Effectively Presenting Yourself and Your Skills in a Social Care Interview
Interviews for social care roles are usually different from other positions. Employers look for applicants who can demonstrate certain values, rather than qualifications or work experience. As a job seeker this can be daunting. Don’t worry – we’ve got back!
Preparing for a care interview
The first step in preparing for your social care interview is understanding the specific care role you are applying for. For instance, roles in domiciliary care, which we offer, involves traveling to people’s homes. On the other hand, a care home role wouldn’t involve as much travel.
Personal care: hygiene tasks such as bathing and washing, brushing teeth, and assisting in toileting.
Capacity: whether someone is deemed capable to make their own decisions.
Supervision: when an employer carries out a process to ensure an employee is completing their job to the expected standards and using correct procedures.
Find loads more definitions on the CQC website here.
It’s also crucial to identify what your key skills are and how they relate to the social care field, and (most importantly!) examples of times you’ve used them. Be prepared to talk about them – we’ll go more in-depth in the next section.
Succeed during your interview
Use the ‘STAR’ method when you talk about your skills and the times you’ve used them. Situation, task, action, result. This ensures that for every answer to a question you clearly demonstrate what the example is, how you were involved, and what came of it.
Interview the interviewer! An interview is an opportunity for both you and the employer to assess if the role is right for you. This also demonstrates your enthusiasm about care.
Many care services will use behavioral questioning to assess how you’ve dealt with situations in the past. Not sure what these questions might look like? Here are some examples your interviewer could ask:
Can you tell us about a time when you used effective communication skills in a care setting?
How do you handle stressful situations, particularly when providing care?
Could you provide an example of a time when you had to adapt quickly in a care setting?
Top tip: adjust your answers to the employers company values and mission statement – have a look on their website or socials and pick out some keywords to repeat in your interview.
Remember, these questions aren’t designed to trip you up but rather to give you the opportunity to shine. Use them to demonstrate your passion, your resilience, and most importantly, your commitment to providing excellent care. The key is to be authentic and to let your personal experiences illustrate why you’re the perfect fit for the role. And don’t forget to use the STAR method for structured and impactful responses!
Fancy giving it a go? Check out our jobs page for more information.
