Interview preparation is key to ensuring you present yourself in the best possible way to a potential new employer.
Whether you’re experienced in the care sector or just starting out in your career, it will boost your confidence knowing you’re fully clued up.
Follow our basic steps for interview preparation:
Research the Company
Researching the company you are interviewing with is a really important first step in your preparation. You need to make sure you fully understand what they do as a business and the kind of culture they promote. Start with looking at their website to gain an understanding of the size of the company, the various job roles within the business and any new developments or news within the company.
Fully Understand the Job Role
You should have been sent a job description of the role you’re interviewing for. Make sure you read this thoroughly to understand not just the duties of the role but the person specification so that you know what personal qualities the company are looking for. Care Worker job roles can be fairly similar in their duties but it’s the personal qualities that can be different.
Common Interview Questions
You can never know exactly what questions you’ll be asked in an interview – some employers like to keep their questions quite safe whereas others might think more outside the box. However, there are some questions that will more than likely come up. The interviewer will want to know your motivations for applying for that particular role and to the company itself so may ask questions such as “What attracted you to this position?” and “What do you know about the company?”.
You should also consider more role-specific questions that might be asked. For a Care Worker role, for example, questions may be asked around your knowledge of caring for someone. Whether you have done this professionally or on a more personal level, they may ask questions such as “How do you maintain client dignity and respect while carrying out personal care?”.
Your Questions
It’s always best to prepare a few questions to ask the interviewer – it shows your interest in the company and the role. Try to prepare around 4 or 5 so that if a few are already answered during the rest of the interview, you’ve got a couple of backups. You could ask questions around the company culture, or further questions into the day to day duties of the role – this could be especially important if you are new to working in the care sector.
Practical Arrangements
Make sure that you know exactly where the interview is taking place – try and do a dummy run beforehand if you have a chance. Ensure that you have thought about your travel arrangements and the clothes you’re going to wear. This will all help you to feel as relaxed as possible on the day of your interview.
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