Published on 12, July, 2020
So I have a an interview for a job I applied for a couple for a couple of weeks ago. I'm really pleased as I've been job hunting for a while and never managed to bag an interview so this feels like real progress.
Anyway it is a job for a mental health and wellbeing peer support worker. This is quite the career pivot for me as I currently work in a lab that manufactures blood grouping reagents and have a very scientific background. It's fair to say this interview will be quite different to ones i've experienced before as I've never applied for this sort of role before.
Does anyone have any experience in a mental health support role or similar and can offer advice on the interview? I really don't want to muck this up.
Take care,
Euan
I don't have any experience but I looked up more information about the role out of curiosity and found this:
https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/psychological-therapies/roles-psychological-therapies/peer-support-worker
The page has a list of must have skills for the role, so I'd imagine that's where the questions will focus at interview. I would go through each of them in turn and script an answer that demonstrates your proficiency or past experience.
It sounds like you may be required to talk about your own past experiences with mental health issues and how you can use those experiences to help and support others.
The role description seems big on empathy, which may present some issues if you are autistic. If that is the case I would talk about your knowledge of autism and how you may be able to relate more easily to autistic people.
I have checked the site, and the pay rate is... interesting. No wonder why those positions attract either the hopelessly idealistic or the worst bums. There is no way somebody could survive with those pay rates. 23K in Nottingham? Only if you live in a shelter and eat at the Salvation Army
I'm lucky enough to have recently moved back in with my mum at my family home, so the pay rates are not as much of an issue with reduced rent. So I'm willing to take the lower pay for the opportunity to partake in work that is meaningful to me. I agree the pay rates for these positions - the ones that arguably the most crucial to society - are no where near what they should be.
"you pay circus wage, you get clowns"
Last time I had a mental health support worker I was incredibly frustrated by their attitude and lack of understanding of autism.
Then I looked up their job description online and realised the role was minimum wage, with absolutely no requirements for knowledge or experience in mental health or autism. My expectations greatly reduced once I learned that.
She was pretty useless and just kept trying to 'normalise' me. Obviously the mission failed
Agreed they should pay more but the NHS likes to do things on the cheap.
It's better to have a job that you find rewarding and worthwhile than a higher paid one that causes stress and burnout.
Do you know that this means that many of your colleagues will be the worst people you will ever meet? I had to deal with some of them, their attitude was: "I am already doing too much for what I am paid ."