The questions occupational therapists actually get asked — with STAR-structured sample answers you can rewrite in your voice. Practice the rooms before you're in them.
I start with an interview about what the person needs and wants to do, such as cooking, dressing, returning to work or playing with grandchildren. Then I combine that with my assessment of strength, cognition, vision and the home setting. Goals are specific, measurable and written in the client's own words, so progress is easy to show to them and to the payer.
A client recovering from a hand injury was skipping home exercises. I asked what was getting in the way and learned the routine was long and painful at night. We moved it to mornings, cut it to the three movements that mattered most and added a simple log. Within two weeks the range-of-motion measurements started improving again.
I tell them occupation means the daily activities that fill a person's life: getting dressed, eating, writing, caring for a child, working. Then I use their own relative as the example and show how each exercise connects to one of those activities. Families usually relax once they see therapy as practice for real tasks at home.
I would meet with everyone, let the client state their priorities first, and explain the safety concerns the family has. Where risk is real, I look for a middle path, such as a trial period with equipment or supervision, and document the shared plan. The client's choices lead whenever they have capacity to make them.
I write notes right after each session while the details are fresh, use templates only as a starting point, and block ten minutes at midday for anything left. Late notes are the first thing that slips on a full day, so I protect that time. On my last unit that habit kept me current on every audit.
I am applying to adult rehab because I like the moment a client does an everyday task for the first time after an injury. In my fieldwork and my last role I worked mostly with stroke and orthopedic clients, treating about nine a day, and I want to keep building depth in that population.
Every strong behavioral answer follows the same four-part structure: Situation(the context — 2 sentences), Task (what success looked like — 1 sentence),Action (what you actually did, 3-5 specific steps), and Result(the measurable outcome). Most candidates over-invest in Situation and under-invest in Result. The Result is where the interviewer scores you.
The Result is where interviewers score you, and strong occupational therapist results are specific and measured. These are the kinds of outcome statements to close your answers with — substitute your own scope and numbers:
Interviews are lost before they start when the resume sets the wrong expectations. The recurring occupational therapist patterns, with fixes:
Paste that job description into the free Interview Prep Kit — get the 20 questions it's most likely to produce, with answers personalized to your resume. Print-ready.
Voice or text. Per-answer STAR scoring. Saved across devices.
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