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Young person wows on interview panel

A young person living at one of our Safe Steps homes has impressed staff with her professionalism and positive attitude on an interview panel.

Since Kayleigh moved into the home, she has started to find her feet and her relationships with staff have bloomed. She has become enthusiastic about taking part in different opportunities, so when she was asked to be part of the recruitment process she jumped at the chance.

Following prep work provided by Life-Skills and Participation Co-ordinator Alex Jones and some tailored keywork sessions, Kayleigh came up with excellent, perceptive questions that she wanted to ask the interviewees. Some of the questions included:

  • Do you hold a grudge?
  • How do you handle it when young people are angry or rude to you or another member of staff even when it’s not really your fault?
  • What do you know about children’s rights?
  • Can you cook?
  • What are your skills and qualities?

After the interviews Kayleigh commented on the different participants saying:

  • “She seems quite trustworthy.”
  • “I like that she said she didn’t know stuff that she didn’t know a lot about because then she’ll talk to us children and ask. She won’t make out that she knows everything we have been through just because she is an adult.”

The home manager said: “Kayleigh was confident and focussed during the interview. Her feedback was hugely insightful to us mere adult panellists!

“I’ll never interview without a young person again. They have an angle on things that we’ll probably never have.”

Kayleigh was thrilled to earn a well-deserved AQA in interviewing and has volunteered to help on future recruitment panels.

At St Christopher’s we always encourage young people to have their say on the issues that affect them, whether it’s by helping to recruit the staff working in their homes or supporting them to give feedback on the way we run our services. This is just one example of how we make sure that young people are heard.