapist and a social worker. The most influential of the shadowings that I did was with our school Speech Pathologist. In her words, she was "able to improve the lives of the kids that she worked with on a daily basis" and the career was very fulfilling to her. I really liked being in the school setting with her and decided to pursue this as a career."
Written by Ryan Brunner
Answer Example
"I decided Speech Pathology was the right career for me when I was able to see the difference it makes in people's lives. It requires empathy, patience, and clinical acumen, and I possess all of these characteristics."
Written by Heather Douglass
Experienced
"I grew up with a father that was a physician and my mother was a school teacher. In hopes to get the best of both the healthcare and the educational worlds, I decided to study Speech Pathology . I feel very fortunate to have worked in the field for so long and see so many of the great developments in the field over time."
Written by Ryan Brunner